Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Monday, November 14, 2005
15 November 2005
More from "Do No Harm" and conversations on sin-talk.
...the impulse to act against sin harbors deeply destructive potential. Douglas John Hall captures this dimension of sin-talk in his signaling of the potential dangers that attend Christian views of sin. "The vocabulary of Christian faith suffers from misunderstanding as every turn, but no term is as badly understood in both society and church as the little word, 'sin.' Nor is this misconception an innocent or merely 'religious' affair. Lives are ruined by it. Sometimes it destroys whole communities."
It doesn't take long to come up with a list of people (individuals or groups) whose lives have been shaped by those who have cast upon them the word "sin." There may not be a better way to create cast-offs. There may not be a better way to remove people from our presence. There may not be a better and "cleaner" way to throw others into the garbage heap of humanity. In other words, the word 'sin' or 'sinner' can ruin lives...destroy them. Sometimes sin-talk is not even about actions done by others. Sometimes it is simply about a person's or a people's being! And yet, it is enough to destroy them. It is quite odd that there are only some sins or sinners that really grab our imagination and allow us to do things that literally destroy their lives. Systemic sin is often overlooked. In fact, we have been able to clean it us so well that it is down right respectable and becomes a part of the powers that make the rules about what is sin and who should be condemned for being "sinful." We will get into more specifics as the week marches on.
Connection: Spend a little bit of time today remembering those people and groups whose lives have been sent into the fiery furnace of condemnation because of how they were associated to the sin-talk of the day. The faces may change...but they are always the beloved of God. Somehow we choose to forget that and listen only to how they can be cast in a demonic light. Let's lift them up in our prayers today.
Lord of All of Creation, within the brokenness of our lives you call us to forgive and live with those who may not be like us. Encourage us to approach all people with your eyes of love and justice so that we are drawn to them and with them instead of against them. Amen.
...the impulse to act against sin harbors deeply destructive potential. Douglas John Hall captures this dimension of sin-talk in his signaling of the potential dangers that attend Christian views of sin. "The vocabulary of Christian faith suffers from misunderstanding as every turn, but no term is as badly understood in both society and church as the little word, 'sin.' Nor is this misconception an innocent or merely 'religious' affair. Lives are ruined by it. Sometimes it destroys whole communities."
It doesn't take long to come up with a list of people (individuals or groups) whose lives have been shaped by those who have cast upon them the word "sin." There may not be a better way to create cast-offs. There may not be a better way to remove people from our presence. There may not be a better and "cleaner" way to throw others into the garbage heap of humanity. In other words, the word 'sin' or 'sinner' can ruin lives...destroy them. Sometimes sin-talk is not even about actions done by others. Sometimes it is simply about a person's or a people's being! And yet, it is enough to destroy them. It is quite odd that there are only some sins or sinners that really grab our imagination and allow us to do things that literally destroy their lives. Systemic sin is often overlooked. In fact, we have been able to clean it us so well that it is down right respectable and becomes a part of the powers that make the rules about what is sin and who should be condemned for being "sinful." We will get into more specifics as the week marches on.
Connection: Spend a little bit of time today remembering those people and groups whose lives have been sent into the fiery furnace of condemnation because of how they were associated to the sin-talk of the day. The faces may change...but they are always the beloved of God. Somehow we choose to forget that and listen only to how they can be cast in a demonic light. Let's lift them up in our prayers today.
Lord of All of Creation, within the brokenness of our lives you call us to forgive and live with those who may not be like us. Encourage us to approach all people with your eyes of love and justice so that we are drawn to them and with them instead of against them. Amen.
14 November 2005
We continue with work by Stephen G. Ray, Jr. in "Do No Harm."
...theologians have long been aware that getting it (sin-talk) wrong can be a serious matter. Why? Because of two claims deeply embedded in the Christian worldview - sin destroys, and God punishes sin. Sin-talk is therefore serious business because once the source of social sin is named, the impulse to stigmatize it is strong and the desire to destroy it even stronger. In this regard, how we define sin in concrete terms strongly determines the character of our social actions against it.
If we can push someone or some group of people to the edge of our community by pointing at them and using sin-talk to describe "them," then it seems that we have put up another divide between us. This action does little or nothing to heal the separation created by what we have labeled sin. We would do well to remember that sin is not simply what a group of people want to call a "bad" thing to do. Sin is that which separates us from God and one another. Unfortunately, we use sin-talk as Ray says, "to stigmatize" it...but then we also seek to destroy it. We stop short. We do not allow ourselves a way to understand the life situation of those who have been labeled with the talk of sin. In that way we don't give ourselves the opportunity to see and hear if what we have called sin is really what we have called it...or is there something more that needs to be addressed...something that may be bigger and more ubiquitous than what we first attempted to call sin.
Connection: When it comes to sin-talk, it is good to simply ask: What is the sin that is being pointed out here? How is it sin? Is sin-talk in this case being used to create greater division between people? Even, what would be good for me to know about those we are trying to stigmatize? Who, if anyone, benefits from talking sin about someone else?
Lord, as you attempt to bring your people together as one, we know that we are a people at war with one another. We are also the ones who fight against your power that unites by being a power that divides and separates even as we use your name among us. Forgive us and let your Holy Spirit guide us into the ways of your blessed Reign. Amen.
...theologians have long been aware that getting it (sin-talk) wrong can be a serious matter. Why? Because of two claims deeply embedded in the Christian worldview - sin destroys, and God punishes sin. Sin-talk is therefore serious business because once the source of social sin is named, the impulse to stigmatize it is strong and the desire to destroy it even stronger. In this regard, how we define sin in concrete terms strongly determines the character of our social actions against it.
If we can push someone or some group of people to the edge of our community by pointing at them and using sin-talk to describe "them," then it seems that we have put up another divide between us. This action does little or nothing to heal the separation created by what we have labeled sin. We would do well to remember that sin is not simply what a group of people want to call a "bad" thing to do. Sin is that which separates us from God and one another. Unfortunately, we use sin-talk as Ray says, "to stigmatize" it...but then we also seek to destroy it. We stop short. We do not allow ourselves a way to understand the life situation of those who have been labeled with the talk of sin. In that way we don't give ourselves the opportunity to see and hear if what we have called sin is really what we have called it...or is there something more that needs to be addressed...something that may be bigger and more ubiquitous than what we first attempted to call sin.
Connection: When it comes to sin-talk, it is good to simply ask: What is the sin that is being pointed out here? How is it sin? Is sin-talk in this case being used to create greater division between people? Even, what would be good for me to know about those we are trying to stigmatize? Who, if anyone, benefits from talking sin about someone else?
Lord, as you attempt to bring your people together as one, we know that we are a people at war with one another. We are also the ones who fight against your power that unites by being a power that divides and separates even as we use your name among us. Forgive us and let your Holy Spirit guide us into the ways of your blessed Reign. Amen.
Friday, November 11, 2005
11 November 2005
A selection from "Do No Harm" by Stephen G. Ray, Jr.
...sin-talk is a challenging business. While theologians often have no problem defining sin in the abstract, when actually describing sin in concrete terms they find its subject matter more elusive. Once defined, sin seems neither univocal in nature nor transparent in character. When the term is applied to lived experience, there always seems to be a nagging voice saying, "Hold on a minute! Is it really that cut-and-dried?" It is precisely this cautionary voice that reminds us that while as Christians we must engage in sin-talk...it is a precarious enterprise - it frequently misses the mark. We are prone to get it wrong. Our experiences resist it.
When we throw out that word sin and try to pin it on an action or a person or group, it is quite easy for us to become what we want to pin on others. Ray's remark about how our sin-talk "misses the mark" is another way of saying it is sin itself. Sin is described as unfaith but the Greek word for sin is also one that carries the image of "missing the mark." Our sin-talk, especially when we do what we like to do - talk about the sin of others - becomes an activity quite worthy of being the topic of our talk...Sin. How quickly the self-righteous and the observers of sin in the world slip down the slope into a position of being the poster child of sin defined "in person." And yet, some may say that all they are trying to do is show what sin is. Well in that sin-talk, we have a history of revealing how we are able to damage others with our talk and we become the first ones damaged.
Connection: It is good to listen how sin-talk is carried out by those around us (for we do it also). If you have the opportunity, listen to what we say and what power it has when we link the word sin to a people or a specific action. It is not that we should not use sin-talk, it is simply that it would do us all well to listen to what it can and does do...That may not be the good use of such talk.
We find that sin is such a big aspect of our lives that we often try to find a way to narrow it down to a people or an action that is outside of us. On the other hand, some try to limit it to our own person and simply the actions of my life. Help us to rest and be calm and trust in how you "take away the sins of the world," O God. For when we see your power redeem us, we begin to see the world with new eyes. Amen.
...sin-talk is a challenging business. While theologians often have no problem defining sin in the abstract, when actually describing sin in concrete terms they find its subject matter more elusive. Once defined, sin seems neither univocal in nature nor transparent in character. When the term is applied to lived experience, there always seems to be a nagging voice saying, "Hold on a minute! Is it really that cut-and-dried?" It is precisely this cautionary voice that reminds us that while as Christians we must engage in sin-talk...it is a precarious enterprise - it frequently misses the mark. We are prone to get it wrong. Our experiences resist it.
When we throw out that word sin and try to pin it on an action or a person or group, it is quite easy for us to become what we want to pin on others. Ray's remark about how our sin-talk "misses the mark" is another way of saying it is sin itself. Sin is described as unfaith but the Greek word for sin is also one that carries the image of "missing the mark." Our sin-talk, especially when we do what we like to do - talk about the sin of others - becomes an activity quite worthy of being the topic of our talk...Sin. How quickly the self-righteous and the observers of sin in the world slip down the slope into a position of being the poster child of sin defined "in person." And yet, some may say that all they are trying to do is show what sin is. Well in that sin-talk, we have a history of revealing how we are able to damage others with our talk and we become the first ones damaged.
Connection: It is good to listen how sin-talk is carried out by those around us (for we do it also). If you have the opportunity, listen to what we say and what power it has when we link the word sin to a people or a specific action. It is not that we should not use sin-talk, it is simply that it would do us all well to listen to what it can and does do...That may not be the good use of such talk.
We find that sin is such a big aspect of our lives that we often try to find a way to narrow it down to a people or an action that is outside of us. On the other hand, some try to limit it to our own person and simply the actions of my life. Help us to rest and be calm and trust in how you "take away the sins of the world," O God. For when we see your power redeem us, we begin to see the world with new eyes. Amen.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
10 November 2005
Stephen G. Ray, Jr. writes about social sin and Christian responsibility in "Do No Harm."
I begin this book about sin-talk by bringing attention to the eye because sin, and our discourse about it, has everything to do with how we see the world and one another. What we name as sin, how we respond to it, and the culpability that we ascribe to the sinner correlates strongly with the interpretive framework through which we see those persons and their actions. If we otherwise think well of certain sinners, their sin likely gets a different sort of scrutiny that does the sin of persons to whom we are less well disposed.
...the behaviors of societies, peoples, and churches are conditioned by the types of assessments they make of sinners in their midst. There are very real systematic and material consequences to the way that sin and sinners are named.
I read this page in the introduction and decided I needed to press on into the rest of the book. Investigating something like sin-talk is very different than writing about sin. It appears as thought sin-talk may become destructive to the lives of people within a community and therefore, this sin-talk becomes that which breaks apart community and relationships. How we see someone and how that seeing agrees or disagrees with how we view sin can have a great impact on how we live in community...or with whom we choose to live...or worship...or commune. We have a group of 39 people going to see the newest Harry Potter movie in a few weeks. I know that there are some people in churches that think this is awful...as though we are handing ourselves over to the powers of evil. Harry and his friends are primarily seen as wizards and witches. That instantly puts them in a category of people that are to be outside of our contact. Even if the characters are fictional, we cannot associate with them...even though they are only in books...or a movie. Some good religious folks can view some things and people as so deeply a part of their definition of sin that they cannot see anything else but what their eyes have been trained to see. A more horrible example would be the people who live around us whose skin is a different color or they live in a different part of town or go to those schools. They are viewed differently than our "own." Therefore, we cannot see and will not see who they are....just what they are....and that vision quickly turns into sin-talk.
Connection: It is good to ask another person what they see. It may often help us to see things in a new light. Then, ask someone who is quite different from yourself what they see....it may be quite different and we can then begin to talk about the wider picture of how we see the day.
Lord you give us a way to view others. That is not always simply by seeing with our eyes. We also see with our heart and emotions. In all the ways of our seeing, help us to be gracious and able to see your children in a new light...the light of your Blessed Reign. Amen.
I begin this book about sin-talk by bringing attention to the eye because sin, and our discourse about it, has everything to do with how we see the world and one another. What we name as sin, how we respond to it, and the culpability that we ascribe to the sinner correlates strongly with the interpretive framework through which we see those persons and their actions. If we otherwise think well of certain sinners, their sin likely gets a different sort of scrutiny that does the sin of persons to whom we are less well disposed.
...the behaviors of societies, peoples, and churches are conditioned by the types of assessments they make of sinners in their midst. There are very real systematic and material consequences to the way that sin and sinners are named.
I read this page in the introduction and decided I needed to press on into the rest of the book. Investigating something like sin-talk is very different than writing about sin. It appears as thought sin-talk may become destructive to the lives of people within a community and therefore, this sin-talk becomes that which breaks apart community and relationships. How we see someone and how that seeing agrees or disagrees with how we view sin can have a great impact on how we live in community...or with whom we choose to live...or worship...or commune. We have a group of 39 people going to see the newest Harry Potter movie in a few weeks. I know that there are some people in churches that think this is awful...as though we are handing ourselves over to the powers of evil. Harry and his friends are primarily seen as wizards and witches. That instantly puts them in a category of people that are to be outside of our contact. Even if the characters are fictional, we cannot associate with them...even though they are only in books...or a movie. Some good religious folks can view some things and people as so deeply a part of their definition of sin that they cannot see anything else but what their eyes have been trained to see. A more horrible example would be the people who live around us whose skin is a different color or they live in a different part of town or go to those schools. They are viewed differently than our "own." Therefore, we cannot see and will not see who they are....just what they are....and that vision quickly turns into sin-talk.
Connection: It is good to ask another person what they see. It may often help us to see things in a new light. Then, ask someone who is quite different from yourself what they see....it may be quite different and we can then begin to talk about the wider picture of how we see the day.
Lord you give us a way to view others. That is not always simply by seeing with our eyes. We also see with our heart and emotions. In all the ways of our seeing, help us to be gracious and able to see your children in a new light...the light of your Blessed Reign. Amen.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
9 November 2005
A last word from Richard Jenson on preaching and the doctrine of the "indwelling of Christ" (theosis) as seen in Luther's writings. (Currents in Theology and Mission)
Proclamation, the heart of the sermon, announces a promissory event of God. God's word so announced is a creative word. God's word is always creative! It creates what it promises (Isaiah 55:10-11). It is a word that can make humans divine. It is theosis. The sermon focuses on divine agency, not human responsive agency. I lean toward the idea that preaching effects transformation of human agency; teaching is the community at work discovering ways in which people who have been divinized might best give shape to the new life that has taken root within them. (p.437)
First it is important to note that the announcement of "a promissory event of God" is at the heart of a sermon. There may be other things in the sermon, but that Word of promise is what is proclaimed loudly and clearly. It is the action of God who is for us that transforms us. We do not transform ourselves to fit into the shape or mold of God's people. That Word that does that must be put out for the hearing of the gathered community. This is why as we talk about stewardship, we do not focus simply on our response. Any group of people involved in any organized group can do that - fundraisers abound. But for those who are called to be stewards of life within the Reign of God, there is promise...there is God for us and never cutting and running from us...there is the very breath we breathe. What is...draws out whose we are and who we will be. Stewards have been divinized and their lives are made new before we act. Therefore, the responsibility of being a steward of the Reign of God is simply a part of what the proclamation of good news does to us.
Connection: So, good stewards, welcome into the gracious unfolding of the Reign of God.
For the welfare of your creation, O God, we give you thanks. You create and you entrust us with the ongoing work of this creative process in which we become a part of your blessed work. Continue to encourage us with your promise of new life so that we do not fear walking into it and living as your stewards each day. Amen.
Proclamation, the heart of the sermon, announces a promissory event of God. God's word so announced is a creative word. God's word is always creative! It creates what it promises (Isaiah 55:10-11). It is a word that can make humans divine. It is theosis. The sermon focuses on divine agency, not human responsive agency. I lean toward the idea that preaching effects transformation of human agency; teaching is the community at work discovering ways in which people who have been divinized might best give shape to the new life that has taken root within them. (p.437)
First it is important to note that the announcement of "a promissory event of God" is at the heart of a sermon. There may be other things in the sermon, but that Word of promise is what is proclaimed loudly and clearly. It is the action of God who is for us that transforms us. We do not transform ourselves to fit into the shape or mold of God's people. That Word that does that must be put out for the hearing of the gathered community. This is why as we talk about stewardship, we do not focus simply on our response. Any group of people involved in any organized group can do that - fundraisers abound. But for those who are called to be stewards of life within the Reign of God, there is promise...there is God for us and never cutting and running from us...there is the very breath we breathe. What is...draws out whose we are and who we will be. Stewards have been divinized and their lives are made new before we act. Therefore, the responsibility of being a steward of the Reign of God is simply a part of what the proclamation of good news does to us.
Connection: So, good stewards, welcome into the gracious unfolding of the Reign of God.
For the welfare of your creation, O God, we give you thanks. You create and you entrust us with the ongoing work of this creative process in which we become a part of your blessed work. Continue to encourage us with your promise of new life so that we do not fear walking into it and living as your stewards each day. Amen.
Tuesday, November 8, 2005
8 November 2005
Richard Jenson writes of the word and sacraments as the means of grace. He uses Luther's words about the sacraments in the small catechism to speak of preaching in "Currents in Theology and mission."
In preaching, the word is associated with the finitude not by the presence of earthly elements but through the presence of the human preacher who with his/her bodily voice brings Christ into the lives of believers and deifies its recipients. (Jenson then quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer.) "The proclaimed word has its origin in the incarnation of Jesus Christ himself. As little as the incarnation is the outward shape of God, just so little does the proclaimed word present the outward form of a reality; rather, it is the thing itself. The preached Christ is both the Historical One and the Present One...the proclaimed word is not a medium of expression for something else...but rather it is the Christ himself walking through his congregation as the Word." (p.436)
It must be very clear that Jenson and Bonhoeffer do not say that the preacher is the Word. Rather Bonhoeffer refers to the proclaimed word as Christ walking through the congregation. The voice brings the Christ and the voice enters the life of the recipients. In all that we have been saying about the indwelling of Christ, it is here as the Word cuts us to the heart that our entire being is transformed. In past days we have talked about divinization taking place. I would like to push that a bit and come around to the notion of how we are stewards of the life within the Reign of God because that life...that Word for life...has been passed among us in the mere speaking of the truthfulness of the Light of the World. The Word may be the Christ walking through the congregation, but the congregation is also, you could say, the Christ walking through the world as we take the story that grasps us and changes us and we then become that life changing word all along the way.
Connection: There are so many ways to be stewards of the Reign of God. It may begin by simply hearing any of the stories of how God rescues and saves God's people simply because God has this love for us that will not end. All of the sudden, we are handed that word and we become a part of its life unfolding within...yes, the ordinary stuff of this day.
Our hearts long to be fed by your promises that enable us to live with confidence so that we will never be afraid to be vulnerable to others just as the Word was so vulnerable, it became flesh among us. Breathe on us, O God, and let your Spirit take us and make us as one with you. Amen.
In preaching, the word is associated with the finitude not by the presence of earthly elements but through the presence of the human preacher who with his/her bodily voice brings Christ into the lives of believers and deifies its recipients. (Jenson then quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer.) "The proclaimed word has its origin in the incarnation of Jesus Christ himself. As little as the incarnation is the outward shape of God, just so little does the proclaimed word present the outward form of a reality; rather, it is the thing itself. The preached Christ is both the Historical One and the Present One...the proclaimed word is not a medium of expression for something else...but rather it is the Christ himself walking through his congregation as the Word." (p.436)
It must be very clear that Jenson and Bonhoeffer do not say that the preacher is the Word. Rather Bonhoeffer refers to the proclaimed word as Christ walking through the congregation. The voice brings the Christ and the voice enters the life of the recipients. In all that we have been saying about the indwelling of Christ, it is here as the Word cuts us to the heart that our entire being is transformed. In past days we have talked about divinization taking place. I would like to push that a bit and come around to the notion of how we are stewards of the life within the Reign of God because that life...that Word for life...has been passed among us in the mere speaking of the truthfulness of the Light of the World. The Word may be the Christ walking through the congregation, but the congregation is also, you could say, the Christ walking through the world as we take the story that grasps us and changes us and we then become that life changing word all along the way.
Connection: There are so many ways to be stewards of the Reign of God. It may begin by simply hearing any of the stories of how God rescues and saves God's people simply because God has this love for us that will not end. All of the sudden, we are handed that word and we become a part of its life unfolding within...yes, the ordinary stuff of this day.
Our hearts long to be fed by your promises that enable us to live with confidence so that we will never be afraid to be vulnerable to others just as the Word was so vulnerable, it became flesh among us. Breathe on us, O God, and let your Spirit take us and make us as one with you. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)