faithasawayoflife

advent: theory and practice

advent is one of my favorite times of the year. this is true for so many reasons, including the basic fact that i love cold weather and most everywhere i've lived (save kingston jamaica) this season marks the return of freezing weather. but more importantly, because my spirituality is a wintery spirituality, as martin marty once refered to it. i feel always, but most profoundly during this season, the longing of the world. to quote john wesley's great advent hymn 'lo! he comes with clouds descending', i feel the world's suffering and in that still hope for the prince of peace. wesley: 'deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing, shall their true messiah see.'

anyway, onwards to the main point of the post. i'm trying (if i may be modest but honest) to encourage the overthrow of theological education as we know it by helping to develop a philosophical critique of the lingering positivism that so regularly places priority on theory over experience and in theological education has marginalized the 'practical areas' in relation to bible, history, and theology. many increasingly feel (and say) that this is wrong, but the institutional power and formation habits of the academy reinforce and replicate this generation after generation. i'm working on this in relation to learning ministry--that is, how does one learn to do something well that requires a certian sort of practical and wise action in the world? and i was up early reading eric matthews' *the philosophy of merleau-ponty* as a way to get behind or around the deeply cartisean and kantian mentalist assumptions in the dominance of theory over practice.

then, after the kids woke up and we got waffles cooked, grace came wandering into the kitchen singing o come, o come, emanuel and i got the matches to light the candle on the advent wreath in the middle of our table as i joined in singing with her. isaiah and sonja followed her in and as we sat down, all singing, i thought how lovely it was to be led by our five year old. afterwards, i said to sonja we should sing a different verse each week and help the kids learn the meaning of the imagery. she said, are you kidding? if we just sing the first verse every week, we're doing great. they don't need to understand it--they just need to know that we do it, and they'll understand it later.

right. practice gives rise to theory. incarnation first. then the doctrine.

anon and peace

faith and family, or how deep can the conversation be in the mini-van commute to summer camp?

isaiah, my son, put together a large floor puzzle of the universe yesterday with his friend micah. this morning, as we were getting stuff together to leave for the drive across town to the kid's art camp and my office, isaiah opines, "dad, what if the planets crashed into each other and that is how god was made?" thus started a conversation about the origins of god and all things that lasted 15 minutes--almost our whole drive. the gist of the conversation was his idea that someone or something must have made god. so i had the delightful task of seeking to describe the orthodox teaching of creatio ex nihilo to a seven-year-old. isaiah is quite thoughtful theologically (i've blogged on his reflections before here)

i told him that we believe that god made everything, and so god even made the planets. well, he said, what if a comet came exploding across the sky and that made god and then god made the planets? okay, i said, nice image. their is an old way of talking about this that says god was the first mover--before god made the world, there was nothing to fly or move, and god got it all started. so, he said, god must have been in some other galaxy in the milky way and came over to our world and created it. well, if god created everything, really everything, then there would not be anyplace god could go before god made it. hmm, he said, so if god made everything, then is god everything? good question, i said, god is in everything, but god is not everything. it is like you--you came from mommy and me, and we are in you, but you are not us. you are you. that's like god. god made us, we're from god, god is in us, but we are not god.

hmm, he said, so if god is in everyone, that is how we can all be in the same family, right? all people? but then we should all be rich, daddy, because in our family we all share and so if we're all in the same family, all people should share and have enough. I said, wow, isaiah, that's right. but some people have lots of money and don't really want to share. other people have a lot of money and they share a lot of money, too.

it is a delight to be a parent. it is also amazing how much we undervalue the ability of young people to understand big ideas. so often kids in sunday school are taught crap and they are capable of so much. these are big ideas, ideas that will orient a life, that shape a space within which the spirit can work and lead in his life. too many kids grow up not even knowing the depth and breadth of their own tradition so when they reject it in their teens or early twenties, they reject a wooden caricature.

i dedicated my book on u2 to isaiah and grace, my two kids, and to their sponsor-sister, rose. partly i did this because the book is an introduction to the faith i hold dear and the book is an invitation to faith as a way of life. i hope for them to find a vibrant faith and while not confining their minds, i want to offer them footholds as they explore the well of living water that we who follow jesus claim as our source of life.

anon, and +peace

i half believe in god

a christmas story

last night, i was doing evening prayers at bedtime with my son, isaiah. he started his prayers, and then stopped. he turned to me and said, dad, i think i only half believe in god and half don't believe in god. if everyone is part of god's family, why doesn't god stop people from hurting other people? god can't stop people from being mean. god can't stop all the wars.' he said, "i used to think god was magic, and god could just boom make something happen, and now i don't."

i said, tenderly, that's okay isaiah. that's a good thought. and i tried to simply explain the idea of god as the power of life, of creation, who gives us the gift of life but also the choice how to live. we can live as god wants us to live, or we can make up our own ways of living that for some people mean hurting others to get what they want. and I said that god sent jesus to be born and live as a person so we would know that god loves us and god wants us to love one another.

the theology of the cross at age six: we live by faith, and not by sight. god's power is known in weakness. the weakness of a helpless child amidst a suffering people, yet in the midst of incredible promise. the star, the hope of mary, the song of angels, the wonder of shepherds, the gifts of the magi.

isaiah and grace have been at loggerheads over playing the role of mary in our annual family christmas pageant. i thought that this conflict would come to blows on numerous occasions over the last week. but as i stood up to leave isaiah's room last night, he said, 'dad, i think i'll let grace be mary. i want to be one of the three kings and bring a gift to the baby (to be played by isaiah's now three-week-old cousin, amos).

anon, and + christmas peace to all