We continue with Walter Brueggemann in "The Prophetic Imagination.
Brueggemann compares Marks notation of Jesus' compassion for the great throng on the shore with Matthew's similar story. But Matthew describes the people as "harassed and helpless."
Those words are polemical, for the people did not get helpless by themselves but were rendered helpless. And to speak of harassment is to suggest that some others are doing the harassing. Thus the Matthean version is much more direct and critical.
Sometimes it is easy to think that people just are as they are because of their own doing. That is the light in which the poor and minorities are cast by so many of us. And yet, their situation is cannot be simply something we say is their own doing. It is much bigger than that. To remember that Jesus is noted as calling them "harassed and helpless" may mean that this is the case due to their life situation but that "situation" includes the systemic "way of life" that tends to favor those who are in power and those who have...but also turns its back on those who are in need of the bare necessities of life. Not only that....those who do not have - those who are "disinherited" are then put through hell - harassed by those of us who have enough and more.
Connection: Can we walk with those who are helpless before we take that move to harass them in one way or another? We may then find that there is less and less for which we would even think to harass them. They may even become as a brother or sister to us.
Peacemaker and Healer of All Life, though it is so easy for us to create division or simply see to its continuation, you call us into relationship. You help us to see the humanity in the ones we attempt to turn into mere objects within our lives. Continue to let your light of holy insight guide us. Amen.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Friday, April 22, 2005
22 April 2005
More from Walter Brueggemann.
The characteristic word for compassion, splagchnoisomai, means to let one's innards embrace the feeling or situation of another. Thus Jesus embodies the hurt that the marginal ones know by taking it into his own person and his own story. Their hurt came from being declared outside the realm of the normal and Jesus engages with them in a situation of abnormality. Concretely, his criticism as embodied hurt is expressed toward the sick (Matt. 14:14)...the hungry (Mark 6:34, & 8:2)...the one who grieved the dead (Luke 7:12-13)...the whole range of human persons who are harassed and helpless (Matt. 9:35-36).
When Jesus embodies the hurt of these marginal ones it includes his moving in with them - to be with them and to take on whatever force may be overpowering them. Compassion is not displayed as a sermon or some well spoken word. Compassion is a life moving force that seeks the well being of another. This life moving force may mean that my life will be exposed to life situations I would never be in if I was not moved out of my path into the path of this other person. Someone is compassionate as someone is moved. The world and our communities begin to be healed and saved as we are moved out of our way to make sure that those out on the edge of life are embraced and by that, made whole just as the ones who show compassion. Both sides of compassionate lives are healed and what was once a reason to stay separate does not exist anymore.
Connection: There must be ways today to be a part of a compassionate journey. Sometimes it means facing that uncomfortable feeling in our "gut" and not turning to make it numb.
Creating Lord, your people are so diverse in many ways and yet we are all called your children. Train us up by your Holy Spirit to look after our brothers and sisters and give up our love affair with ourselves that so often keeps us locked up in our own worlds and ready to go to war with those not a part of the world we like. We know it will take transformation and death but we pray you will walk with us as you have always promised. Amen.
The characteristic word for compassion, splagchnoisomai, means to let one's innards embrace the feeling or situation of another. Thus Jesus embodies the hurt that the marginal ones know by taking it into his own person and his own story. Their hurt came from being declared outside the realm of the normal and Jesus engages with them in a situation of abnormality. Concretely, his criticism as embodied hurt is expressed toward the sick (Matt. 14:14)...the hungry (Mark 6:34, & 8:2)...the one who grieved the dead (Luke 7:12-13)...the whole range of human persons who are harassed and helpless (Matt. 9:35-36).
When Jesus embodies the hurt of these marginal ones it includes his moving in with them - to be with them and to take on whatever force may be overpowering them. Compassion is not displayed as a sermon or some well spoken word. Compassion is a life moving force that seeks the well being of another. This life moving force may mean that my life will be exposed to life situations I would never be in if I was not moved out of my path into the path of this other person. Someone is compassionate as someone is moved. The world and our communities begin to be healed and saved as we are moved out of our way to make sure that those out on the edge of life are embraced and by that, made whole just as the ones who show compassion. Both sides of compassionate lives are healed and what was once a reason to stay separate does not exist anymore.
Connection: There must be ways today to be a part of a compassionate journey. Sometimes it means facing that uncomfortable feeling in our "gut" and not turning to make it numb.
Creating Lord, your people are so diverse in many ways and yet we are all called your children. Train us up by your Holy Spirit to look after our brothers and sisters and give up our love affair with ourselves that so often keeps us locked up in our own worlds and ready to go to war with those not a part of the world we like. We know it will take transformation and death but we pray you will walk with us as you have always promised. Amen.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
21 April 2005
We continue to look at Jesus through the eyes of "The Prophetic Imagination" by Walter Brueggemann.
...the compassion of Jesus is to be understood not simply as a personal emotional reaction but as a public criticism in which he dares to act upon his concern against the entire numbness of his social context. Expires live by numbness. Empire, in their militarism, expect numbness about the human cost of war. Corporate economies expect blindness to the cost in terms of poverty and exploitation. Governments and societies of domination go to great lengths to keep the numbness intact. Jesus penetrates the numbness by his compassion and with his compassion takes the first step by making visible the odd abnormality that had become business as usual.
Unless we begin to see how our lives are meant to be connected, we will either construct walls to separate ourselves from others or we will simply turn our back and act as though we do not see the true condition of life around us. This is a part of the numbing that takes part in all of our lives. Being numb to the reality of life around us is to live as though the pain and suffer, joy and wonder of life is not as real as it is. The Good News never fears feeling, seeing, and touching the reality of life because it is all viewed as something less than the vision of what life is to be. Therefore, when there is brokenness, the Voice of the Resurrection is not afraid to step into it and be apart of a contrary existence in which we move more deeply into what is broken rather than run from it. When we are made numb to the world around us, we do not fear because we cannot be connected to the world. We stand away. When we live within the reality of the Good News, we do not fear because though we are afraid and anxious about the shape of the world, we stand with one another in the middle of all the dis-ease and continue to remind one another of another way to live.
Connection: Do not be afraid to face what is ugly and distorted and painful. Instead, be reminded that the one we call Lord, Jesus, is right there in the midst of it all and we can find life there - even in what seems to be something we would like to avoid. Compassion pulls us into the healing of our lives. Without it, we will be numb to our lives and the lives of others.
Lord of all Hopefulness, we are easily defeated and the potential for new life is often drained from us so that we dare not engage the world as your beloved people. Free us to see and feel and touch so that your Reign may be experienced by others. Amen.
...the compassion of Jesus is to be understood not simply as a personal emotional reaction but as a public criticism in which he dares to act upon his concern against the entire numbness of his social context. Expires live by numbness. Empire, in their militarism, expect numbness about the human cost of war. Corporate economies expect blindness to the cost in terms of poverty and exploitation. Governments and societies of domination go to great lengths to keep the numbness intact. Jesus penetrates the numbness by his compassion and with his compassion takes the first step by making visible the odd abnormality that had become business as usual.
Unless we begin to see how our lives are meant to be connected, we will either construct walls to separate ourselves from others or we will simply turn our back and act as though we do not see the true condition of life around us. This is a part of the numbing that takes part in all of our lives. Being numb to the reality of life around us is to live as though the pain and suffer, joy and wonder of life is not as real as it is. The Good News never fears feeling, seeing, and touching the reality of life because it is all viewed as something less than the vision of what life is to be. Therefore, when there is brokenness, the Voice of the Resurrection is not afraid to step into it and be apart of a contrary existence in which we move more deeply into what is broken rather than run from it. When we are made numb to the world around us, we do not fear because we cannot be connected to the world. We stand away. When we live within the reality of the Good News, we do not fear because though we are afraid and anxious about the shape of the world, we stand with one another in the middle of all the dis-ease and continue to remind one another of another way to live.
Connection: Do not be afraid to face what is ugly and distorted and painful. Instead, be reminded that the one we call Lord, Jesus, is right there in the midst of it all and we can find life there - even in what seems to be something we would like to avoid. Compassion pulls us into the healing of our lives. Without it, we will be numb to our lives and the lives of others.
Lord of all Hopefulness, we are easily defeated and the potential for new life is often drained from us so that we dare not engage the world as your beloved people. Free us to see and feel and touch so that your Reign may be experienced by others. Amen.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
20 April 2005
We continue with words from "The Prophetic Imagination."
Jesus in his solidarity with the marginal ones is moved to compassion. Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be take seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness.
We can never have a "compassionate" society or government until we face the pain and sorrow of the marginal people within our boundary and then set ourselves up as a community that will not allow them to fall through the cracks. This takes more than words. This takes action. This takes someone like me...and maybe you...taking less so that those who have less than less will have more. Compassion involves sacrifice. To help those in need, I must set aside my grand vision for myself, my self-centered world view, and begin to enter into a dialogue with those who are often stumbling through this day. This is not an argument for charity - though charity may be a part of the action. It is a call for justice in which all are to be brought to the table to participate in something beyond our words. Too often, we hear only words from talking heads that really are trying to preserve the great divide between those who have and those who do not. They attempt to put a soft side to that divide, but it is always a brutal reality of division that comes to life.
Connection: How can we step across those lines and extend ourselves to others. Another way to say that might be: When the Holy Spirit pulls us into situations that demand compassion, how will we take part in them for the welfare of all who are pulled into just such an arena?
Lord God, just as Jesus' guts were "stirred up" at the sight of those who longed for healing and wholeness, stir us up and lead us into a living relationship with others so that we are not afraid to offer ourselves to one another even as it means we give up a piece of the pie so that others may join us for the banquet. Amen.
Jesus in his solidarity with the marginal ones is moved to compassion. Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be take seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness.
We can never have a "compassionate" society or government until we face the pain and sorrow of the marginal people within our boundary and then set ourselves up as a community that will not allow them to fall through the cracks. This takes more than words. This takes action. This takes someone like me...and maybe you...taking less so that those who have less than less will have more. Compassion involves sacrifice. To help those in need, I must set aside my grand vision for myself, my self-centered world view, and begin to enter into a dialogue with those who are often stumbling through this day. This is not an argument for charity - though charity may be a part of the action. It is a call for justice in which all are to be brought to the table to participate in something beyond our words. Too often, we hear only words from talking heads that really are trying to preserve the great divide between those who have and those who do not. They attempt to put a soft side to that divide, but it is always a brutal reality of division that comes to life.
Connection: How can we step across those lines and extend ourselves to others. Another way to say that might be: When the Holy Spirit pulls us into situations that demand compassion, how will we take part in them for the welfare of all who are pulled into just such an arena?
Lord God, just as Jesus' guts were "stirred up" at the sight of those who longed for healing and wholeness, stir us up and lead us into a living relationship with others so that we are not afraid to offer ourselves to one another even as it means we give up a piece of the pie so that others may join us for the banquet. Amen.
Monday, April 18, 2005
19 April 2005
A powerful word from Walter Brueggemann again in "The Prophetic Imagination."
...(Jesus') criticism of the "law" is not to be dismissed as an attack on "legalism" in any moralistic sense, as is sometimes done in reductionist Pauline interpretation. Rather, his critique concerns the fundamental social valuing of his society. In practice Jesus has seen, as Marx later made clear, that the law can be a social convention to protect the current distribution of economic and political power. Jesus, in the tradition of Jeremiah, dared to articulate the end of a consciousness that could not keep its promises but that in fact denied the very humanness it purported to give.
We can see it over and over again even as we take a glimpse around us at the political climate of our day. Those in power try to use the law to give to those in power...more power. That does not end. That is not a mere biblical picture. For example (and this just seems to be a very current issue), I hate filibusters. But they are essential to our form of government. If it was not for this extreme method of stopping the system spin on its merry way, the majority would always rule as the majority wants to rule. That is never good for the welfare of all. And yet, we can see that some powers like to make room for more and more power to be at ready at hand for those who want the world to go their way. Filibusters are not ideal...but they make us look again at how being in the seat of power can overwhelm anyone. If we are indeed concerned about the welfare of all the people how is it that we are afraid of such an odd piece of our governing system that lets any minority voice...have a voice greater than it usually would. Sometimes the minority - no matter what "side" it is - has more wisdom in the moment than the majority ever will.
Connection: Laws are only as good as the vision that writes them. If we have a limited vision, our laws will only lead us in a limited manner. If a family is unwilling to let itself imagine a better day, then there is a good chance that the children will never grow beyond the limits of past generations.
Come upon us, Holy Spirit, and set our anxious hearts to rest so that we are able to look into the gracious homeland of your blessed Reign. We anxiously search for ways to control our world but we need you to life up our eyes to see beyond our ways and into the very heart of your way and truth. Amen.
...(Jesus') criticism of the "law" is not to be dismissed as an attack on "legalism" in any moralistic sense, as is sometimes done in reductionist Pauline interpretation. Rather, his critique concerns the fundamental social valuing of his society. In practice Jesus has seen, as Marx later made clear, that the law can be a social convention to protect the current distribution of economic and political power. Jesus, in the tradition of Jeremiah, dared to articulate the end of a consciousness that could not keep its promises but that in fact denied the very humanness it purported to give.
We can see it over and over again even as we take a glimpse around us at the political climate of our day. Those in power try to use the law to give to those in power...more power. That does not end. That is not a mere biblical picture. For example (and this just seems to be a very current issue), I hate filibusters. But they are essential to our form of government. If it was not for this extreme method of stopping the system spin on its merry way, the majority would always rule as the majority wants to rule. That is never good for the welfare of all. And yet, we can see that some powers like to make room for more and more power to be at ready at hand for those who want the world to go their way. Filibusters are not ideal...but they make us look again at how being in the seat of power can overwhelm anyone. If we are indeed concerned about the welfare of all the people how is it that we are afraid of such an odd piece of our governing system that lets any minority voice...have a voice greater than it usually would. Sometimes the minority - no matter what "side" it is - has more wisdom in the moment than the majority ever will.
Connection: Laws are only as good as the vision that writes them. If we have a limited vision, our laws will only lead us in a limited manner. If a family is unwilling to let itself imagine a better day, then there is a good chance that the children will never grow beyond the limits of past generations.
Come upon us, Holy Spirit, and set our anxious hearts to rest so that we are able to look into the gracious homeland of your blessed Reign. We anxiously search for ways to control our world but we need you to life up our eyes to see beyond our ways and into the very heart of your way and truth. Amen.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
18 April 2005
After a long break due to computer difficulties, we return to "The Prophetic Imagination" by Walter Brueggemann.
There are a number of representative actions that summarized Jesus' radical criticism of the order of the day:
His readiness to forgive sin...His ability to heal and his readiness to do it on the Sabbath...His willingness to eat with the outcast...His attitude toward the temple.
All these actions, together with Jesus' other violations of social convention, are a heavy criticism of the "righteousness of the law." The law had become in his day a way for the managers of society, religious even more than civil, to effectively control not only morality but the political-economic valuing that lay behind the morality.
Nothing is more powerful than the blending of religious language about "righteousness" with the powers of a civil power. Jesus was facing off with those who could and did control life and wanted to make sure that their control of life would be blessed by the religious laws that would then be used to sanction the rule of the controlling power of the day. We must be aware that there is just such a movement around us today that is set on making secure ties between political-economic values of our country and a limited, self-focused & self-centered morality that plans to fashion a new way to rule...a way that is well known in scripture...a way against which Jesus stood up and did not accept. Too many "people of faith" are as afraid of the grace and love of God's Reign today as the religious leaders who stood against Jesus in scripture.
Connection: Pay attention to the how smoothly religious language is being used for the benefit of the powers that be. Usually it is not for the benefit of all...usually it is for the benefit of some and there is a hint of things being quite conditional in the air...and that is never Good News.
Lord of New Life, pull us into your love and as we rise within your gracious arms remind us of the vision of your Reign that cannot be owned or directed by any power that tries to claim this day. Amen.
There are a number of representative actions that summarized Jesus' radical criticism of the order of the day:
His readiness to forgive sin...His ability to heal and his readiness to do it on the Sabbath...His willingness to eat with the outcast...His attitude toward the temple.
All these actions, together with Jesus' other violations of social convention, are a heavy criticism of the "righteousness of the law." The law had become in his day a way for the managers of society, religious even more than civil, to effectively control not only morality but the political-economic valuing that lay behind the morality.
Nothing is more powerful than the blending of religious language about "righteousness" with the powers of a civil power. Jesus was facing off with those who could and did control life and wanted to make sure that their control of life would be blessed by the religious laws that would then be used to sanction the rule of the controlling power of the day. We must be aware that there is just such a movement around us today that is set on making secure ties between political-economic values of our country and a limited, self-focused & self-centered morality that plans to fashion a new way to rule...a way that is well known in scripture...a way against which Jesus stood up and did not accept. Too many "people of faith" are as afraid of the grace and love of God's Reign today as the religious leaders who stood against Jesus in scripture.
Connection: Pay attention to the how smoothly religious language is being used for the benefit of the powers that be. Usually it is not for the benefit of all...usually it is for the benefit of some and there is a hint of things being quite conditional in the air...and that is never Good News.
Lord of New Life, pull us into your love and as we rise within your gracious arms remind us of the vision of your Reign that cannot be owned or directed by any power that tries to claim this day. Amen.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Wednesday, 13 April, 2005
Taken from 1 Peter 2:20-23
"…But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God's approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps…. When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly."
Almost every system of morality for sale out there is either based on rewards or rules. "Be good, because you'll get a prize if you do." Or, "Do this (or don't do that), because that's what the rules say will give you value." And when it comes to having to suffer, those systems offer the same quick answers: "you should endure hardship because there's a pot of gold waiting at the end for you," or sometimes we hear, "you'll only suffer if you're breaking the rules-it's punishment for someplace you've crossed the line." How strange, then, to hear from 1 Peter that the reasons we have for living in a new way are about neither incentives nor injunctions. Our way of life comes from who God in Christ is revealed to be. We are called to turn the other cheek, not in order to win a heavenly lottery (although there is the unconditional promise of eternal life), but because of the Roman cross where God in human flesh turned the other cheek for us. We are called to love our enemies, not because following that rule will surely make the world a better place (although it might), but because while we were "enemies" of God (Romans 5:10), God loved us nevertheless. How radically different from all other voices clamoring for our attention-and how wonderfully freeing!
Connection: Before we stumble through the question, "What should I do?" in any given situation, and even before we ask the popular wristband's question, "What would Jesus do?", we first have to let the grace sink in that comes from the question, "What has Jesus done-already?"
Lord Jesus, teach us to find in the scars you still wear both the promise of your love for us, and the freedom to make it our love for others.
"…But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God's approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps…. When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly."
Almost every system of morality for sale out there is either based on rewards or rules. "Be good, because you'll get a prize if you do." Or, "Do this (or don't do that), because that's what the rules say will give you value." And when it comes to having to suffer, those systems offer the same quick answers: "you should endure hardship because there's a pot of gold waiting at the end for you," or sometimes we hear, "you'll only suffer if you're breaking the rules-it's punishment for someplace you've crossed the line." How strange, then, to hear from 1 Peter that the reasons we have for living in a new way are about neither incentives nor injunctions. Our way of life comes from who God in Christ is revealed to be. We are called to turn the other cheek, not in order to win a heavenly lottery (although there is the unconditional promise of eternal life), but because of the Roman cross where God in human flesh turned the other cheek for us. We are called to love our enemies, not because following that rule will surely make the world a better place (although it might), but because while we were "enemies" of God (Romans 5:10), God loved us nevertheless. How radically different from all other voices clamoring for our attention-and how wonderfully freeing!
Connection: Before we stumble through the question, "What should I do?" in any given situation, and even before we ask the popular wristband's question, "What would Jesus do?", we first have to let the grace sink in that comes from the question, "What has Jesus done-already?"
Lord Jesus, teach us to find in the scars you still wear both the promise of your love for us, and the freedom to make it our love for others.
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