One of the first prayers I was taught as kid was a prayer to say grace at the table. Part of it was to ask God to be with “those less fortunate” while we are being blessed with lots to eat.
The prayer stuck.
It got under my skin and I never seemed able to shake it off. Every meal, no matter how simple of decadent the contradiction or that prayer keeps coming back. While may plate is full, others’ has been empty for days.
That’s the problem with talking about eating while living in Africa. Too many people struggling, too many hungry, too many dying while the rest of us are queuing up for seconds.
The same contradiction is found in the life of Jesus. One of the first stories told of his colourful life, involves a wedding and 2400 glasses of award winning wine.
It’s a story overflowing with abundance and decadence.
But just as quickly as he turns water into wine for the young and hopeful, so does he feed the crowds of hungry people drawn to his message of Good News.
The one night he parties with a mafia boss, the next day he asks a rich man to sell all of his possessions, give the money to the poor and follow the signposts of the Kingdom of God.
The Way of Jesus:
A blessing and a burden
An invitation to feast and a call to follow
A prayer of a young boy at a dinner table asking God to be with the less fortunate...
Showing posts with label Kingdom of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kingdom of God. Show all posts
Friday, 26 June 2009
Sunday, 07 June 2009
Day 33
Jesus once said that we should first seek the kingdom of God and the rest will follow. Through the centuries the friends of Jesus did this by listening intently to the silent whispers of the Spirit of Jesus in the stories of the ancient prophets, poets and writers; in the witnesses of the men and women at the empty tomb; in the way all of creation fits together; in the lives of the dead and the living and in the sacred spaces all over the place.
For the first 5000 thousand years the community of God-seekers did not have a Bible. The stories, prophecies, poems, songs, letters and sermons that most Christians today read as God’s untouchable Word, were back then, also understood as Moses’ sermons, Israel’s history, David’s prayers, Solomon’s wisdom, Jeremiah’s hope, Amos’ convictions and Daniel’s dreams. They believed that these written words helped them to understand themselves and God better. For them the words were dead unless they read it, engaged with it, discussed it, confronted it, believed it and lived it.
A few generations after Jesus, some of them started to see that these ancient texts helped them to see the Truth behind the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. With the help of Paul, Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, Peter and a few others they came to see how this historical event(s) were connected with all of creation, how this ordinary human being was “God-with-us” and how this new understanding changed their lives in this life and the next.
It was only 300 and something years after Jesus that the community of Jesus-followers thought it handy to give more structure to the literature they read as a community. It took another 1200 years before a part of the community felt compelled to make this ancient Library of God-stories available in ordinary, common and easy-to-read language for everyone who wants to take part in the movement of Jesus.
So if the Bible, like we know it today, is only 500 years old, while the movement of Jesus has been around for way longer than that, can it then be that modern Christianity is missing the point when it comes to the Ancient Word(s) of Faith?
Something to the think about as another week in the lives of doubtful believers unfolds.
For the first 5000 thousand years the community of God-seekers did not have a Bible. The stories, prophecies, poems, songs, letters and sermons that most Christians today read as God’s untouchable Word, were back then, also understood as Moses’ sermons, Israel’s history, David’s prayers, Solomon’s wisdom, Jeremiah’s hope, Amos’ convictions and Daniel’s dreams. They believed that these written words helped them to understand themselves and God better. For them the words were dead unless they read it, engaged with it, discussed it, confronted it, believed it and lived it.
A few generations after Jesus, some of them started to see that these ancient texts helped them to see the Truth behind the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. With the help of Paul, Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, Peter and a few others they came to see how this historical event(s) were connected with all of creation, how this ordinary human being was “God-with-us” and how this new understanding changed their lives in this life and the next.
It was only 300 and something years after Jesus that the community of Jesus-followers thought it handy to give more structure to the literature they read as a community. It took another 1200 years before a part of the community felt compelled to make this ancient Library of God-stories available in ordinary, common and easy-to-read language for everyone who wants to take part in the movement of Jesus.
So if the Bible, like we know it today, is only 500 years old, while the movement of Jesus has been around for way longer than that, can it then be that modern Christianity is missing the point when it comes to the Ancient Word(s) of Faith?
Something to the think about as another week in the lives of doubtful believers unfolds.
Friday, 05 June 2009
Day 31
A friend of mine runs a big company. He rescued it from failure and is steering it towards success. He is not even 40 and already he’s got the world beneath his feat. A few weeks ago he and his family (wife and two small kids) went to visit one of the many nearby slums. They stayed with the locals and slept in a shack.
They shared life with the men, women and children the world neglects.
No sleeping bags.
No heaters.
No burglar bars and high tech alarm systems.
No credit cards and extra cash for just in case.
Just poverty and life.
His kids played with the children of the slum. His wife walked, talked, laughed and cried with the women of the slum. He had beer and conversations with the men of the slum.
“Why, for God sakes?” I hear someone asks. “They must be crazy. This is Africa, how irresponsible.”
But then the words of the Counter Cultural Rebel Prophet cuts through the bones of scepticism:
“Good news to the poor, always good news to the poor.”
When the life of a powerful and successful CEO becomes enmeshed in the desperate and vulnerable life of people barely holding on, the Good News of Jesus becomes flesh and bones. When the CEO goes back and rearranges his life in terms of values and lifestyle, the power of the Life Giving Spirit kicks in. When this new way of living becomes the reality of some of the friends of the CEO, then something the ancient followers of Jesus called Church, evolves. And when this new type of community gathers steam and rolls down the hills of stereotypes and prejudices towards the valley of understanding, respect and love, a revolution called the kingdom of God is at hand.
Jesus said something about us doing more than he ever dreamed of doing, something bigger and deeper. Something that’s good for all mankind. I think the stuff my friend, his wife and their two children are up to might just be what Jesus hoped his friends would be doing long after he’s gone.
They shared life with the men, women and children the world neglects.
No sleeping bags.
No heaters.
No burglar bars and high tech alarm systems.
No credit cards and extra cash for just in case.
Just poverty and life.
His kids played with the children of the slum. His wife walked, talked, laughed and cried with the women of the slum. He had beer and conversations with the men of the slum.
“Why, for God sakes?” I hear someone asks. “They must be crazy. This is Africa, how irresponsible.”
But then the words of the Counter Cultural Rebel Prophet cuts through the bones of scepticism:
“Good news to the poor, always good news to the poor.”
When the life of a powerful and successful CEO becomes enmeshed in the desperate and vulnerable life of people barely holding on, the Good News of Jesus becomes flesh and bones. When the CEO goes back and rearranges his life in terms of values and lifestyle, the power of the Life Giving Spirit kicks in. When this new way of living becomes the reality of some of the friends of the CEO, then something the ancient followers of Jesus called Church, evolves. And when this new type of community gathers steam and rolls down the hills of stereotypes and prejudices towards the valley of understanding, respect and love, a revolution called the kingdom of God is at hand.
Jesus said something about us doing more than he ever dreamed of doing, something bigger and deeper. Something that’s good for all mankind. I think the stuff my friend, his wife and their two children are up to might just be what Jesus hoped his friends would be doing long after he’s gone.
Friday, 22 May 2009
Day 17
So far I threw out guilt, hell, fundamentalism and the need to have a handle on God. Today I am wrapping up the “race” as religious metaphor. In the Christian story, a writer named Paul used it to describe his spirituality and ever since Christians have been in competition with one another. (It is probably more complex than that, but for argument’s sake, let us keep it like that.)
“Who will be first?”
“Who will be last?”
“What will the prizes be?”
“Am I fast enough?”
“Fit enough?”
“I hope the others struggle or fall or trail behind.”
“God I hope I win.”
Is that really a healthy way of looking at spirituality? I can imagine that in Paul’s context it was revolutionary or at least helpful. But in a society where everything is about winning and no one ever sits still, because you might just get left behind, the race as metaphor is like fuel on the fire.
Eventually you end up with the “not good enough feeling”, because in life there is always someone faster, stronger, bigger and better. Your fall is detrimental. You can’t always win.
But religion doesn’t tell you this. Loosing is just not on. You have to win; otherwise you’ll get kicked out of the team. It’s as simple as that.
Then I look at the life and teachings of Jesus and somehow the race metaphor does not fit. When Jesus called people to follow him, he chose the losers of his day to be part of a countercultural movement where people found healing and restoration in the belief that they are loved by God “as is” and not as “supposed to be”. One day a few of his friends got into an argument of who is in the lead towards the finish. Jesus, overhearing the conversation, rebuked them and sent them back to the end of the line to learn about the art of unselfishness.
The kingdom of God, as Jesus spoke of it, is a journey where the way is just as important as the destination. Jesus came to give us life, not tire us out. Faith is not an effort to grab pole position towards the finish line.
We are called to walk together, carry each other and share life together.
“Who will be first?”
“Who will be last?”
“What will the prizes be?”
“Am I fast enough?”
“Fit enough?”
“I hope the others struggle or fall or trail behind.”
“God I hope I win.”
Is that really a healthy way of looking at spirituality? I can imagine that in Paul’s context it was revolutionary or at least helpful. But in a society where everything is about winning and no one ever sits still, because you might just get left behind, the race as metaphor is like fuel on the fire.
Eventually you end up with the “not good enough feeling”, because in life there is always someone faster, stronger, bigger and better. Your fall is detrimental. You can’t always win.
But religion doesn’t tell you this. Loosing is just not on. You have to win; otherwise you’ll get kicked out of the team. It’s as simple as that.
Then I look at the life and teachings of Jesus and somehow the race metaphor does not fit. When Jesus called people to follow him, he chose the losers of his day to be part of a countercultural movement where people found healing and restoration in the belief that they are loved by God “as is” and not as “supposed to be”. One day a few of his friends got into an argument of who is in the lead towards the finish. Jesus, overhearing the conversation, rebuked them and sent them back to the end of the line to learn about the art of unselfishness.
The kingdom of God, as Jesus spoke of it, is a journey where the way is just as important as the destination. Jesus came to give us life, not tire us out. Faith is not an effort to grab pole position towards the finish line.
We are called to walk together, carry each other and share life together.
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