Winter Comes in Many Shapes and Sizes

Field Notes From a Religion-Less Christian

February 21, 2022

“‘Life Isn’t Fair!’ Lord Only Knows!”

“Nevertheless, he saw their distress, when he heard their lamentation. He remembered his covenant with them, and relented in accordance with his great mercy” (Psalm 105).

“Nevertheless” seems to be the linchpin on all eternity. You can take God’s direction and guidance and gifts of life and abundance and waste them, abuse them, neglect them, forget them, deny them, and call them good for nothing. It matters not. The One who gives only knows Giving. The One who Blesses only knows Blessing. The One who loves only knows Loving.  This One cannot help Oneself being what One is and does – merciful at all costs, even and most poignantly and profoundly to giving up oneself, dying to oneself, so that what only lives is mercy. 

You can watch this One give, let’s say the geography of Canaan, to One’s Beloved. Even at the expense of others (wiping out Canaanite culture, or at least attempting to do so). You can watch this One take away, let’s say Wander in the Wilderness for 40 years, from One’s Beloved. The delightful and the disastrous all happen within the oversight and stewardship of this One. We can, and do, object to such life management practices. And rightly so, since fairness is minimized if not thrown out the window all together in so many instances and ways. But, of course, none of our machinations matter. Complaints bounce off the walls of eternity, reverberating eternally. 

But then, do we see? Do we hear? What is the life-force of it all? Where is it all headed? What continually and relentlessly occurs so as to be the very story, Story, itself, the very life of life itself? Mercy prevails. Nevertheless, Mercy. It is always and ever mercy. 

We look for One who is fair, most especially when it comes to our part of any equation, but never find that One anywhere. This is not surprising, of course, because such a One does not exist. But Mercy? If we would be open to Mercy we would see this One everywhere. 

Excursus: Martin Luther said (check out the Heidelberg Disputation of 1518 for where to find, in my opinion, the Reformation’s epicenter)  we only find God, see God, in suffering and death. A couple of things on that: 1) This is often misunderstood to mean that when we actively suffer and die (for a Cause or not) we can and will get a glimpse of the Holy….so we set out to be this suffering righteous person who will get glory. No. Luther means to passively allow (suffer/allow, as in “suffer the little ones to come unto me”) God, whatever God Is and Does, to happen to you. 2) “Only” means only. We will not find God in the beauty of nature or profundity of human achievement (beauty….profundity….are real, to be sure, and are to be reveled in, but they are not God or even the sole expression of God). I know this is disappointing for many to hear since it is pretty much our go-to spirituality when life goes sour or dark. But, listen, it’s not really as disappointing as how we feel when we see that the beauty and profundity we see too, over and over again, are ephemeral. 

So, back to “If we would be open to Mercy we would see this One everywhere.” I am not asking here for us to actually do anything, like, say, “oh now I need to do this ‘being open to Mercy’ thing.” No, it’s actually the opposite. Stop the striving. Suffer, put up with, God. And, there, amazingly gracefully, it is. Mercy. In and with every aspect. Without fail. Nevertheless. Forever. 

                                                            Caught in a Moment

Field Notes From A Religion-Less Christian

February 13, 2022

Why I Pray for Help When I Know God Will Not Give It

“But as for me, I am poor and needy; come to me speedily, O God” (Psalm 70)

I don’t actually think or believe God will supernaturally change my circumstance or condition. So why does this prayer of Psalm 70 still have significance, vitality and value? At least this: it speaks to the truth of God’s total power (omnipotence) in determining my destiny (aka eternal salvation) while stating then too the corollary: my total lack of power (impotence) in the same. Rather than speaking of where I do have agency and impact, decisions to go the store or not, decisions to change careers or not – all things in the temporal order – this prayer speaks of where I have no effect, in the realm or place of what will become of me in any or all eternal order. 

Martin Luther was able to untie or unravel the Gordian Knot of how God could be God (omnipotent and benevolent)  while suffering, death, malevolence and all kinds of evil find footing everywhere. He did it by letting revelation, as embodied in the written Scripture, say what it says without equivocation, without having the God of the Bible live within the definition or straightjacket of being the Law itself. God is not subject to another and greater power, the Law, with its livelihood found in obedience and merit. God is God – powerful and loving – and calls all things to subjugation to that, to Godself. Luther called this powerful love “Promise,” as opposed to Demand. All Law is subject to God, not the other way around. God is not the Law. Who or What is God? Unadulterated and Unmerited Mercy, one who lives by a different set of rules (Steven Paulson calls this the “Outlaw God” See Luther’s Outlaw God, Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3). God is an Outlaw. God is the Outlaw. God gives to the undeserving, all. 

The problem then, of course, and the reason we resist this outlandish assertion, is that this makes God responsible for evil and makes us responsible for nothing. If, rather than Promise, God is the Law then that which disobeys has the potential to obey (obedience is the holy grail) and is not itself God but could potentially be God if and when obedience is attained. And, if God is the Law, we live with the possibility, the potential, of engaging the transactions, finding the correct ingredients, to reach and meet God on God’s terms. 

But, if, rather, God is pure Promise, all things happen for and in promise. 

God cannot help being God – totally above our pay grade. This is a problem for us for a couple of reasons. First, because evil is, well, destructive, not redemptive. There is no silver lining in that dark cloud. None. Evil is not a path or does not provide a path toward righteousness, but is rather purely unrighteous. Secondly, because we have no say in the matter of God’s relation to us, God’s decision(s) about us. We do not like being taken out of the game. Luther called this “above our pay grade” God the “unpreached God.” What’s a God to do when by God’s very Godness all hell breaks loose and all creatures hate God? God can only redeem this madness by engaging and defeating Godself: showing up with bells on to dispel the silent and sleeping God (Silent: no answer comes to the call for help. Sleeping: sets things in motion and takes a nap waiting to see if anybody can make good on and with those things) who lurks, awaiting our obedience. What loudness do the bells bring? All kinds of noise about the undeserving getting what they don’t deserve. Mercy! In other words, showing up in Jesus. Luther called this the “preached God.”

If we cannot see Jesus as the pure expression of the Outlaw God, the one who declares absolution on all whether deserving or not – “preached” – we will be left with God as the Law – “unpreached,” no word declared but rather word withheld until we make the grade. 

God has dealt the deathblow to Godself (the unpreached finds fulfillment, is complete, is done, dies, not because it is satiated, but because it is extinguished). The Promise eliminates Demand. The Preached overrules (overshouts?!) the Unpreached.

Will we but hear?

We did not listen then – we killed Jesus. The fact that something happened wherein and whereby the Promise was not forsaken – they said Jesus was raised from the dead – is why we can listen now and be transformed, go from death to life.

Will we but hear?

I know that I am desperately and daily all ears.

Recent Wanderings on Cumberland Island, GA.

Field Notes From a Religion-Less Christian

February 9, 2022

America Will Be Great Again When It is Not Great

“The nations make much ado, and the kingdoms are shaken; God has spoken, and the earth shall melt away” (Psalm 46)

Russia has 100K troops and weapons galore surrounding Ukraine. The United States and Europe respond and negotiate. Such ado. Leaders play with the fate of the common citizen trying to make a living and a life – as if the leaders in their policy and politics matter and the citizens don’t. Our war mongering is so self-important. It’s absurd, tragic and so small-minded. Yesterday reading in former President Barack Obama’s memoir, A Promised Land, a good section on how the U.S. has its own history of empire building, not without running roughshod over peoples and nations, to arrive where we are now. While we may not be a physical border invader, saber rattling, we still invade countries with our consumerism that feeds on the natural and human resources of other countries, all supported and defended by a military apparatus that is world-wide, ubiquitous and too structured by an economic system of loans and debts that keep the poor marginalized and the wealthy prioritized. 

I bought last year a winter jacket, high end Columbia Sportswear brand, and got a good deal on it. I saw the other day that it was made in Viet Nam. Viet Nam of all places. Nothing new there, I know. But think about how the French colonialized that country and we (the U.S.) destroyed it (while killing 60,000 of our own) in order to maintain a dominance over any Eastern (aka Chinese, Communist) threat against our ever-spreading economic hegemony. We destroyed resources in order to maintain and gain resources. We lost that military “battle” of Viet Nam but still won the “war” of Dominance somehow. People live in poverty (by our standards) by the millions, eking out a living by providing me with my cold weather creature comforts. 

I know, there is nothing wrong with providing goods and services. All I am saying is that we need to realize the real cost of our expected “First World” standard of living. America can lead the world into a global community of equality and justice only if we are clear and sober about how we got to this place of dominance. Contrary to popular belief (especially with the way we teach our American history as a matter of white ingenuity instead of a matter of dependence on black enslavement) America has not been great yet. Really, with all its wonderment and amazing feats and a democracy success story bar none, America is still one of many nations making “much ado.” We could be great if we considered justice rather than comfort (and safety and security) as our standard of living. By justice I mean distributive justice, where all get everything they need instead of some getting everything they want. 

I just saw a few minutes of NYTimes columnist and author Thomas Friedman interviewed  by Joe Scarborough on the Cable Show Morning Joe (Friedman of Hot, Flat and Crowded and Thankyou for Being Late and so much more, should be President as far as I am concerned!). In his usual smart ability to synthesize in a short fashion a ton of information into comprehensive categories that can direct policy or at minimum, help us name what it is we have before us (e.g. all this national turmoil we face is over the fact that so many Americans feel they are losing what “home” feels like and means to them). Friedman said we need to see that “Out of Many – One” could be better said now, or should be said now, as “Out of Many – We.” He just published today and OP-ED about how America is now a place where everybody has rights but nobody has responsibilities. A couple of things about that:

1) Notice how it highlights how we have lost the sense of “we” for all the glorification of “me.”

2) It’s interesting, and a telling story of why religion has lost its footing with a disillusioned Boomer generation and distinterested Millenial and Gen X generations , that the church isn’t the bully pulpit for this kind of moral call for justice and that rather it is enlightened and impassioned journalists and others that are stating the case and lighting the way.

Ok, where do I land this plane today? 

America can only be great it if sees itself as one nation among many who make “much ado.” America can only be great if it realizes and then acts on the truth that it is not great and will never be great. Great by only not being Great? Sounds like something I have heard before: “but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43-45). 

Sound like pie in the sky? Tell that to Jesus. 

Field Notes From a Religion-Less Christian

January 23, 2022

Atheists and Theists Alike Get Nervous Around Jesus

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Psalm 111

Nobody has to be told to fear God. It is not a command. Rather, it is natural and inevitable. For the atheist, it is the dark night of the soul. For the theist, it is the anger of the divine. So there we all are, unbeliever and believer alike, trying to make good with our destiny, hopeful that what will become of us will be something other than nothing. This is what Luther called the “unpreached God,” the silent One with hands off, waiting for some good to arise from us that we might be worthy of blessing. There is indeed good that arises, but alas, not only is it ephemeral, it is never free of its own self-interest. 

But it’s not as if any moral purity matters anyway. We are the ones who have created a Monster Tyrant out of God. We are the ones who have created the meritorious system that is religion in order to fight off, to have some weaponry to go to battle, against the Darkness that will not let us know our fate. 

I’m struck by Nathaniel’s question to Philip (John 1): “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” The answer is yes and no. Of course the question’s referent is Jesus, one showing up in public with a call to radical reliance on God and radical obedience to God. And yes, this is one who is good in every sense of the word. But note that. Every sense of the word. There is the sense of good that makes it clear that the higher moral ground is absolutely nothing on which to stand. What makes Jesus good, it becomes clear very early on in his public ministry work, is that all barriers to God are nonexistent. Class, gender, race, sexuality, origin and all else are stripped of significance in relation to the relation(ship) with God. It is Isaiah 55 all over the place: you without money, come and buy! What makes Jesus good is not moral standing but rather a clearing of the deck of all pretense before God. 

It is the shame of the church that this good news of Jesus is delivered not unvarnished but rather cloaked in equivocations of politics and power. The church hedges all the time, calling people to believe that believing is the standard for access to God. 

Wouldn’t one who is afraid be attracted to one who rebukes and eliminates the fear?

Neither atheists nor theists, however, are attracted. Neither like Jesus. Jesus makes the fearless life all too easy. There must be more to it, we think, this end of darkness. There must be more to it than this itinerate Jew of 1st century Palestine. Quick, let me find stoicism or epicureanism instead! It is the quest that matters! Quick, let me find orthodoxy instead. It’s fidelity that matters!

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, not the final word. It is the fear that drives us, gets us going. But to what end? To what place? To what person? For me it is to the one who is the end of the Law (Galatians), the one who takes the fear and replaces it with an eternal embrace. That would be Jesus of Nazareth. Where is he that I might meet him and be fearless? Philip says, “come and see.”