The Church is a bit like the family farm that is now surrounded by subdivisions. We may still serve the "family" well, but we're now disconnected from the community around us. Those outside see value in what we have, but more often they just pass by wondering about the old family that seems out of place, or maybe complaining about the old broken down tractors (programs) that they see in our front yard. We keep going along living life the way we do because it seems to work “for us” but with a call to the world as well as each other, we have to realize that our neighbors, who we used to chase cows with or who provided the fire wood that we now have to cut ourselves in exchange for veggies aren't there anymore. The community of the world we are part of has changed and we have to change as well.
Think if you will of when your neighbors move, the new neighbors still fill the same “position” but they most likely serve in different roles within the community. As such, the community changes, if the person who mowed the lawns moves away and the new neighbor doesn't own a lawnmower, someone steps into that role, or everyone has to figure out a way to accomplish what the need. You don't have to be the person to mow lawns, but at minimum you have to now mow your own or hire someone else.
So how does this apply back to the church? Well let's go back to the farm analogy: If we as the church began as a place that supplied the local community with a needed service, but have as time has changed become disconnected from the changing needs of our community, we need to consider what the community currently sees us as. If we are the now “family farm” taking care of itself mainly and seen a place filled with things from a time gone by, we're no longer doing what we originally aimed to do. We have stopped being part of the community, so how can we take what we have and better be what our communities now need?
I think of farms in the area where I grew up, some fenced themselves off more in order to avoid having people complain about escaping cows and will live as long as the family does and then certainly die out (if not before). They aim to maintain for themselves. This is certainly not our call as the church. Some others have sold off much of their land, using profits to try to become something new, or just living out their lives still separate from the community that has grown around them. Also, does not line up with the churches call. But there is one other way I've seen that seems to maybe have lessons we as the church can learn from.
Some of these farms have found themselves just like the one I started this article with: A family farm with rusted tractors and old barns surrounded by subdivisions and planned communities. They heard the mumbling of the neighbors, they saw that they weren't connected, and they looked for ways to be part of the world surrounding them. This meant getting rid of some tractors, cleaning up some barns, and repurposing themselves to continue to serve the community that they were now part of. Some became homes to farmer markets and auction houses. Some found their space to be in great demand for community carnivals, concerts, and other entertainment and slowly repurposed buildings and land to be more and more formal entertainment space. In both these cases there's still some working family farm land attached, but the family is also connected to the community through the other things it does, and in doing so the community for the family has increased. We as the church have many things a community needs, but we must first take the time to look and hear what our specific context needs and try to fill in that void IF we can. Regardless, the process of being neighbor begins by our willingness to go out, be aware of need, and offer help.
We are not just here to take care of ourselves or those who come to us, and we are not a business selling God. We are a neighbor helping here to help and serve. A neighbor who needs to get back out and see that needs have changed and stand in those places of need just like we each were created to do from the beginning. The world sees us as behind, but we don't have to catch up, we just have to reconnect.
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Friday, January 18, 2013
Theological Rant - Guns
I'm not one to say much about political stuff, but with all the gun related news, brings me back to an issue that I don't find political as much as it is theological. What are guns used for has become a forefront discussion piece among many I hear talking about this issue and it seems to fall into 3 main categories.
1. Hunting
2. Sport
3. Self-Defense
Guns used for hunting, especially hunting for food, are mostly weapons that are large, limited shot, and mostly owed by those who do actually hunt for food in my experience. These don't tend to be the weapons used in the majority "gun violence" as far as I can tell. Yes, they can injure and kill, but I am not discussing these within the remainder of this post.
Guns used for sport I don't fully get, some of these are hunting weapons not used for food acquisition, and that is a minor issue for me, but most of these weapons are handguns or high powered, multi-round weapons which make NO logical sense to me, and will be covered in the Self-Defense category. But I feel like this gun use in general doesn't need to exist, the guns risk is higher to the community than the value of an individual's enjoyment.
So now the big piece, I hear lots of arguments right now that we need guns for self defense. The issue I have here is solely theological. I can't understand how a faith where we're commanded not to kill can so easily defend the existence of something created to harm another and put their life in danger. Now I know many will say that "we wouldn't shoot to kill, just to protect" but what are we protecting? Something more valuable than the life and health of one created equal to us in God's image?
Taking this to the next level, many now point towards the argument that we need guns in case we ever "lose our freedom" and end up with a government/world that does atrocities that would harm even more people. The problem with this argument is that it says that we must keep whatever power and control we can over the unknown. We fear others and fear and hate are as close to one another as hate and killing are in Jesus's teachings. So if we're not supposed to hate or kill, why are we okay with having things that are mostly created to inflict harm, and honestly to kill. Maybe not as many die today because of medical advancements, but it doesn't take a perfect shot to kill someone, and any shot could. And why would we want to kill anyone? Why would we want to harm anyone? How is harming another showing any form of love to them? We go out of our way to put up fences around things like Lust, but when it comes to this thing that we supposedly hold so highly, human life, we're okay with potentially taking it from one another just because ours is worth more than theirs. THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THAT. Either we're all equal, all created in God's image, all making mistakes, and all in this together, or there is no God. Christians, pay attention, Guns do nothing to help us live in the way God commands. They do nothing to make this life any better, nothing to improve the world and bring the kingdom of God closer. I wish they were all gone, but since that won't happen, please at least let's dialogue about this from a place that does not make any individual more important than another, and let's see not the possibility of a future as something to fear, but as something that can be more like the Kingdom of God if we first love more like God ourselves.
Taking this to the next level, many now point towards the argument that we need guns in case we ever "lose our freedom" and end up with a government/world that does atrocities that would harm even more people. The problem with this argument is that it says that we must keep whatever power and control we can over the unknown. We fear others and fear and hate are as close to one another as hate and killing are in Jesus's teachings. So if we're not supposed to hate or kill, why are we okay with having things that are mostly created to inflict harm, and honestly to kill. Maybe not as many die today because of medical advancements, but it doesn't take a perfect shot to kill someone, and any shot could. And why would we want to kill anyone? Why would we want to harm anyone? How is harming another showing any form of love to them? We go out of our way to put up fences around things like Lust, but when it comes to this thing that we supposedly hold so highly, human life, we're okay with potentially taking it from one another just because ours is worth more than theirs. THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THAT. Either we're all equal, all created in God's image, all making mistakes, and all in this together, or there is no God. Christians, pay attention, Guns do nothing to help us live in the way God commands. They do nothing to make this life any better, nothing to improve the world and bring the kingdom of God closer. I wish they were all gone, but since that won't happen, please at least let's dialogue about this from a place that does not make any individual more important than another, and let's see not the possibility of a future as something to fear, but as something that can be more like the Kingdom of God if we first love more like God ourselves.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Love is Logical
When I look back over my life there are some key things that most every girl I ever liked had in common. On the other hand I can also look back and see some great people who really liked me that I wouldn't even give the time of day. What was it that kept me from being attracted to these girls? In reality, I just wasn't, I had a very specific type of personality and physical look that would keep my attention and moved me romantically. I couldn't then, and can't now logic being attracted to others in that way. Of course at one time that inability to logic attraction made me wonder how ANYONE could be attracted to those who I wasn't. As I though came to a greater understanding of how we communicate and began to better see the world through others eyes, I saw that everyone had things that they were attracted to, but they weren't always the same things.
I now feel this is THE most reasonable argument for why same sex attraction is normal. It's not that everyone should be, but that some just ARE. It is what they are romantically interested in, just as I have only certain people who attract me, they do too. There is no difference. So if you are to tell someone not to be attracted to those of the same sex, you are also saying that you shouldn't limit who you're attracted to by anything other than a set of external rules. I'm not even sure how we could determine these external rules. It's just illogical to think that we should all only be attracted to the exact same people. I have never seen anything that makes that seem realistic.
Why do I use this as my core argument? Because it is all the same love. Beyond the complexities of Gender Identity, Roles, Physical Sex, and all of that, who we're attracted to is just that, a short list of people that is different for every person. It is just how we all do it, regardless of where we may fall on a spectrum. I can argue with you from a theological standpoint, from a justice standpoint, from a legal standpoint, from any number of other standpoints, but this simple idea to me seems the most universal to all. Even if you're not attracted to anyone at all, you know what you don't feel. Why can we not understand that this just is what it is, and we can't really just go change it?
I tried after my divorce to date a few people different than my ex, mostly physically different but also personality. My wife now is physically similar, and in some core places is almost the same, same with her personality, there are differences, but there are some key similarities. I know for some these core attractions do adjust over time, but we all I think can find some patterns either throughout life or within a season of life.
I don't care what you think about people's actions, there is a serious issue with judging who a person is attracted to, regardless of if that judgement is based on gender or personality or a person's look. It is like judging another for other differences in thought, such as if you were to judge me because I'm an aspie and can't think the same way as "most" or judging me for what I choose to eat because I am a diabetic. I do not fit simply into either of these boxes, and to simply use your experience with others who are labeled with these labels to define me is unfair and judgmental These are both complex situations I find myself in that I have to work with. But they are more than illnesses or disorders, they are part of me, part of a full me, a core me, a real me that is as real and complete as any other.
Equality is not as simple as the rights to do what others get to do. To allow all legal rights does not make us equal. What makes us equal is seeing all people as complete people and treating all that way. That means there is no one set of rules that will always make everyone fit, that is actually the core of a relational theology. God is three and God is one in relationship. All three are different, but they are all fully God. It is the same for us, we are each individual, but it is in our relationships with others who are different but still fully human that we ourselves can be fully human ourselves.
Let people be who they are. No law is going to change us, we have to change us. We have to see people as fully equal to us if we want to move forward and bring the kingdom. Time to get rid of the fear and embrace the same love one for another that we have been given since creation when we were made in the image of Love.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Why I don't vote (a rough sketch)
**Note: This would be much better stated within a RL dialogue. I don't think anyone should just accept this fully at face value. This is complex even within my own head.**
Who are you going to vote for? I hate that question mainly because the answer I give usually turns into an argument with whomever may have asked it. For most people there is a "right" answer to that question, or at the very least an acceptable "wrong" answer, but very few people are willing to even try to dialogue with someone who says: "I'm not voting." The only response I ever seem to get to that is one of frustration often with a side of anger. Things are said like "Well then I better never hear you complain about things!" or "You are neglecting your duty!" or "How can you not use the great freedom you have, do you not care?!?"
Who are you going to vote for? I hate that question mainly because the answer I give usually turns into an argument with whomever may have asked it. For most people there is a "right" answer to that question, or at the very least an acceptable "wrong" answer, but very few people are willing to even try to dialogue with someone who says: "I'm not voting." The only response I ever seem to get to that is one of frustration often with a side of anger. Things are said like "Well then I better never hear you complain about things!" or "You are neglecting your duty!" or "How can you not use the great freedom you have, do you not care?!?"
Yet when I ask them why they feel this way, and to help me see what I might be missing, they tend to speak to the exact things I've thought about time and again as voting seasons come and go each and every year. Let me first address the 3 big reactionary statements listed above because I feel those are a bigger issue than what I really want to talk about.
"You don't vote, you don't get to talk" is a bull response. I don't get to say "I wish we had a different X" or "If Y had just gone the other way." I'll agree with that. But can I still say my views on social, family, world, and even government issues? Yes, I'm still welcome in the world of the public square and honestly I'm quite active there, I just don't vote instead choosing to act in other forms.
"You have a duty, You must use your freedoms." You know what makes things free? They're not your duty and you don't have to do things. There are lots of freedoms that I don't use and there are good reasons why I don't. For example, I don't bear arms, and there are many who agree with that choice, so why is voting different? Also, do you know what I feel my duty is? Love others, Love God, Love creation, act as a good steward and servant through faithfully discerned actions. That (in my case) doesn't include voting.
Okay, now that all of that is out of the way: Why don't I vote? I wish there was a simple way to state this that everyone would understand and not just ignore as if I'm ignorant, but I know my reasons aren't that understandable to most, especially when I tell them that I WANT them to vote. The simple answer is that in my lifetime of discerning my call from God, voting has never been something I've discerned as an act faithful to my understanding of that call.
That though is just a reactionary answer. The deep answer is that I feel very called to certain acts of ministry, certain stances on what it means to act as a Christian, certain things that God has placed before me, and voting could damage that work, and honestly might be seen by some as hypocritical of what I claim.
I am called to relational work, work with all those who I come in contact with. I am called to help them in the moments I have with them and try to empower them going forward. I expect many readers now are thinking: well that's why you vote, to better empower others and to help them, but that's not where I fit in, I feel that I am called not to change the system, but to be change in the world.
I am called to love all. The way our political system is set up, to vote is to choose a side, but this is not God choosing the side of the oppressed, this is us choosing an ideology which we then defend, even as it (as all ideologies do) oppresses others. My love for all is relational, I can only fully love those I know. I feel my call is weakened when others see me as a label.
I am called to a world beyond principalities and powers. This world for me is not some future place, or some other plane of existence but here and now within the Kingdom of God here in the Creation of God. I cannot be part of choosing other powers over God's. I feel I must be willing to do that which I choose to do regardless of its place within society. I was once asked by someone upset at me not voting why I didn't go to China or Russia where I couldn't be free. All I could answer was, "I would like to think the legality of my actions will always be secondary to the faithfulness of those actions." I cannot be sure that I would actually do so, but here and now in the country in which I live, I will render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's as long as I first render unto God that which is God's.
I have been called by others a "Utopian Anarchist" and I have redefined that term to fit as a compliment. I do believe in a world where we will do what is right for one another in all cases without a government to "make it so." I believe I am called to work towards that world. There is the need for many to vote for whomever they discern to be the faithful choice as they are able to understand it, for me that need is to not vote, to speak through actions to a world possible regardless of what worldly powers exist. Jesus did not overthrow the government, Jesus changed the world through his individual actions, changes that have influenced so many to do things in their lives faithfully as well. God's world is not political, and for me that is key to my faith at this time.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Aspie Faith and Ministry
The following is in response to some friends and cohorts asking for my reaction to: Church Stories: Embracing Faith as an Aspie (by Erin Thomas) as found on Rachel Held Evans' blog.
When I awoke this morning I had a plan:
I have Aspergers' syndrome, I like my plans. I need them to keep my stress level in check some days. But this morning, like many mornings, things didn't go as planned. As soon as I got downstairs and on my computer there were a number of people asking what I thought about this blog. Suddenly the TV was loud, my clothes were uncomfortable (tags, I hate them sometimes) and my focus was shot. I was off of the plan, but because I was asked for an opinion, I needed to respond. So here we go:
A little background into my own experience as an Aspie in the church. I was in some ways lucky, I was introduced to the faith at 4 at a random baptist VBS that I went to for just one night. I heard the closing speaker talk about having a real friend in Jesus and that's what got me. I'm an extrovert, an EXTREME extrovert who is always seeking interactions with others, of course as an Aspie, I don't adhere to social norms well at all and take everything too too literally, so friends are not something I make at all easily. But the idea of a friend who would never leave you hooked me. They then dunked me and gave me a bible, telling me it was all about Jesus and this relationship. I went home and read the whole thing over the next few days. The bible is gibberish to a 4 yr old, but I did scribble down lots of questions to ask.
I got into church after that, I needed some place where people could answer my questions. Many Aspies tend to have obsessions, things they get stuck on and love to talk about. I certainly do. I love theology, quantum physics and human communication theory. My desire to make the bible make sense is key to my faith because of this. It should be noted that I was not diagnosed until I was an adult, I didn't know for much of my childhood what I was doing was weird, or that you weren't supposed to question certain things. I was obsessed with making the Bible and later this whole Christianity thing make sense. This continues today, even as I am now out of Seminary and in the ministry.
Back to the blog response.
Point 1: STOP SCARING KIDS! I have a number of kids in my church on the spectrum (Autistic, Aspie, etc.), one of whom asked me "how does the devil get you?" I remember thinking about that sort of thing due to pop and Christian culture. This child thought the devil was going to grab him and pull him underground to hell when he had done too many bad things. This sort of cheap theology is junk, and does nothing more than what Erin says in her post. It leads to people who cannot get around fear and worry and that can continue an entire lifetime. Every time we tell a kid something, some are going to believe it completely as the one and only truth, which leads to
Point 2: The church needs to leave space for people to think and form their own viewpoints, not give a set of rules and standards. One of my earliest struggles was between a God who is Love and a God who punishes. I didn't get it. I played so much by the rules that told to stay somewhere when my parents had to rush to the hospital, our neighbors had to cover me in blankets for the night because I wouldn't go in with them. "Mom told me to stay here." So the punishment never scared me as such, I just did it because I was told to. But I didn't GET punishment, and couldn't picture a God who wanted to create also wanting to destroy. Even those of us who tend to preach and teach a fully God is Love gospel often define what that love is to look like in no uncertain terms "Boycott this, listen to them, fight against that teaching." For those of us who are extremely logical and for many others this is nonsensical. We have got to work on helping people be faithful to the things they feel called to and not making so many universal statements on contextual things.
Point 3: STOP THE GAME! This is a hard one, but win-lose Christianity is bull, and we need to get away from it. We don't know what happens after this world, and the world here has enough games of its own without us adding one about heaven and hell on top of it all. Yes, there is some peace in knowing of a loving God beyond death, but we are called to act here justly and to change the rules of the world's games. To add the salvation game on top of things not only leads most Aspies to worry and stress, but I see it happening in so many NTs as well.
Point 4: The relational aspect of Christianity needs to be addressed better. My obsession with Human Communication Theory and my extroversion make this a hard one for me. Relational Christianity is an issue for Aspies, myself included. Most also are introverts, and as Erin says playing the social extroverts game and forcing ourselves to meet those social norms will basically make us all want to go hide and recover. In some ways it's even harder as an Aspie Extrovert, I NEED that interaction and connection, but pretty much fail to find it because I'm so socially uncomfortable, and even when I start getting close, I may just melt down from the exhaustion of trying to meet social norms. Yes, I do believe that we are relational creatures, but there is in the church a power imbalance that favors extroverts and NTs and that needs to be changed. We need to look at ways to connect to the entire spectrum of humanity and do more to bring balance to our faith.
Point 5: We need to do more to help people understand that we're all different and that's okay. Not only is it okay, it needs to be EMBRACED by the church. It's not enough to say "Sammy is autistic so it's okay that he doesn't sit through the service." But we need to find better ways to embrace our differences and do more to allow all to be fully part of church and a shared faith. I'm not going to remember your name, but I can probably engage with you on certain topics very well. That is okay and encouraged. I think by turning Christianity into a social extrovert's game we've actually done a real disservice to what it means to be in relationship. I am very capable of sharing your burden, very capable of emphasizing with you, very capable of walking with you, allow me to do that. How we form relationships is not one size fits all, and that is good.
Point 6: Not just for Aspies, but for most all, we need to realize that some parts of church are actually hurtful. To ask one to be social, vulnerable, connected, loved, touched, joyful, open, and other things means potentially asking someone to not just be uncomfortable and pushed to grow, but often to open up hurts to a point where love and trust fail. We are quick to judge. I have worked hard to make eye contact, but it is exhausting, but because I can I'm judged as "not acting like an Aspie". I have a youth who if they haven't found comfort in EXACTLY what's going to happen at an event will only be found under a blanket in a ball in her car. Her mom told me once that if she did it again she'd be punished, I responded that we needed to get better about meeting her needs because it seemed if she was punished enough by being asked to come. This needs to change. We need to adjust and meet people, not expect others to go where it hurts.
Point 7: We need to change soon. Too many people are hurt by the church, not because we intentionally do things to harm them, but because we are busy playing our games and think everyone should play along. We miss how what we do can create anxiety, confusion, depression, fear, and guilt. We need to hear the voices of those who can see where teachings have gone haywire, those like Erin who stay with the faith even when so much of it seems like it was crazy. God did not create any of us to be distanced from God. I found a friend in God because of my Aspie-ness, it was the logic that brought me to a loving God, one who called us to be faithful in our attempts at acting in this world. Reading Erin, I realize how easy it would have been to have needed to find this in spite of my Aspie-ness. That's scary my friends, we're pushing away more and more people by playing these games. We need to change, we need to hear these voices, we need to stop the games that look a lot like those the world plays, and create something new that looks completely different where all of our complexities are truly welcome, and not just (at best) "understood". That's our call, let's stop playing around.
Thank you Erin for sharing your journey and thoughts. Her blog is The Underground Railroad.
Now off to test and take my meds. :)
When I awoke this morning I had a plan:
- Get up
- Get ready
- Go see Wife and Mother in Law downstairs
- Check email and social media
- Test and take medicine (diabetic)
- Get to work on polishing my sermon for Sunday
I have Aspergers' syndrome, I like my plans. I need them to keep my stress level in check some days. But this morning, like many mornings, things didn't go as planned. As soon as I got downstairs and on my computer there were a number of people asking what I thought about this blog. Suddenly the TV was loud, my clothes were uncomfortable (tags, I hate them sometimes) and my focus was shot. I was off of the plan, but because I was asked for an opinion, I needed to respond. So here we go:
A little background into my own experience as an Aspie in the church. I was in some ways lucky, I was introduced to the faith at 4 at a random baptist VBS that I went to for just one night. I heard the closing speaker talk about having a real friend in Jesus and that's what got me. I'm an extrovert, an EXTREME extrovert who is always seeking interactions with others, of course as an Aspie, I don't adhere to social norms well at all and take everything too too literally, so friends are not something I make at all easily. But the idea of a friend who would never leave you hooked me. They then dunked me and gave me a bible, telling me it was all about Jesus and this relationship. I went home and read the whole thing over the next few days. The bible is gibberish to a 4 yr old, but I did scribble down lots of questions to ask.
I got into church after that, I needed some place where people could answer my questions. Many Aspies tend to have obsessions, things they get stuck on and love to talk about. I certainly do. I love theology, quantum physics and human communication theory. My desire to make the bible make sense is key to my faith because of this. It should be noted that I was not diagnosed until I was an adult, I didn't know for much of my childhood what I was doing was weird, or that you weren't supposed to question certain things. I was obsessed with making the Bible and later this whole Christianity thing make sense. This continues today, even as I am now out of Seminary and in the ministry.
Back to the blog response.
Point 1: STOP SCARING KIDS! I have a number of kids in my church on the spectrum (Autistic, Aspie, etc.), one of whom asked me "how does the devil get you?" I remember thinking about that sort of thing due to pop and Christian culture. This child thought the devil was going to grab him and pull him underground to hell when he had done too many bad things. This sort of cheap theology is junk, and does nothing more than what Erin says in her post. It leads to people who cannot get around fear and worry and that can continue an entire lifetime. Every time we tell a kid something, some are going to believe it completely as the one and only truth, which leads to
Point 2: The church needs to leave space for people to think and form their own viewpoints, not give a set of rules and standards. One of my earliest struggles was between a God who is Love and a God who punishes. I didn't get it. I played so much by the rules that told to stay somewhere when my parents had to rush to the hospital, our neighbors had to cover me in blankets for the night because I wouldn't go in with them. "Mom told me to stay here." So the punishment never scared me as such, I just did it because I was told to. But I didn't GET punishment, and couldn't picture a God who wanted to create also wanting to destroy. Even those of us who tend to preach and teach a fully God is Love gospel often define what that love is to look like in no uncertain terms "Boycott this, listen to them, fight against that teaching." For those of us who are extremely logical and for many others this is nonsensical. We have got to work on helping people be faithful to the things they feel called to and not making so many universal statements on contextual things.
Point 3: STOP THE GAME! This is a hard one, but win-lose Christianity is bull, and we need to get away from it. We don't know what happens after this world, and the world here has enough games of its own without us adding one about heaven and hell on top of it all. Yes, there is some peace in knowing of a loving God beyond death, but we are called to act here justly and to change the rules of the world's games. To add the salvation game on top of things not only leads most Aspies to worry and stress, but I see it happening in so many NTs as well.
Point 4: The relational aspect of Christianity needs to be addressed better. My obsession with Human Communication Theory and my extroversion make this a hard one for me. Relational Christianity is an issue for Aspies, myself included. Most also are introverts, and as Erin says playing the social extroverts game and forcing ourselves to meet those social norms will basically make us all want to go hide and recover. In some ways it's even harder as an Aspie Extrovert, I NEED that interaction and connection, but pretty much fail to find it because I'm so socially uncomfortable, and even when I start getting close, I may just melt down from the exhaustion of trying to meet social norms. Yes, I do believe that we are relational creatures, but there is in the church a power imbalance that favors extroverts and NTs and that needs to be changed. We need to look at ways to connect to the entire spectrum of humanity and do more to bring balance to our faith.
Point 5: We need to do more to help people understand that we're all different and that's okay. Not only is it okay, it needs to be EMBRACED by the church. It's not enough to say "Sammy is autistic so it's okay that he doesn't sit through the service." But we need to find better ways to embrace our differences and do more to allow all to be fully part of church and a shared faith. I'm not going to remember your name, but I can probably engage with you on certain topics very well. That is okay and encouraged. I think by turning Christianity into a social extrovert's game we've actually done a real disservice to what it means to be in relationship. I am very capable of sharing your burden, very capable of emphasizing with you, very capable of walking with you, allow me to do that. How we form relationships is not one size fits all, and that is good.
Point 6: Not just for Aspies, but for most all, we need to realize that some parts of church are actually hurtful. To ask one to be social, vulnerable, connected, loved, touched, joyful, open, and other things means potentially asking someone to not just be uncomfortable and pushed to grow, but often to open up hurts to a point where love and trust fail. We are quick to judge. I have worked hard to make eye contact, but it is exhausting, but because I can I'm judged as "not acting like an Aspie". I have a youth who if they haven't found comfort in EXACTLY what's going to happen at an event will only be found under a blanket in a ball in her car. Her mom told me once that if she did it again she'd be punished, I responded that we needed to get better about meeting her needs because it seemed if she was punished enough by being asked to come. This needs to change. We need to adjust and meet people, not expect others to go where it hurts.
Point 7: We need to change soon. Too many people are hurt by the church, not because we intentionally do things to harm them, but because we are busy playing our games and think everyone should play along. We miss how what we do can create anxiety, confusion, depression, fear, and guilt. We need to hear the voices of those who can see where teachings have gone haywire, those like Erin who stay with the faith even when so much of it seems like it was crazy. God did not create any of us to be distanced from God. I found a friend in God because of my Aspie-ness, it was the logic that brought me to a loving God, one who called us to be faithful in our attempts at acting in this world. Reading Erin, I realize how easy it would have been to have needed to find this in spite of my Aspie-ness. That's scary my friends, we're pushing away more and more people by playing these games. We need to change, we need to hear these voices, we need to stop the games that look a lot like those the world plays, and create something new that looks completely different where all of our complexities are truly welcome, and not just (at best) "understood". That's our call, let's stop playing around.
Thank you Erin for sharing your journey and thoughts. Her blog is The Underground Railroad.
Now off to test and take my meds. :)
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Too Much?
Today I pounced on an opportunity to preach. I've made a big deal at work about wanting to focus on doing my job the best I can and thus skipping out on more things like session, being liturgist, and planning meetings, and trusting the Education committee to pick up that slack. So I understand when my Head of Staff questioned me offering and wondered if I was being hypocritical.
Yet as a seminary trained educator I feel that I need the random occasion to preach. It is an important place of education, and for some people the only place that they receive education in the church. Do I dislike that second fact? Yes, but it is a fact. Thus I try to do lots of other things where maybe they'll read or see something educational. Part of the reason this blog has been quiet for almost 3 months is that I was starting up a church blog that I hope will help people hear other voices and grow in their faith. So in order to put my creative energy into that something had to give. In this case it was my voice here that went.
Priorities, my friend. We all have them, and we should review them regularly. What was important to me last year, last week, or even last hour may not be now. Our priorities constantly change and rearrange and we need to be willing to move with them, or to move them around as needed. I hear often of the need to be focused on prayer, scripture reading, service, confession, submission, or worship, but while all of those are good, they are only half of the classical spiritual disciplines. The others: Fasting, Meditation, Simplicity, Solitude, Celebration, and Guidance? They're no less important to us in the big picture. There is no one set list of what makes us most spiritual, most human, most righteous, most anything. It's not about being most, it's about finding what touches us, reaches others, stewards creation, and seeks God at any moment of our lives. All we can do is the best we can do at any one moment. Well that and enjoy things like this:
ENJOY!
Also, if you missed my return late last night to blogging please take a look at this and then my view.
Yet as a seminary trained educator I feel that I need the random occasion to preach. It is an important place of education, and for some people the only place that they receive education in the church. Do I dislike that second fact? Yes, but it is a fact. Thus I try to do lots of other things where maybe they'll read or see something educational. Part of the reason this blog has been quiet for almost 3 months is that I was starting up a church blog that I hope will help people hear other voices and grow in their faith. So in order to put my creative energy into that something had to give. In this case it was my voice here that went.
Priorities, my friend. We all have them, and we should review them regularly. What was important to me last year, last week, or even last hour may not be now. Our priorities constantly change and rearrange and we need to be willing to move with them, or to move them around as needed. I hear often of the need to be focused on prayer, scripture reading, service, confession, submission, or worship, but while all of those are good, they are only half of the classical spiritual disciplines. The others: Fasting, Meditation, Simplicity, Solitude, Celebration, and Guidance? They're no less important to us in the big picture. There is no one set list of what makes us most spiritual, most human, most righteous, most anything. It's not about being most, it's about finding what touches us, reaches others, stewards creation, and seeks God at any moment of our lives. All we can do is the best we can do at any one moment. Well that and enjoy things like this:
ENJOY!
Also, if you missed my return late last night to blogging please take a look at this and then my view.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Bible Thumping Christians
I have heard a number of people I respect told recently that they don't hold the bible in the proper esteem or that they completely ignore it. I know better than to fight their fights, but I do know that I want to state my own view on the subject.
I am the very model of a modern major general . . . oops.
I take great pride in calling myself a Bible Thumping Christian today. I take scripture VERY seriously. It is at the core of what I believe and what I desire for life and all of creation. I don't think there is any of scripture that is not useful for teaching and learning and talking about. I don't think there's anything in there that's just a waste of words. Actually my feelings on those words is what I think makes me able to claim that title of "Bible Thumper."
I love language. I took Chinese, Latin, Italian, Spanish, and German in school. And then when I made it to seminary I was so addicted to Greek that I was named our schools language scholar and got into regular long winded discussions with my language professors. I started trying to find as many ancient Greek texts as I could from all areas. Trying to find how words may have been used outside of scripture. I started looking at the little nuances of words and phrases, not taking even the "best" English translations at face value. I picked apart words, trying to make it all make more sense, trying to see what it is that scripture could teach me about this God who I knew existed.
I knew tons about the world, I wrote my proof of God based on things I found in String Theory. I saw a spirit moving in people and throughout the world, but it is scripture that brings me back to God. Scripture brings me to a place where I face the struggle, the epic struggle of humanity to be who we were created to be. The struggle that makes us question how someone like David could be "after God's own heart." The struggle that makes us wonder why God made a world so diverse that we actually have to work to be in community even when we're around people very much like ourselves. The struggle that brings people into a church crying because they are desperate for God. The struggle that makes us look at what is written in scripture and wonder what pieces are contextual, and what is really truly a universal truth.
Yes, I know this is the sensitive subject. Yet we all claim some things are universal and others aren't. We know that scripture is written in a certain time, and in many cases there is no debate also for a certain community. We all teach about the specific problems in Judah, or Egypt, or Ephesus, or Corinth. We know that was the context that these are created for originally. We also know that the words that are chosen are specific and nuanced for those communities and even the best of us who translate betray the actual text to some extent.
This is especially true when you get into word studies. Some words are used differently in law texts, social texts, religious texts. Other words are only found in one type outside of scripture. Some aren't found at all and we really start playing games to try to define them. Do I think there is one meaning that HAS to be the meaning? Well in some ways yes, because there was an original context. Yet in other ways no, because it's really not that simple. I will argue till I die that Pistis is best translated as Faithfulness, and that will influence everything I teach and lead because it changes how I interpret scripture. That is the key for those of us who are claiming a title others want to keep away from us. We are Bible Thumping because we value that text as something special, something that informs all we do, and is a key to our faith. It is not the only key, but without it we do fall down, or at least I do. God Bless the Bible Thumpers.
I take great pride in calling myself a Bible Thumping Christian today. I take scripture VERY seriously. It is at the core of what I believe and what I desire for life and all of creation. I don't think there is any of scripture that is not useful for teaching and learning and talking about. I don't think there's anything in there that's just a waste of words. Actually my feelings on those words is what I think makes me able to claim that title of "Bible Thumper."
I love language. I took Chinese, Latin, Italian, Spanish, and German in school. And then when I made it to seminary I was so addicted to Greek that I was named our schools language scholar and got into regular long winded discussions with my language professors. I started trying to find as many ancient Greek texts as I could from all areas. Trying to find how words may have been used outside of scripture. I started looking at the little nuances of words and phrases, not taking even the "best" English translations at face value. I picked apart words, trying to make it all make more sense, trying to see what it is that scripture could teach me about this God who I knew existed.
I knew tons about the world, I wrote my proof of God based on things I found in String Theory. I saw a spirit moving in people and throughout the world, but it is scripture that brings me back to God. Scripture brings me to a place where I face the struggle, the epic struggle of humanity to be who we were created to be. The struggle that makes us question how someone like David could be "after God's own heart." The struggle that makes us wonder why God made a world so diverse that we actually have to work to be in community even when we're around people very much like ourselves. The struggle that brings people into a church crying because they are desperate for God. The struggle that makes us look at what is written in scripture and wonder what pieces are contextual, and what is really truly a universal truth.
Yes, I know this is the sensitive subject. Yet we all claim some things are universal and others aren't. We know that scripture is written in a certain time, and in many cases there is no debate also for a certain community. We all teach about the specific problems in Judah, or Egypt, or Ephesus, or Corinth. We know that was the context that these are created for originally. We also know that the words that are chosen are specific and nuanced for those communities and even the best of us who translate betray the actual text to some extent.
This is especially true when you get into word studies. Some words are used differently in law texts, social texts, religious texts. Other words are only found in one type outside of scripture. Some aren't found at all and we really start playing games to try to define them. Do I think there is one meaning that HAS to be the meaning? Well in some ways yes, because there was an original context. Yet in other ways no, because it's really not that simple. I will argue till I die that Pistis is best translated as Faithfulness, and that will influence everything I teach and lead because it changes how I interpret scripture. That is the key for those of us who are claiming a title others want to keep away from us. We are Bible Thumping because we value that text as something special, something that informs all we do, and is a key to our faith. It is not the only key, but without it we do fall down, or at least I do. God Bless the Bible Thumpers.
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