Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Selling Water by the River - No One Comes to the Bible without a Lens

More from Shane Hipps' book, Selling Water By the River:

In his chapter about how we read and understand scripture, Hipps talks about the lenses through which we read:

"No one comes to the Bible or life without a lens...A lens can be a set of assumptions or beliefs that we have...When it comes to the Bible, religious authorities usually tell us which lenses we should use. We learn what to believe about the Bible as a way to help us understand how to read it. We are also taught what to be afraid of or angry about..."

The author goes ahead to list the first set of biblical lenses he was given, which included such things as "The Bible is flat; no teaching or doctrine in the Bible is privileged above another...The Bible is unified in its message...God doesn't speak outside the Bible..." (Authority figures also taught him what lenses he should NOT look through at the Bible.)

"Our lenses - our assumptions, our way of seeing the world - shape the way we interpret the Bible and how we relate to God and those in the world around us... When we see our lenses, we can evaluate them consciously...An examination of our lenses is not a process of changing the Bible, the world, or truth; it is a process of changing ourselves. 

"The most limited Bible interpreter is one who claims to have no lens.

"Even Jesus, the Son of God, made deliberate use of a lens..." Shane Hipps goes on to illustrate this by showing how Jesus elevated certain scriptures over others. The Pharisees tried to trick Him by asking which was the greatest commandment believing that the only correct answer could be that all the commandments are the greatest. But Jesus didn't hesitate to respond in a way that shows His understanding that some commandments carry more weight than others and that all of them should be understood in the light of the two commandments to love God and our neighbor...

"The implications of what Jesus says here are enormous and often overlooked. He is actually showing us that he has a lens - a set of assumptions. He doesn't see the Bible as flat...

"We all have lenses, but not all lenses are created equal. Some help us see more, some cause us to see less...Perhaps this Jesus-centered lens is one we should adopt. One that elevates love of God, and love of neighbor and self as the interpretive keys to the Bible."

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Selling Water By the River

For the next weeks I plan to post quotes from Shane Hipps' book, Selling Water By the River, (here) a book about the life Jesus promised and the religion that gets in the way.

Shane Hipps has served at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI, and as pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church in Phoenix, AZ. He is a graduate of Fuller Seminary and writes and speaks about the effects of technology on faith.

The summary on the book jacket says of this book: "Work, sex, ice cream, religion - they all promise fulfillment. But what they deliver is fleeting...We want something that lasts, that doesn't rise and fall with the fate of the stock market. Jesus understood this quest. He came to show us that peace is possible in this life, not just the next one. Yet Christianity, the very religion that claims Jesus as its own, has often built the biggest barriers to him and the life he promised."

In this book Shane Hipps shows how available the water of life is; it's a river available to all, but we build our institutions next to the river to sell the water. In so doing, we often create hindrances for people to get to directly to the river of life, Jesus.

"...problematic are the beliefs we are taught to adopt that truncate our imagination of God...Then there is...fear. Fear is one of the great barriers to this river...Ironically, religious Christianity is often the purveyor of the very beliefs and fears that get in the way of the water.

"...What we believe matters, but not for the reasons we may assume. Our beliefs (or lack of beliefs) do not qualify or disqualify us from the river. Instead, they determine how clearly we will see the river...Some beliefs clear the way and give us high visibility, while others create a thick fog..."


Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Beauty: Those Mocked and Misunderstood for the Right Reasons

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, 
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:11)

"Blessed are those who are mocked and misunderstood for the right reasons, for the kingdom of heaven comes to earth amidst much persecution." (B.Zahnd paraphrase)


The eighth and final beatitude we find in Matthew 5 brings it all full circle when Jesus promises the same reward to the spiritually poor and to those who are persecuted for the right reasons.

Brian Zahnd presents a wonderful way of seeing all of the beatitudes expressed in their fullness in the cross which he contends earlier in his book (Beauty Will Save the World) is the greatest expression of beauty that has ever been known and the beauty that will save the world.

To name and follow Jesus is to live like He lived as seen in the beatitudes, and to live in this way will always lead to a cross. Understood rightly, this way of living is counter-cultural to the ways and mindsets of the world's culture. "The moment Jesus proclaimed the Beatitudes on that Galilean hillside - and began to live them - he was launched on a course that would ultimately lead to Good Friday and his crucifixion on the hill of Calvary." Zahnd goes on to show how each beatitude can be seen expressed in the final hours of Jesus' life:

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It was the spiritually poor thief crucified by Jesus who is promised heaven, not the spiritually rich Pharisees.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. The first to be comforted on Easter Sunday were the women who mourned at the cross.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. In lowliness and meekness, Jesus entered Jerusalem on His way to be crucified; His inheritance now is the nations that stretch from sea to sea.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. In His thirst on the cross, Jesus was setting the world aright and giving it a new axis of love, therein finding satisfaction.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. The thief expresses mercy to Jesus when others are mocking Him and in return receives mercy from Jesus.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. The pagan soldier with no claims of spiritual insight was able to see in Jesus what the Pharisees could not see.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Jesus was called "son of God" by the Roman soldier when, by refusing to take up the sword and perpetuate the cycle of violence, He made peace by the blood of the cross.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The principalities and powers persecuted Jesus for all the right reasons, but in Him the kingdom of heaven came to earth and the cross began the remaking of the world according to righteousness.

"The Beatitudes and the cruciform are ultimately the same thing - one existing in proclamation, the other existing in demonstration. It is the beauty that we are called to emulate as followers of Jesus Christ...The Beatitudes and the cruciform are...God's saving beauty. The beauty of the Beatitudes leads to the beauty of the cruciform, and together they form the beauty that will save the world."

This kind of living by God's people provides a safe place for those seeking shelter from the storm of the "ugly and unforgiving pragmatism offered by the principalities and powers."

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Beauty: Peaceful Bridge Builders in a War-Torn World (Part 2)

In this second part of the commentary by Brian Zahnd on the seventh beatitude about being peacemakers (see Part 1 here), I will quote part of a statement that he and two of his friends (a Jewish artist born in Israel and a Muslim scientist born in Egypt) agreed upon as they work together for peace in spite of their differences. Together they have collected thousands of toys for the poor Israeli and Palestinian children in and around Gaza. The following is their attempt to explain their cooperation (you can read the entire statement in his book, Beauty Will Save the World):

For the Common Good

We are Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
And we are friends.
We seek to follow our respective religions faithfully...

We recognize the reality of our religious differences.
But we are friends...

Our faith and friendship need not be mutually exclusive.
We recognize that we share common space - the common space of a shared planet.
For the sake of the common good we seek common ground.
We do not share a common faith, but we share a common humanity...

...in our shared humanity we hold to a common dream: Shalom, Salaam, Peace.
We hold to the dream that our children may play in peace without fear of violence...

We pledge not to hate.
We pledge not to dehumanize others.
We pledge to do no harm in the name of God.
As individuals we do not compromise the truth claims of our respective religions.
But we will not use truth claims to fuel hate or justify violence...

Our religions share a complex and intertwined history -
A history of interaction that has too often been tumultuous and bloody.
We believe there must be a better way...the way of peace.
We are Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
And we are friends... 

The next beatitude we will look at is the eighth and final beatitude: "Blessed are those who are mocked and misunderstood for the right reasons, for the kingdom of heaven comes to earth amidst much persecution."




Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Beauty: Peaceful Bridge Builders in a War-Torn World (Part 1)

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God." (Mt.5:9)

"Blessed are the peaceful bridge builders in a war-torn world, 
for they are God's children working in the family business."
(Brian Zahnd paraphrase)

We are now on the seventh beatitude, and in his commentary on this one, Brian Zahnd says that in order to understand the significance of these words we need to get past our focus on personal peace as western Christians. Jesus' words mean much more than that (though they include that). "In a world drunk on hate and tearing itself apart in hostility, the reign of Christ brings peace in the fullest sense of the word." The prophets called the Messiah the Prince of Peace and He is that today as well as in the future when He will establish His earthly throne.

When Jesus was born, Caesar Augustus was reigning and had the title of "Prince of Peace" and "Bringer of World Peace." On one level Rome did bring some peace to the world but it was through violence and the squashing of any dissent; the death on a Roman cross was the means to keep rebels under control. While Rome brought peace through violence, Jesus brought it through forgiveness and as followers of His we are called to the radical alternative of forgiveness in the way we walk today.

"...he (Jesus) took the ultimate instrument of violence and turned it into the ultimate emblem of forgiveness...he is blessing those who make peace the way he makes peace...As long as we feel we can justify violence as a legitimate way to bring about peace, we will eventually resort to it...If the state feels that violence is unavoidable in achieving their ends, so be it, but the church must speak with a unified voice and tell the state they employ violence without the blessing of God."

jesus prince of peace photo: Jesus Prince of Peace JESUS.jpgOn the cross Jesus shamed the idea that peace can be achieved by force when he renounced force in favor of forgiveness, which is the greatest expression of the love of God for all people.

Because the "family business" in God's kingdom is that of peace-making, we who name Jesus can and should demonstrate the family likeness through working to make peace in whatever way possible in our daily lives including that of working with "the other" (those who are different from us). This is another way that the beauty of the Prince of Peace saves the world.

In the second part of this I want to write out part of a statement that Brian Zahnd wrote on behalf of himself and two friends of his (Jewish and Muslim). It exemplifies what he is challenging the reader with in this particular interpretation of beatitude #7.


Sunday, October 06, 2013

Beauty: Those Who Have a Clean Window Into Their Soul

"Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God." (Matt. 5:8)

"Blessed are those who have a clean window into their soul, 
for they will perceive God when and where others don't." 
(Brian Zahnd paraphrase)

To see Jesus is to see God. When we read the Gospel stories it's interesting to note that those who were quicker to recognize God in Jesus were the sinful and irreligious people. Jesus called the religious leaders and Pharisees "blind" on various occasions. According to this beatitude, seeing God is connected with purity of heart, or cleanness of heart. Zahnd says, "There is a sense in which the heart or soul is an organ of perception...The heart of man is like a window, which if clean, can perceive God at work in the world...But the cleanness of heart that enables us to see God...(is) not the morally upright or ethically irreproachable who have clean hearts (as commendable as these things may be); rather, cleanness of heart has to do with a lack of pride, hypocrisy, and judgmentalism. Overconfidence in our ability to see, producing the perception that we can accurately judge others, is in reality a form of spiritual blindness..."

http://www.turnbacktogod.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/jesus-and-sinner.jpgIn John 9:39-41 Jesus says that it was the Pharisees' certainty that they could see that actually kept them blind! "The same window that allows light in so that we can see our own sin is also the window by which we can look outward and see God at work in the world. Those who claim to be qualified to judge others because of their own supposed moral superiority are, in fact, living in profound spiritual darkness..."

It is in the incarnation Christ that we see the invisible God apart from which we can't see God. However, God continues His work on earth through incarnation in lives of common people who live and love and serve others as Jesus did. If pride and judgmentalism corrupts us, we can't see God's activity in the lives of flawed and broken humans.

The author concludes this section by saying that "if we in humility acknowledge our own sins and flaws, disqualifying ourselves to judge others, that is when we at last begin to see...Instead of seeing the sins and shortcomings of others, we will see God unexpectedly at work in the lives of ordinary people, even sinners. Sometimes the world becomes a much more beautiful place simply by being able to see God - ...present in the lives of others. In this case it's true - beauty lies in the eye of the beholder."

The next post will be on the seventh beatitude: "Blessed are the peaceful bridge builders in a war-torn world, for they are God's children working in the family business."

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Beauty: Those Who Give Mercy

Continuing with my series on the Beatitudes as seen through the eyes of Brian Zahnd in his book, Beauty Will Save the World, today's post will be on the fifth beatitude:

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." (Matt. 5:7)

"Blessed are those who give mercy,
for they will get it back when they need it most."
(paraphrase by B.Zahnd)

If we wonder what Jesus is like, we can see it in the beatitudes. "Jesus is drawn to the poor and sorrowful, and he stands up for the meek and persecuted. Jesus exhibits justice and mercy, and he endorses purity and peacemaking. This is what Jesus is like...Getting Jesus right is absolutely essential if we are to recover the beauty of Christianity, because Jesus is the beauty of Christianity!"

Even though scriptures are full of stories of those who have seen God, the apostle John says in the prologue to the gospel of John that no one has seen God. In other words, any encounter that a human has with God is partial and biased and can't be trusted to be the definitive word on what God is like. John continues his sentence by saying that "It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known."

Only in Jesus do we see what God is really like, and in this mercy beatitude we see a core characteristic of God the Father. The only people Jesus was not merciful towards were those who were not merciful.

The author points out that this Mercy Beatitude needs to be understood alongside the Justice Beatitude that comes before it; however, "Living in the tension of justice and mercy can at times place us in difficult dilemmas. When should we press for justice, and when should we plead for mercy?...when in doubt, go with mercy. Mercy should be our default mode. The apostle James said it like this: 'Judgement will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment'...If our churches are to be anything like a shelter from the storm, we must become famous for our mercy...Why were sinners attracted to Jesus...? In Jesus they found mercy."

The sixth beatitude is next: "Blessed are those who have a clean window into their soul, for they will perceive God when and where others don't."

Thoughts for Lent (9) - On Changing Our Minds

In this reading from Walter Brueggemann's  A Way Other Than Our Own , the author issues an invitation to us as the final week of Lent be...