Community With no Distinction

I was browsing through a number of old sermons at my church a while ago and was saddened by one of the comments that was posted to it. The sermon was about how God's presence in our lives can change the ordinary into the extraordinary. I haven't yet listened to the whole sermon, but what I have listened to was very good.

There were two comments to this sermon. One comment was from a woman who was very touched by the sermon - brought to tears even. The other comment was simply one Bible verse, given with no explanation at all.

I Timothy 2:11-13
¹¹Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. ¹²I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. ¹³For Adam was formed first, then Eve...

You see, this was the first time that Imago Dei had a female preacher. This verse was quoted with no other explanation, argument, or offer for discussion. There was no attempt at dialogue or understanding. There certainly wasn't anything related to the actual content of the message.

I don't understand why people do this. What is so challenging about a woman telling a group of believers about her mission trip to the Sudan? I don't share this guy's view on women in ministry, but even if I did what possible benefit is gained by doing this? Even if I grant his view that women shouldn't speak in public that doesn't mean that this woman's message doesn't have value. It doesn't mean that you can simply dismiss her. God uses broken and messed up people to convey his Word to the world. Even if Heather Thomas' preaching in front of my church was somehow an abomination it doesn't mean that what she said doesn't have value.

The thing that pisses me off the most is that he doesn't even comment on what she had to say. For all we know he didn't even go to the service or listen to it online. He dismissed her without even addressing the thing she had come to say.

But the pastor I had in Seattle recently preached another sermon on this subject. Not the subject of women in ministry, but on how we dismiss people without even giving them a fair shake. Speaking on James 2:1-7 he discusses the vision of a 'community with no distinction'.

Richard Dahlstrom argues that if we are to be genuine witnesses and followers of Christ we need to be looking for opportunities to cross over into relationship with people we are uncomfortable with. We will never be challenged to go further into the love of Christ if we only spend our time listening to people who are just like us. But it's so easy, when listening to someone you disagree with, to only listen long enough to put them in a category. Then, once you've judged them as belonging to this category you are free to dismiss their viewpoint. The tragedy is that someone who continually uses this methodology will never learn anything. He or she will just have the attitudes they already have more and more reinforced. It's certainly much safer to live making 'distinctions among yourselves, and become(ing) judges with evil thoughts.' But we are not called to safety; we are called to radical community guided by the spirit of Christ in our hearts.

The Dark Knight

I just saw Batman last night and it was very good. There was one scene especially that really struck me. If you haven't seen the movie yet then go see it before you read this post. It's a great movie, but if you read this first it will spoil a major plot point.

There's one point in the movie where the Joker rigs two ferries up with explosives - a ferry full of prisoners and one full of normal people. Both ferries are dead in the water and unable to off-load passengers. Both ferries also have a detonator, but it's a detonator for the other ferry. If the passengers of either ferry push the button to detonate the other ferry then they will survive. But if neither of the ferries pushes the button then the Joker will blow them both up in 15 minutes.

I want to focus for a moment on the prisoner's ferry. When faced with this choice I envisioned basically two scenarios. First, the prisoners would fight to gain control of the ship and the guards would heroically fight them off to prevent them from getting to the remote detonator. Second, the guards and prisoners would do the same thing, but at some point one of the guards would realize he doesn't want to die and push the button anyway.

The scenario as it ends up playing out has a third option that I'm ashamed to say I didn't even think of. There's a scene where the head prison guard is looking at the detonator among the prisoners, anguishing over the decision. You can tell that he doesn't know what to do, but that he just may push the button. At this point one of the scariest looking criminals comes up to him and offers to 'do what you are afraid to do.' He has killed men and knows what killing men is like. Therefore he can do what the guard wants to do but can't bring himself to do. He says to the guard "I'll do what you should have done 15 minutes ago." The guard gives him the detonator and I lose a little bit of faith in humanity. But then the prisoner surprises everyone by throwing the detonator out the window and I gain that faith back.

He did exactly what the guards should have done 15 minutes ago. And this option never crossed my mind. Even in the scenario where the guards were heroically defending the detonator from the prisoners I think that, placing myself in the shoes of one of the guards, I would have wanted to at least have the option to push the button when it really came down to it. Actions of self-defense are always choosing someone else's death over your own. Some of these scenarios may be more cut-and-dry than this, but it's still basically the same thing - 'I don't want to die, so you will instead.' It's a totally different mindset when the option of violence is ENTIRELY taken off the table. Maybe those loopy pacifists have something there.

Echo-Friendly

I heard an announcer on the radio today mention a product being 'eco-friendly.' This would be fine except that he pronounced it as if it was spelled 'echo-friendly.' Quick tip for those who make their living pronouncing things correctly: 'eco-friendly' means you use cloth bags at the grocery store and keep track of your carbon emissions - 'echo-friendly' is just an odd way of saying you have good sonar.

Okay, rant mode off - you can go about your business.

White Trash?

What is it that makes a person white trash? Is it a simple equation involving the amount of blue tarps you own divided by the number of years you’ve completed in school? Is it something more? I may be unusual in this, but to me the term has a very positive connotation. It brings up memories of pheasant hunts, pig-roasts, fishing trips, .22 rifles, and drinking beer from cans. My definition of the term ‘white trash’ is undoubtedly more influenced by these memories than by any amount of time spent in trailer parks or shopping at Wal-Mart.

On my way to church a few weeks ago I saw a man walking across the bridge from Washington into Oregon carrying a plastic garbage bag full of aluminum cans. Now that’s white trash! Journeying from the wilds of Vancouver to the land of the $.05 refund, carrying your wares on your back! I see such a thing and have a tendency to glamorize. But you can almost guarantee that there’s no thrill in it for him. That degree of trashiness requires more dedication than I’m willing to put forth.

By contrast, when I go out shooting I make sure to have something cool to listen to on my MP3 player. I may bring along my Ruger 10/22 (a definite white trash kind of rifle) and a bunch of homemade targets, but I’ll be coming home to a condo with white carpets and a cat who’s afraid of squirrels. I make my own wine, but I use high quality ingredients and good equipment (copper tubing and whiskey stills not being in evidence). I like songs like “Copperhead Road” by Steve Earle because they’re edgy and talk about moonshine, but I listen to them on my $1,000 laptop while my roommate watches golf on TV.

Monday through Friday I work at a good job as a bookstore manager but I spent my summers as a kid shooting at crows and squirrels with a slinghot. I have a double major in Philosophy and Political Science but I like to go out to the forest service roads East of Hockinson and shoot golf balls.

So is it okay for me to appropriate a phrase like ‘white trash’ and make it my own? Maybe it’s all right if it’s more of a goal than an actual description. Consider this post my first step in furthering this goal. Am I allowed to call myself ‘white trash’ without degrading the meaning of the term? Maybe on the weekends. Anything else would require too much commitment.

Living Sacramentally

One of my goals for this blog is to express the specifics of my belief in Christ in the hopes that my understanding of him would be helpful for others, both believers and nonbelievers. But for a while now I’ve obsessed about how exactly to go about doing this. I’ve been putting it off because I don’t know how to begin. It has sometimes seemed so egotistical – this idea that I can somehow preach truth into other’s lives when I don’t have things figured out myself. But while listening to the sermon today and in my morning devotionals I had the Holy Spirit impress on my heart that it’s time.

Heather Thomas spoke today at my church on I Corinthians 12:1-11. There were two things she shared that especially stuck with me. “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” (v. 7) She put this forward as Paul’s explanation of the purpose for our gifts. In giving us these gifts God’s purpose is that we use them for the good of the whole community – to build up the Church as well as humanity at large. Just as Abraham we are blessed to be a blessing, chosen not because of our good graces but because of the part we are to play in expanding the fellowship of Christ and the joy of being one with the Triune God. (I John 1: 1-4) I pray that in my postings here I will do this – that through the Holy Spirit I may draw others into community with the God who exists in triune community.

The other word from the sermon that struck my heart was a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

As Kingfishers Catch Fire, Dragonflies Draw Flame

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme; 

As tumbled over rim in roundy wells 

Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's 

Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name; 

Each mortal thing does one thing and the same: 

Deals out that being indoors each one dwells; 

Selves--goes itself; myself it speaks and spells, 

Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came. 

Í say móre: the just man justices; 

Kéeps gráce: thát keeps all his goings graces; 

Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is--

Chríst--for Christ plays in ten thousand places, 

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his 

To the Father through the features of men's faces.

This poem was very influential for me during my first couple of years at SPU. It reminded me of the presence of God that can be felt in everyday things. Worship is not just something that happens on Sunday with acoustic guitars in the background. Worship is an attitude of the heart towards God. Because of God’s presence in creation it is possible for us to worship God in everything that we do. When we are in this world doing everyday things, if they are done with the correct attitude towards God they can be worshipful acts. This devotional attitude is not just for later in heaven. We are to start on the process of living worshipfully in the here and now.

It seems like a tough bill. I know I don't usually live my life in worship of God. The characteristics of God (all forgiving, all loving, perfectly just) seem so separate from the traits of humanity. But I think we have some help here. I believe that Jesus was (and is) both God and Man. And if we really believe that the traits of God as well as the fullness of humanity were united in Christ then the unity of God and man becomes possible in our lives. Jesus Christ can live through us by the working of the Holy Spirit. So to bring it all home I hope that my words on this screen will, in some small and still incomplete way, be the Words of Christ to you. I'm not perfect and it's likely that you aren't either, but we're getting there.

So it begins

I’m starting this blog so that I can share the details of my life with my family, friends, and random strangers whom I otherwise wouldn’t meet. One of the things that frequently frustrates me is the difficulty of getting into conversations with people about the really important things in life. So many relationships in our culture are deep only in their superficiality. There are a number of areas in my life where I am trying to work out what I believe and what are the most morally responsible things to do. One of my goals with this blog is to throw some of these ideas out there so that others can comment. I think that truth is best discovered in community. If you spend too much time by yourself staring into a fire watching wax melt your ideas won’t be challenged and they will be wacky. So feel free to comment on the things I say and tell me where you think I’ve gone wrong. We might both learn something.

-Jeff