i dunno why i do it. but i get drawn into debate with colleagues who are strongly opposed to same-sex relationships in the church. anyway, sometimes the writing stimulates thought which i do appreciate. a few days ago, in conclusion to a response to a particularly feisty person in the debate i wrote the following:
tomorrow… we celebrate the marriage of two women who have sought God’s heart, allowed the scriptures to shape their characters, served the faith community with giftedness and our country in self-sacrificing ways in their secular work… and have shown their faithful commitment to loving each other well. the witness of their lives has done much to help many of us reconsider our unkind dogma and will allow us to acknowledge (whether we like it or not) God’s Kind and Tender Presence in the ceremony tomorrow… far more Kindness than we ever seem to be able to muster ourselves…
and so we did!!! we toasted to Love and to Life and we celebrated the marriage of phillipa and natasha. and i think God smiled…
(hopefully there will be photos soon and we’ll post a link…)
i interviewed a gay man on sunday night as a part of our church’s commitement to listening to “outside voices”…
perhaps the most moving part of the whole thing was an email I received from the person’s mother on monday morning:
Dear Barry,
We hope this finds you well. We are Stefano’s parents and we just want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for asking Stef to speak at church last night. We so badly wanted to be there but having just recently been down it was not possible. I know he was extremely nervous which in itself shows just how important this opportunity was to him, because as you probably already have realised, Stef is normally very confident and outspoken!!
The reaction he received after the service was so very heartwarming. If even only one person was helped in coming to terms with their sexuality and if only one person’s perception of GLBT people was changed then it was well worth it, because i firmly believe that education is the key to change.
Stefano & Charl may have told you that we came to a service when we were in PE a few weeks ago. We enjoyed it very much although it was very different to a Catholic Mass!! The most important thing is that our precious boys are happy at St.John’s and the fact that they feel welcome and comfortable is all that matters to us. We would like to thank you once again for embracing all people…
there are those who would say that when you befriend a gay or lesbian person, you lose your objectivity - so that you are no longer able to make a good ethical judgement regarding same-sex relationships… the unfortunate implication is that friendship will always get in the way of a faithful spiritual life. but compassion is by definition not an “objective” stance. I have previously argued that objectivity is over-rated. compassion takes sides. it stands in solidarity with people. compassion is less concerned with being right and more concerned with what it might mean to be kind. in answer to an email from a colleague who is desperately concerned about the future well-being of the church i wrote the following prayer:
may we never make a choice based on fear! (and especially as the community of faith - we should know better!)
may we always know more clearly, and speak more joyfully, on what we are FOR than what we are against.
may we have the God-given confidence to stand alone, if necessary, when many have been conformed to the ways of this world!
may we live to see the end of the church and the birth of the Kin’dom.
and may we always surrender control in favour of standing alonside the dis-empowered!
we overcame the fear of power and the power of fear
to liberate slaves when godly men quoted scripture to justify their profits
to affirm the voices of women who speak with the blessing of the Holy Spirit
(and in spite of Paul’s scriptural prohibitions)
to bless the remarriage of those who have found life and love again
after the trauma of the failure of their marriage
to proclaim the dignity and humanity of every person
even when power found scriptural basis for discrimination and domination
we will overcome fear and power again
and in Jesus name!
not really, but i thought I’d get the attention of some of my nerd-theologian friends… (or used-to-be-friends…)
a few days ago I wrote about my understanding of theology (here). Wessel offered some helpful responses! one of the things i said in passing was that “Systematic Theology” may have adopted that adjective (systematic) at a very rationalistic period in history. in that sense we may need to critique the theological endeavour done in such an overly rationalistic context. But I’m sure that the word “systematic” doesn’t properly refer so much to the rational form of the Theology as it does to it’s overall coherence and consistency.
I was lying on the bed this afternoon, resting after a morning of preaching. I was thinking about my sermon of this morning, and wondering whether people realise that this morning’s sermon is for me just a piece of a larger puzzle. I work hard to ensure that the things I said this morning are consistent and compatible with the things I said last week and last year. I see myself slowly building a comprehensive picture of Life as God (in Jesus) calls me into it. I’m not saying you won’t be able to pick holes in my consistency. In fact, the most clear problem with this desire for consistency is when I realise I was wrong and have had to change my perspective or understanding… that means that things I said today may indeed be inconsistent with things I said last year - i would put that down to learning and growth…
But i wonder if some people go to church each week and expect a piece of something (pie?). one week they hear sermon on gratitude, the next on forgiveness. each sermon may be like a puzzle piece, but does it seem like the pieces are part of different puzzles or is it clear that each sermon is a part of a greater message that makes up a consistent and coherent whole?
what’s my concern? one example… a colleague serving a (racially) uniting congregation in the United States of America recently wrote about a question of theological consistency that he encountered in that context. he asks: why is it that the very same people who oppose abortion - using the argument that the Bible teaches all life is sacred - are the very same people who support and even advocate FOR the death penalty?
in this sense, seeking out a systematic theology - a theology (talk about God) that hangs together and has a general consistency and coherence - is certainly something I would support. Actually, more than support - every sermon, week after week, is my piece-by-piece contribution to a “systematic theology”. I really do think that my sermons will best be grasped in that light!
p.s. 2 obvious consequences of that then:
- to really “get” my sermons, one would need to listen regularly, in order to see the bigger picture that all the puzzle pieces are part of… (and obviously that picture is not my own, but very hopefully the gospel picture!) The point is that my sermons are not primarily “single episodes” teaching moral lessons - get one when you need a boost kind of devotional messages. rather, they are a slow journey toward a new way of seeing, feeling, touching, being…
- this kind of approach to listening and participating in “God-talk” means that it is primarily done in the context of regular worship - and a regular worshipping community. going to church is not so much about pleasing God but rather an active participation in a learning, growing, expanding, seeing community! (which i’m sure pleases God!)
I am a friend of Gay and Lesbian people. If their choices make them sinners (and I’m not saying that they do), then I’m a Friend of Sinners. Crucify me!
The tough thing for them is that they have to deal with being friendly toward a big sinner themselves…
(tonight I will be interviewing a Gay man as a part of a series of conversations inviting the church to listen with compassion to “voices from the outside”. If you pray, pray that we will learn to listen with compassion to the voices that are marginalised in our culture and society… I pray that the church will offer leadership on how to handle the vast challenges of diversity and conflict in this shrinking global village…)
can theology be ethical? should ethics be theological? what does ethical theology look like and how does theological ethics sound?
ag man, academia can sometimes get itself really tied up in knots. I remember being asked by some clever dick in a UNISA exam what the difference between Pastoral Counselling and Pastoral Care is… Academics reading this probably agree with that UNISA professor that I’m an ignorant ass. but I reckon (after 12 years in Pastoral Work) if the answer isn’t as simple as “Pastoral Counselling is a part of Pastoral Care” then you’ve got yourself so tied up in defining terms that you’ve forgotten why you asked the question in the first place. I’d LOVE to hear from a person actually DOING Pastoral Care in a local community of faith to shed some light on the importance of making some clever-dick distinction between these two activities!!! (ok, enough on the sermon, and on to the real purpose of this post…)
I’ve been reading The Hauerwas Reader (a fairly comprehensive collection of his essays) and enjoying his overview of the history of Ethics. It’s quite focussed on developments on the American scene, especially over the past century, but one of his insights has encouraged me. He acknowledges that it is only relatively recently, in the history of Christian Theology, that Ethics (roughly understood as reflection on how Christians live out their lives) was seen as a separate activity to Theology (roughly understood as reflection on what Christians believe and sometimes known Dogmatics or Systematic Theology - which introduces a hugely problematic adjective that suddenly appears in one of the most rationalistic periods in history…surprise?)
So we have separated how Christians live out their lives from what Christians believe… and then we wonder why people say (and represent) one thing on Sundays and another at work on Monday… Our artificial - academic/philosophical - differentiation has done much harm to the simplicity of The Way that Jesus calls us to walk in. Jesus does not ask us to leave our minds behind. In fact he suggests that we are required to Love God… with all our minds… I’m not proposing anti-intellectualism here. I’m just busy clarifying some of the core values that determine how and why the activity of Theology should be practised.
I believe that Theology is a simple activity. It is “Talk about God”. Theo (from Theos meaning God) and logy (from logos meaning words or the study of). Theology is a reflection on what people of faith believe - but only if the word believe is clearly understood as a verb. To believe in a faith sense is not just to give mental ascent to some philosophical idea. Philosophy may have merit, but Theology has to do with believing that involves a whole person. To say I believe in Jesus - does not mean that I accept that he exists. As John Wesley points out in one of his sermons - even the demons believe in Jesus in that sense! To say I believe in Jesus is to say something more - it means I will give my allegiance, my attention, my body and soul for this Jesus…
In this sense, the Community of Faith is the context of Theology. Academia may have a contribution to make, but in the end all important theology must be done by ordinary people who live their lives in the contexts of ordinary life. Profs in Ivory towers (some of whom no longer participate in a local worshipping community) have given up their vital connection to the important Theological conversation that continues in the local community of faith every sunday, and during the week…
I remember attending a lecture by some grand visiting professor in Old Testament studies. He spoke way over my head, but I did muster the courage to ask a sincere question… I asked whether he had shared his views on the Old Testament with ordinary readers of the bible - regular sunday church goers - and how they had responded. My fellow students all gasped, thinking this a very rude question to ask, but the visiting lecturer was happy to reflect that he worshipped in a local church back home and that this was a vital part of his work. I really don’t mean to offend, but I don’t apologise for asking about this important “credential” - the work of Theology is done in the context of Faithful Worshipping Community.
It is also the special privilege of Ordinary People!!! I had a little debate with a colleague recently about Theology that is done in such a sophisticated (philosophical) way that it gives the impression that Theology can only be done in that way - at the same time excluding people who are not familiar with the meaning of these concepts. I will never forget the Tributes paid to Rev Viv Harris at his funeral. A women remembered that although he was one of the most intelligent people she had ever known, he always used language that an ordinary person would be able to understand, especially in his preaching. For me there is no question that ordinary people, faithful worshipping together week by week, provide the primary context for the work of Christian Theology! You can use whatever words you like, but when you’re talking about love, joy, peace… no sophisticated words are really necessary. (In fact, maybe our ventures into sophistication are an elaborate avoidance of the simple challenges of the teaching of Jesus!)
This then leads me to my final important point - that there can be no meaningful distinction between Theology and Ethics. All Theology must be Ethics and Ethics, if it is to be Christian, must be Theology. Reflections on what we believe is always a reflection on how we will think (which is an activity that can be ethical or not, how we will speak and how we will live our lives. In the same way, our lives will reflect what we believe. There is no need to debate fancy philosophical definitions (although some may feel the desire to do it - whatever blows your hair back!) for how we live will clearly reflect our real convictions. As Jesus liked to remind learners who were listening: we will be known by the fruit that our lives produce (Matt 7:16-20)
grieving is an energy sapping activity. expect to get very tired!
people are generous. I’m grateful to belong to a community of people who really care. like this evening… friends brought us supper - a wonderful gesture!
people have also sent cards and messages… and numerous sms’s. Again, let me stress how much I appreciate being a part of this kind of community that shares your pain and grief at a time like this.
But let me also be honest and say that some of the messages that we (and especially elaine’s mom, Marietjie) received were quite unhelpful. rather than expressing a simple message of support, some people ventured into advice-giving, suggesting how we (or she, as the widow) should be approaching this loss… really unhelpful. one of the most unhelpful sms messages received during the awful period of waiting suggested that we shouldn’t worry because God would take care of everything and do a miracle - giving Henry a new skin.
oh for God’s sake!
at the funeral one of Henry’s good friends - showing quite a bit of emotion - walked up to the family and handed over a small note. After he had gone we opened the note to find the following message in big writing: “WAT NOU!!!” (afr. “what now!!!)
Indeed. What now? that message was possibly the most helpful message anyone has offered us as a family. not trying to pretend we haven’t lost something irreplaceable - the presence of a husband, father, grand-father and colleague -nor attempting to take away the pain with a quick word of comfort… just sharing the pain and saying it as it is…
I’m reminded of a phrase from that poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Invitation …
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.