26 June 2005
About a week and a half ago,
MissionBound dropped by for a visit. We went to the local ice cream shop and at while I whined about how hard it was to put together the upcoming sermon (which was last Sunday's). For some reason, when I said "Ishmael" she heard "Isaac," and thought that the passage was the near-sacrifice of Isaac. We laughed a moment, and then I asked, "So, what do you think the odds are that the lectionary passage for my last Sunday in Ladd will be the near-sacrifice of Isaac?" She said, "Well, we had the promise of children last week, and this week is Ishmael, so it would be about right for the other brother story." To which I said, "Ugh, I hope that's not the passage for my final sermon."
Lo and behold, it is. The lectionary is
here.
19 June 2005: "The Descendents of Ishmael"
Genesis 21:8-21
The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac." The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring."
So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, "Do not let me look on the death of the child." And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.
And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him." Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.
God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt."The Descendents of Ishmael"Intro to Christian Terrorism 101The topic of abortion has been a hot one in Christian circles over the last several years. There are Christians arguing on both sides of the fence, some see themselves as trying to protect the life of an unborn child, others seeing themselves as trying to protect the health and rights of potential mothers. The debates have been heated, and it is not surprising that the issue has caused quite a rift.
In the midst of this heated atmosphere, there are those Christians who feel that the matter has gotten out of hand and embraced extreme forms of action. For example, in 1984, Rev. Michael Bray and associates hopped into their yellow car one night, drove to an abortion clinic, smashed windows, and tossed in gasoline and fiery rags. They continued their crusade, causing damage and wreaking havoc for about a year before the authorities finally caught them.
Continuing this crusade, Rev. Paul Hill, shot and killed Dr. John Britton and James Barrett as they arrived at the Ladies Center, in Pensacola, Florida in 1994. And it appears as though Rev. Michael Bray had quite the following, because other friends of his have also been convicted of several clinic bombings over the years. And, these are just a few examples of extremist reaction to the issue of abortion. I’m sure you are aware of many more thanks to the news.
But, abortion hasn’t been the only hot topic in Christian circles over the past few years that have drawn out violent reaction. What about the issues of human sexuality, race, or governmental power. All of these seem to have been woven somehow into the catastrophe of the Oklahoma City bombing. In 1995, Timothy McVeigh, who seemed to strongly identify with the theology of the Christian Identity movement (a group who’s theology stresses racial supremacy and biblical law) took it upon himself to make a statement. He unleashed a truck-bomb on the government building in Oklahoma City. One hundred sixty eight people died, mostly civilians. It appears as though this act may have been intended to inspire people to rise up and tear down the existing separation of church and state in order to make America a theocratic government, a government whose national laws were based on biblical law.
These stories that I have relayed, those of various bombings and assassinations, have two common themes. First, they were all terrorist acts. They are meant to inspire their allies while striking fear into the hearts of their enemies. And second, they were all performed by self-identifying Christians, who felt theologically justified in their heinous acts. Yes, I’m talking about acts of Christian terrorism. And unfortunately the list could easily continue, especially if we look in other parts of the world like Northern Ireland and Rwanda.
Don’t Judge by the “Bad Apples”As we gather for worship, we must never forget that Christianity has always had (and still has) its share of bad apples. I suspect that none of us in this room today would want our personal religion to be identified with such spiritually and emotionally sick people at terrorists. I’m sure there are those out there who see such things on TV and say, “Well, that’s Christians for you.” We don’t like it when we’re identified in that way. And we are fully justified in saying, “No, that has nothing to do with my faith. Don’t lump me in with those psychopaths.” Yes, we are fully justified in saying that.
But, if we want the freedom to say that those supposedly “Christian” terrorists don’t represent our religion, then we have to be willing to give other people of other religions the freedom to say the same thing. If we don’t want our religion to be identified as a religion of terror because of illegitimate extremists, then we must not identify other religions by their extremists. And today, I’m thinking especially about the religion of Islam.
Misinformed About IslamEver since 9-11, we have had a huge problem in this country with Christians demonizing Muslims. In fact, not long after the event happened, I was traveling and came across a radio program on which the commentator, who was apparently a Christian preacher, claimed that Islam was inherently a religion of terror. As I recall, he had two main proofs of this. First was the Muslim call to Jihad, which was completely misunderstood as a divine command to convert all others, using force if necessary. A complete misunderstanding. And second, he said that the God that Islam worshiped…was really Satan.
As I sat there and listened (admittedly not for very long, because I can only endure so much absurd misinformation), I had to wonder, “Has this preacher ever actually, oh I don’t know, read the Bible?”
Theologically, we Christians identify as heirs to the Jewish Covenant. When we say that, we don’t mean that the Covenant in Christ gets rid of the Old Jewish Covenant and replaces it with a brand spanking new Christian one. No, our New Covenant does not negate the Jewish one.
Rather, in Christ, we claim we are grafted into the Jewish Covenant, which makes us legitimate heirs to the Promise to Abraham. Indeed, we tend to claim that the Promise made to Abraham is fulfilled in Christ, who is the Abrahamic Promise enfleshed.
I think what those who demonize Muslims tend to forget is that, while the Jews trace their lineage back to Abraham through Isaac, Muslims trace their lineage back to Abraham through Ishmael. That, of course, is our story for today.
The Children of IshmaelIt began back when Sarah thought she would never be able to bear children. Wanting Abraham to have legitimate heirs, she encourages him to take Hagar, her slave, and have a child with her. Hagar bears a son, Ishmael. Now, Abraham has an heir. All is good and well.
Well, that is, until Sarah gives birth to a son. Now, we have a problem. Ishmael, not Isaac, is the oldest son, and therefore Abraham’s heir. But Sarah wants her son to be heir. So, Sarah tells Abraham to get rid of that woman and her child.
Meanwhile, Abraham’s confused. (“First you want me to have a child with her, and now you want me to get rid of them? Make up your mind.”) Abraham takes the problem to God, and God says, “Do as Sarah wishes.” Out go Hagar and Ishmael.
Now, at this point, it looks as though Hagar and Ishmael have been cursed by God, for they have been ejected from the house of Abraham. However, when we look at the text we see that God speaks to Hagar, which, given that God doesn’t just speak to anyone, makes her an equal to Abraham and Sarah in God’s eyes. Talk about an unexpected twist in the story. Moreover, God specifically says, not once but twice (once to Abraham and once to Hagar) that “I will make a great nation of [Ishmael].” This effectively means that God has not cursed Ishmael, but has blessed him by declaring a special, covenant relationship with him and his descendents.
Just as we Christians do not declare that Christ negates the Jewish covenant as passed from Abraham through Isaac, so too do we not declare the negation of the covenant that God has made with the descendents of Ishmael. So, when we talk about the Abrahamic family of faith, we don’t just include Christians and Jews; we include Muslims as well.
My DismayI admit that I am greatly dismayed by the rampant demonization of Muslims on the part of Christians (which is a form of evil in and of itself). Why is it so hard for us to remember that we share a common story, the story of Abraham and his faith? Why is it so hard for us to remember that Muslims are real people too, with real flesh, and real bone, and very real human feelings? Why is it so hard for us to remember that?
I do not know the answer to these questions. But, I can say that asking them does help me to dream about “what could have been” or “what should be.” I find myself wondering what would the world be like today if all Christians were able to see all Muslims as the children of God that they truly are? What would the world be like if Muslims were able to do the same for us Christians? I suspect that if that could happen, we would be living in a very different place.
Wouldn’t we all love to live in that very different place, even if it for but a short while? It would be a place of mutual respect. It would be a place where people took care of one another. It would be a place where truly peace and justice reigned. It would be nothing less than the Kingdom of God.
Yes, that’s one of my dreams, to dwell in the Kingdom of God, the place where all people see each other as children of God and treat them accordingly. And surely there are those out there in this world who would claim that my dream is also an unrealistic pipe-dream. Maybe, they would say “There’s a Christians for you, living with his head in the clouds.”
But there is a reason that I have this dream. It is because I am convinced that the Supreme Reality of this universe is the God of Abraham, whose will is manifest in Jesus Christ, the One who brings the power of reconciliation for all God’s children, no matter who they are.
And I believe it is my task as a Christian to proclaim to all people that the dream of the Kingdom can be made real in the here and the now. But if we are to pursue that dream, we must also know that it always begins in the depths of a transformed human heart.
19 May 2005
The lectionary passage is
here. I think I'll run with the Genesis passage. Here are a few options for me:
***************
Family politics: Sarah wanted Abraham to have a child with Hagar, but now that she has her own son, she wants Hagar gone.Tension in discerning God's will: God tells Abraham to send Hagar and child away, and then goes ahead and blesses them. Is God capable of making up God's mind? Why would God do something that seems so inherently contradictory?God speaks to...Hagar?: By speaking to Hagar, God in effect raises her up to the level of Abraham and Sarah. Pedigree: Whereas Jews trace their ancestry through Isaac, Muslims trace theirs through Ishmael. In effect, God has entered into another covenant relationship with another lineage. What are we to do with that in today's world?Polygamy: Whereas we often think that only one familial order is godly, when we look at the Bible we see that there are different familial structures that have been sanctified by God. The familial structure is determined by the culture. Some things we find in this text may seem odd to us, but in ancient days would have sounded normal.What do we hear?: When Hagar heard the "good news" for her and her son (that he would be made into a great nation), God made that future promise real in a present gift of grace. ***************
More than likely, I will run with the "Pedigree" option, since I have heard many terrible things said about Muslims in pop-fundamentalist media.
Something I need to consider, though, is the stages of faith as previously posted. Last week (which I didn't have time to put here) didn't take them into consideration. I want to try to make it a habit.
29 May 2005: "Getting Perspecitve"
Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19, 9.9-15
These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them." Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. …
And the waters swelled on the earth for one hundred fifty days. ...
In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God said to Noah, "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh--birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth--so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families. ...
[God said:] “See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you… I will establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth.” God added: “This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come, of the covenant between me and you and every living creature with you: I will set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, I will recall the covenant I have made between me and you and all living beings, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all mortal beings. “Getting Perspective”
Perspectives and StoriesIt’s really interesting what happens when we watch news reporters present their stories. Sometimes, you hear one reporter say one thing, and another one say something quite different. That doesn’t mean that one was present and one was absence when the event took place. Two reporters can be at the scene of the same story and see two completely different things. I think that such occurrences remind us of the importance of perspective. Our life experience and questions that we enter into an event with form lenses through which we interpret the event. It’s not a good thing, or a bad thing. It’s just a real life thing.
And it even remains the case when people engage religious classics, like the Bible.
The Story of Noah’s Ark as a Religious ClassicThe category “Religious classic” sounds really spectacular and awe inspiring category. Perhaps so much that some stories in the Bible don’t quite seem to fit into it. Take, for example, the story of Noah’s Ark.
When we think of the story of Noah’s Ark, it’s so easy to think of it as a children’s story. When we hear it, we can almost see the mural on the wall with the rainbow and the animal heads sticking out the ark’s windows. This is unfortunate, because this text truly does earn the title “religious classic.” It’s not just a children’s story. It is a story for adults.
The basic rundown of the story goes something like this:
God gave humanity the responsibility of tending to the earth. However, humanity has chosen to immerse itself in an overabundance of wickedness. One day, God peers down from heaven and is aghast! “What happened!” God realizes that this whole program was a cosmic mistake and decides, “I have to take care of this once and for all.” God then makes plans to destroy all mortal creatures on the earth.
However, God decides to spare Noah and his family, for Noah alone was truly a just man. And God has Noah make preparations for repopulating the earth by gathering specimens for later breeding purposes.
Then the waters come. Doors in the heavens open and pour out the water above. The earth is flooded. Everything dies. Everything except that in the ark.
Eventually, the waters recede and the ark lands. God decides that this whole mass destruction thing was a terrible idea, and places a sign in the sky that reminds God not to make this mistake again.
An Adult ReadingThere are a variety of ways to look at this story from an adult perspective. And, much as in the case of news reporters, our life experience and questions that we bring to the text form lenses through which we find it’s meaning for our lives.
Option #1: FamilyLet’s say, for a moment, that I am a big family-oriented kind of person. Let’s say I have children and grandchildren running around the house on a regular basis. (Which I do not have, in case you didn’t know.) This whole family-orientation, because it is such a concern in my life, might guide my reading of this text. I might see that this is the story of Noah and his family. They all work together to build this ark. They all share in the ridicule of those who think they’re all wacked for building a ship in the middle of the desert. They strengthen each other when the insanity of it all challenges their faith.
Then they find themselves trapped together…for a very, very ,very long time…on a boat…with nowhere to run…from each other. And then they emerge and enjoy this new world together.
Yes, this is the story of a family. A family who pulls together in this really trying time. As they pull together, they learn to work as one, a unity that takes them to a whole new level of what it is to be community. They learn how to work with each other, sometimes despite themselves. Through it all, the word “we” takes on a whole new meaning.
What might this story tell us about what God intended for humanity? Maybe it tells us of the importance of community.
Question #2: GodOr maybe I might come to this text with a different question, wondering if I can find out more about who God is.
Okay, now I have to warn everyone, while this is an important and vital question that we need to bring to the Biblical texts on a regular basis, today’s text is throwing us a pretty wild curveball.
Typically, in Christian theology, we hear about how perfect God is, how God never ever makes mistakes. God always does the right thing. God always does the best thing. God is never in error. That’s typical Christian theology.
Today, however, we encounter a Bible story that starts with God recognizing that God has indeed made a mistake. God should have never invested that much responsibility into humanity. God accepts responsibility for this mistake by taking measures to fix the situation.
And then, as if one mistake wasn’t enough, God realizes that another mistake was made in dealing with the first one. And then, to help exercise a bit of self-control, God has to put a reminder in the sky that can’t be missed.
When I was in college, a friend of mine had this huge phone bill. To prevent herself from doing that again, she put this really big note on the handle of her phone that said “No.” She saw this whenever she went to make a call.
Same idea here. The rainbow isn’t up there for us to see. It’s a great big post-it in the sky that says “Don’t,” and it’s there for God to see.
This is a very different version of God than we’re used to in traditional Christian theology. In the book of Genesis, God makes mistakes, and God learns from them. Maybe that’s what this text reveals to us about God, that God is more complicated than traditional Christian theology often allows.
Option #3: The Divine-Human RelationshipOr maybe I could come to the text wondering what it might say about the relationship we have with God. In a situation like this, I could look at the story as a metaphor for the life of faith.
I could look at all the images that it presents. There’s a storm, chaos all around. Maybe that symbolizes uncertainty and vulnerability. We have the ark itself, a shelter that keeps the people from being pulled under. Maybe it’s of questionable durability, leaking, creaking. We can go back to that family imagery. There’s a sense of togetherness, common bond, community. And of course we have God, who proves to be a very confusing God. In one sense God is behind all the mess they’re in, and in another sense God is helping them through it. Is it divine presence or absence that drives this story?
When I step into these images with my imagination I see a family of faith that is being tossed and turned by the storms that rage around them. I see a people who are struggling with the extent to which God is actually with them, struggling with the meaninglessness of it all.
But then, in the midst of their struggle, they look around and they say, “Hey, look. We’re in an ark.” The ark itself, in that moment, becomes their primary symbol of faith. And it reminds them that whatever happens as a result of the journey that they are currently on, they can rest knowing that God is indeed with them.
That’s what religious symbols do. They keep us afloat during the stormy seasons of life. When life becomes a blur and feels intangible and uncontrollable, much like the wind, the symbols of faith are tangible things we can touch and hold.
We have them here with us today. We have the Font, the Table, the hymns, this pulpit, the Bible, we have this building. They all help us to remember that this too will pass. Our situations, or even our whole world might change in the near future, but God (though often confusing) remains a constant factor in our lives.
The Point Is…So, what does this text mean? Well, it means that this is not a children’s story; it’s a story for adults. But I’d say that what it means for adults depends on where we are in life when we read it. So much of life, if not all of it, is a matter of perspective. So maybe sometimes it’s important for us to avoid asking the question “What is the ultimate meaning of this text?” and instead ask, “What does this text have to say to me today, right now, in this very moment?” And if that’s the question we need to be wrestling with, then don’t look at me, because only you can answer that one.
29 May 2005, Part 2
The way I will work out the stage-related themes (in a nutshell).
First of all, I will talk about the Noah story as a religious classic (as opposed to a cute story for children because it has lots of animals in it). A religious classic can be approached from a variety of different directions, but the questions we bring to the text determine what we find. Then I'll give some examples about how the Noah story can operate.
Stage 3: It can be a message about how important it is for families to stick together during times of crisis. Many a family shows on TV work with this. Even sit-coms fall back into this from time to time.
Note: Stage 3 picks up on these types of messages because the individual's identity seeks the security of conformity. It longs for everyone to bond and be alike. It is very "cliquish," if you will. Messages about the importance of community strengthen the sense of God working in their lives.
Stage 4: It can be a message about how the portrayal of God in Genesis defies "official" Christian teaching. How often do we hear about how "perfect" God is and how God "doesn't make mistakes." But here we have a story about how God made the mistake of placing stewarship responsibility into the hands of irresponsible humans. Bad idea. Catastrophe ensues. Ultimately, God accepts responsibility for the mistake by rectifying the situation. And
then, God admits that the way that the mistake was corrected was another big mistake. Basically, regarding the destruction of the earth, God says, "I was wrong; I'll never do it again." This is a very different message about God than we're used to hearing from Christian theology.
Note: Stage 4 really latches onto those insights that empower critical thinking. It loves to challenge "tradition." It loves to assert independence from the communal identity. Doctrine is often the standard of Christian community. Anything that challenges official teachings, rituals, and norms will open doors for people in stage 4 to explore more fully their own sense of individual spirituality.
Stage 5: It can become a metaphor for our faith-lives in the here and now. When the world is a mess and God's connection to it all seems confusing, symbols of the faith help us to keep afloat. Here we have a group of people being tossed around by their situation. But they were in the ark. The ark was built out of response to God. The ark, in a sense, was God's gift to them. The ark symbolized God's fidelity to them, reminded them of God's promise of deliverance, even in the miest of the situation they were in. The ark was a symbol of faith, and as such kept them aflot in the midst of crisis. Symbols of faith are tangible reminders of the divine reality that is beyond us and our situation and seems intangible in the moment.
Note: Stage 5 likes symbols and metaphor. No longer are the faith narratives taken literally. Now, they are "myth," stories that connect us to deeper reality in the universe. They are more about meaning and purpose and less about fact. Symbol and metaphor open them up to God in the depths of life.
29 May 2005, Part 1
The text for this week is
here. I think I’ll focus on the Genesis passage
I mentioned that I want to involve different stages of faith in my sermons. Generally, I’ll target stages 3, 4, and 5. That means that instead of having a single point, I’ll try to weave three together.
So far, as I look at the passage, these stage-related thoughts come to mind:
Stage 3: The family sticks together to ride out the storm. This stage resonates with group-forming language. Such things as “family,” “people,” and “grouping” speak to their life concerns.
Stage 4: God has made a mistake and is fixing it.This stage resonates with what I will call “counter-teaching,” those messages that enable them to challenge past belief structures. In this case, the idea that “God doesn’t make mistakes” is the target. The introduction to God as making mistakes allows certain larger questions to arise, such as “who is God for me now?”
Stage 5: The ship that they’re on symbolizes the hope that the rain will end.This stage resonates with symbols that speak to the messiness of life. God called Noah and his family to build an ark because the waters were coming. They did so, and while on the ark the ship that they are on is a reminder of God’s promised fidelity. They would know deliverance…eventually. I can tie together the images of the ark and the church building to which the congregations comes each week. The symbols of faith can anchor us in the storms of life.
Now, the big question is how to tie all this together into a coherent sermon. Can I pull it off?
Stage 6: Universalizing Faith
Attributes:
~Unlike in Stage 5, one is not caught between universalizing apprehensions and the need to preserve her or his own being and well-being
~Becomes and activist incarnation, heedless to personal “survival,” and threats to primary groups, or to the institutional arrangements of the present order that are involved
~A decision is truly just if and only if it takes into account all possible interests and perspectives, and then distributes the burdens and blessings equally among them
~Engages in spending and being spent for the transformation of present reality in the direction of a transcendent actuality: one of justice and love, the inclusiveness of a fulfilled human community
~They actualize the promise
~Exhibit qualities that shake our usual criteria of normalcy:
+++ Their heedlessness to self-preservation and vividness of their taste and feel for transcendent moral and religious actuality give their actions and words an extraordinary and often unpredictable quality.
+++ The devotion to universalizing compassion may offend parochial perceptions of justice
+++ Their penetration through the obsession with “survival” may threaten our measured standards of righteousness and goodness and prudence.
+++ Their enlarged visions of universal community disclose the partialness of our tribes and pseudo-species.
+++ Their leadership initiatives, often involving strategies of nonviolent suffering and ultimate respect for being, constitute affronts to our usual notions of relevance.
Gifts:
~Are contagious
~Ready for fellowship with persons at any of the other stages and from any other faith tradition
Dangers:
~Often seen as subversive by the powers that be
~Frequently become martyrs for the visions they incarnate
Note: This stage of development can’t be ignored or dismissed as being “beyond the congregation.” A significant part of the Christian call is the call to justice. Stories of heroes in the faith, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., can become a vision of becoming that frees people from their momentary concerns for self-preservation and empowers them to take extreme leaps of faith.
Stage 5: Conjunctive Faith
Attributes:
~Unusual before mid-life
~Involves the integration into self and outlook of much that was suppressed in Stage 4’s self-certainty
~A “second naivete”: symbolic power is reunited with conceptual meanings
~Reclaiming and reworking of one’s past
~Opening of the “voices” of the “deeper self”
~Recognition of one’s social unconsciousness
~Alive to paradox in truth
~Strives to unify opposites in mind and experience
~Generates and maintains vulnerability to the strange truths of those who are “other”
~Commitment to justice is freed from the confines of one’s culture
~Life half over, a readiness develops to spend and be spent for the cause of conserving and cultivating the possibility of others’ generating identity and meaning
~Remains divided: lives and acts between an untransformed world and a transforming vision and loyalties
~Social contract principle qualified with human rights/equality principle (a principled approach)
Gifts:
~Rise of ironic imagination: ability to see and be in one’s or one’s group’s most powerful meanings, while simultaneously recognizing that they are relative, partial, and inevitably distorting apprehensions of transcendent reality
~Can appreciate symbols, myths, and rituals (its own and others) because of being grasped, in some measure, by the depth of reality to which they refer
~Can see the division of the human family vividly because it accepts the possibility of an inclusive community of being
Dangers:
~Possible paralyzing passivity or inaction, giving rise to complacency or cynical withdrawal, due to its paradoxical understanding of truth
Transition:
~Overcoming the paradox of Stage 5 through a moral and ascetic actualization of the universalizing apprehensions
Note: Fowler actually suggests that sermons target this stage. However, I want to include Stages 3 and 4 to facilitate a smoother developmental process.
Stage 4: Individuative-Reflective Faith
Attributes:
~Appears in late-adolescence or young adulthood
~Begins to take seriously the burden of responsibility of commitment, lifestyle, beliefs, and attitudes
~“Law and order” morality: “our laws are relative to our culture, but they must be obeyed for the sake of order” (a utilitarian approach)
~Facing these tensions:
+++ Individuality vs. group definition
+++ Subjectivity vs. objectivity
+++ Self-fulfillment vs. self-actualization
+++ Relativity vs. the possibility of the absolute.
~Double development:
+++ The self no longer claims an identity as defined by others (development of identity)
+++ To sustain that new identity, it composes a meaning frame, conscious of its own boundaries and inner connections, and aware of itself as a “worldview.” (Development of worldview.)
~Supremacy of the self’s ability to “figure it out” without interference of others
~Demythologizing: symbols become explicit, conceptualized meanings
Gifts:
~Can critically examine identity and worldview
Dangers:
~Excessive confidence in the conscious mind and in critical thought
~A kind of “second narcissism” arises in which the now clearly bounded, reflective self over-assimilates “reality” and the perspective of other into its own worldview
Transition:
~Restlessness with the self-images and outlook maintained by Stage 4 leads one to listen to the “anarchic” and disturbing inner “voices”
~Elements from a childish past, images and energies from a deeper self, and gnawing sense of the sterility and flatness of the meanings one serves appear
~Stories, symbols, myths, and paradoxes from one’s own or other traditions may insist on breaking in upon the neatness of the previous faith
~Disillusionment with one’s compromises and recognition that life is more completes than Stage 4’s logic of clear distinctions and abstract concepts can comprehend
Note: Too often, people are denied the opportunity to enter into a more fully “adult” faith by their faith communities. This “demythologizing” stage seemingly threatens to “undo” all of the previous stages. But it is vital for personal growth and the development of a vital and healthy faith.
Stage 3: Synthetic-Conventional Faith
Attributes:
~Begins in adolescence
~World extends beyond family/community
~Faith must synthesize varied values and information to provide a basis for identity and outlook
~Structures the environment in interpersonal terms; faith reflects qualities experienced in personal relationships
~A “Conformist” stage that is attuned to the expectations and judgments of others; does not have a firm “identity” and autonomous judgment
~Beliefs and values are deeply felt and are tacitly held; the person “dwells” in them
~Has not had the opportunity to step outside of the community and its values to evaluate them
~An “ideology” has formed, but has not been examined
~Differences with other people become differences with other “kinds” of people (classification)
~Authority comes from the traditional authority held
Gifts:
~Formation of a “personal myth”: the myth of one’s becoming in identity and faith, incorporating one’s past and anticipated future in an image of God’s plan unified by characteristics of personality
Dangers:
~Internalization (and sacralization) of others expectation and evaluations can jeopardize later autonomy of judgment and action
~Interpersonal betrayals can give rise to either
+++ Nihilistic despair about a personal principle of ultimate being, or
+++ To a compensatory intimacy with God unrelated to mundane relations.
Transition:
~Serious clashes or contradictions between valued authorities
~Marked changes by officially sanctioned leaders, policies, or practices that previously seemed sacred and unbreachable
~Encounter with experiences or perspectives that lead to critical reflection on how one’s beliefs and values have formed and changed, and how developed particularly from to one’s group or background
~“Leaving home” on an emotional or physical level that precipitates self-examination of personal history and values
Note: This is where I will start. Working at this level promotes transition from the Mythic-Literal Stage. It is necessary to work here in the process of “becoming.”
Stage 2: Mythic-Literal Faith
Attributes:
~Literal interpretation accompanied by moral rules and attitudes; episodic faith of the Intuitive-Projective becomes more linear
~Do not step back from the flow of stories to formulate reflective, conceptual meanings
~Take on beliefs and observances of community
~Begins to take on the stories for him- or herself
~The actors in the cosmic story are anthropomorphic
~Affected deeply and powerfully by symbolic and dramatic materials and describe in endlessly detailed narrative what has occurred
~Stories become a major way to give unity and value to experience
~Meaning is both “carried” and “trapped” in the narrative
~The world is based on reciprocal fairness and immanent justice based on reciprocity
~Increased accuracy in taking the perspective of the other persons
Gifts:
~The story, drama and myth serve as ways to find and give coherence to experience
Dangers:
~Limitation of literalness
~Excessive reliance upon reciprocity ads a principle for constructing an ultimate environment
~The above two points can result in either
+++ An over-controlling, stilted perfectionism or “works righteousness,” or
+++ an abasing sense of badness embraced because of mistreatment, neglect, or the apparent disfavor of significant others.
Transition:
~Clash or contradiction of stories that leads to reflection on meanings; previous literalism breaks down and is replaced by a “cognitive conceit” that leads to a disillusionment with teachers
~Conflicts between stories (creation vs. evolution) must be addressed
~A need for a more personal relationship with God
Note: I won’t be using anything from this stage either, though many adults are at this level. My reasoning is that I believe that God has called us all to grow. In the rest of life, we are expected to function as “adults.” I believe that sermons should more fully draw us into the faith-maturation process. Adult Christians are called to be “adults” in the faith. To empower people to function at this level actually promotes a form of “spiritual developmental disability.”
Stage 1: Intuitive-Projective Faith
Attributes:
~Ages 3–7
~Fantasy-filled, intuitive phase
~Can be powerfully and permanently influenced by stories and images, as well as the moods and actions of faith around them
~Uninhibited by logical thought, but rather fluid thought pattern
Gifts:
~Birth of imagination
~Ability to unify and grasp the experience-world in powerful images
Dangers:
~Potential to become “possessed” by images of terror and destructiveness
~Use of imagination to reinforce taboos as well as moral and doctrinal expectations.
Transition to Next Stage:
~Emergence of concrete operational thinking
~A growing concern to know how things are and to clarify for him- or herself the bases of distinctions between what is real and what only seems to be
Note: I won’t be using anything from this stage, but I wanted to post it for reference.
James Fowler’s Stages of Faith
Something I’ve decided to do (again) is to incorporate intentionally James Fowler’s
Stages of Faith into my sermon prep. Basically, according to Fowler, human faith development corresponds with human development. (Simple enough, huh?) Faith perspective and reasoning, then, reflect a developmental process that naturally goes down a general path. Fowler’s focus in Christian Education is known as “Spiritual Formation.”
The following is from a chart that I put together for my own reference a few years ago. Some of it is in my own words, but there are also parts taken straight from the book. I don’t know what comes from where, so I can’t “quote” Fowler. This was meant for reference. I suggest to anyone interested in spiritual formation to pick up the actual book. Another book of interest (which I call the Cliff’s Notes version) is Fowler’s
Faith Development and Pastoral Care.
I’ll be posting them separately.
22 May 2005: "Life-Giving Creativity"
Saturday morning, I looked at my sermon that I wrote earlier in the week for Sunday, and I decided that I didn't like it. So, I scrapped it and started over. I decided to use the Genesis passage from the lectionary, but I've supplemented it with part of the "burning bush" narrative in Exodus. I've still dealt with the order/chaos theme that I originally wrestled with, but the final draft is vastly different. Even though it is Trinity Sunday, I did nothing with that.
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"Life-Giving Creativity"
Exodus 3.1–2, 7–10Moses was looking after the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led it to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared in a flame blazing from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing, but the bush was not being burnt up… The LORD then said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying for help on account of their taskmasters. Yes, I am well aware of their sufferings. And I have come down to rescue them from the clutches of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that country, to a country rich and broad, to a country flowing with milk and honey, to the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Yes, indeed the Israelites’ cry for help has reached me, and I have also seen the cruel way in which the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.
Genesis 1:1-2:4aIn the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it." And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
And God said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth." And it was so. God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky." So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
God as Chaos-InjectorThe first year I was here, we walked our way through the book of Exodus. It’s a wonderful story about how the Hebrews, who were once a respected people in the land of Egypt, had been reduced to the status of slaves. They had been subject to back-breaking, crushing labor, and they cried out to God for deliverance.
God hears them. God does not ignore them. God delivers them from the malicious tyranny of Pharaoh. From this story, we find that the God of Israel is a God who will not tolerate the oppression of the weak by the strong.
Sometimes, human society can, and does, go beyond any sense of purposeful order and enter into the realm of malicious tyranny reminiscent of the reign of Pharaoh. It is a situation in which order has gone awry, and indeed become destructive to some of those who participate in it. When this happens, we enter into the world of marginalization and oppression. Something God cannot stand.
But order doesn’t just go awry in the social arena. It can become oppressive in the personal arena as well.
When I was taking a psychology class at Parkland Community College down in Champaign, I had an instructor named Lu Snyder. And she was talking about…who knows what on a particular day. Anyway, she told us a story about an eye-opening conflict she had with her teenage son. In the middle of her jumping all over him about his refusal to make his bed every morning, he asked a simple question, “Why? Why do I have to make my bed every single morning when I’m just going to mess it up every single night? It makes no sense. So, why?”
I don’t know how the particular argument ended, but it did make her think. “Why indeed?” So, she decided to try something new. She actually stopped making her bed every morning. She did make it from time to time, but not every morning. And, lo and behold, the world did not spin off of its axis. The sky did not fall. The sun actually did not explode. None of these bad things happened, despite the fact that she did not make her bed. Quite the contrary, a good thing happened: she had a little bit of extra time in the morning. And, she said, it felt really good. She felt liberated.
The bottom line is that she had imposed on herself a specific kind of order that was constraining. A little bit of chaos was injected into it, and she was free from her self-imposed bonds. You see, a rigid, self-imposed order can crush the human spirit just as quickly as any malicious, tyrannical social order gone awry.
Where there is too much order, whether it be on a social or personal scale, we find God actively working to inject chaos into the system, to bring freedom and liberation to the oppressed. This is part of what God does in this world, so we learn from the Exodus story.
God as Orderer-of-ChaosThe passage we read from Genesis gives us a very different, but complimentary, view into God. In the beginning, there is nothing but chaos. Chaos is the power of possibility and creativity, generation and fertility, individuality and self-expression. Chaos is the stuff of potential beauty, potential life, potential…period. It is the stuff of raw potential, the power of “what could be.” But, in the beginning, we also see that it is all over the board and that it cannot bring any of that possibility into being. And so God starts to work. God takes that raw power of potentiality and harnesses it. When God gets the divine hands working with what can be, we see that it becomes real.
God is a God who steps in when chaos reigns and no good can seemingly come of a situation, and makes something out of it. God is a God who brings order to chaos when chaos goes awry.
Yes, too much chaos is just as destructive as too much order. Imagine what society would be like if we didn’t have any laws. People could do anything to anybody without any repercussions. If we ever wanted an image of what social chaos would be, all we have to do is to imagine what would happen if one were to yell “fire” in a theatre. All these people running to get through these little bitty doors, everybody out for themselves, to the expense of anyone who got underfoot. Too much social chaos is truly destructive.
And then there’s the chaos of our lives. How often do we feel as though we are living on a little dinghy in the middle of a vast and stormy sea? One minute life seems to be going well, the next minute everything seems out of whack. We move from one job to another, we have new additions to families that increase responsibilities, we have losses in families that leave vacuums in our lives. We have financial crises, relational crises, health crises, spiritual crises. The storms brew, the storms rage, chaos ensues. And the world in which we once felt at home, seems suddenly unredeemable as the little dinghy of our lives feels like it’s a bout to tip.
And then there’s God. The God of the Universe becomes our anchor in the midst of the storms of life. God is a God who brings order to the chaos, not only of the creation around us, but also of our lives. It is God who works in our lives to redeem seemingly impossible situations. It is God who ultimately makes our lives meaningful.
When we find ourselves becoming swamped and know the threat of being pulled under, all we have to do is look out our windows and see the birds, trees, grass, sky, and clouds, and think “That was once chaos, too.”
A God of Life-Giving CreativityThere are those out there who like to say, “God is a God of order and that chaos is the enemy.” It is as if they are afraid of the power of chaos in this world. In their minds, it seems that the power of order is divine and the power of chaos is evil.
But when we look at these two images of God that we get from the Hebrew Scriptures, we find God can’t be identified with one or the other. Neither the power of order nor the power of chaos can be considered good or evil in and of themselves. Both can be good; both can go awry and be bad. The images that we face today defy any attempts to identify God as being either a God of order or of chaos.
But there is a certain cohesion in these images that cannot be ignored, something that is quite revealing about who God is. In the Exodus story, God injects chaos into the order and liberates the Hebrews so that…they can become a new people. In Genesis, we see God bringing order to the chaos, thus bringing into being…a new creation. In both cases, we see that the God of the Hebrews is neither a God of order nor chaos, but a God of Life-Giving Creativity, sovereign over both. Yes, the divine fingerprints left by the heavenly Potter are nothing less than a full and vital life.
May you open yourselves up more fully this day and everyday to the Life-Giving, Creative Spirit, becoming everything that you can become, to the honor and glory of a sovereign God.
