You may not agree with everything mentioned here. There may be an issue or two you'd like to discuss or debate. But, here is thoughtful theology--theology that moves to action by definition.
Here we encounter the message and the values of the faith inspired by the prophetic movement of God.
Here we see the strong, undeniable connection between the heart of God and the pain of the world, largely the product of the injustice we encounter at work all around us today.
When was the last time you heard anything like this in church?
Showing posts with label radical faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label radical faith. Show all posts
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Sunday, August 09, 2015
Why they killed Jesus
Read more!
Sunday, August 02, 2015
A radical word, now all but forgotten. . .
Poverty
Is Not the Problem
For Jesus, it is clear, poverty is not the
problem; it is the solution. Until human beings learn to live in naked contact
and direct simplicity and equality with each other, sharing all resources,
there can be no solution to the misery of the human condition and no
establishment of God’s kingdom. Jesus’ radical and paradoxical sense of who
could and who could not enter the Kingdom is even more clearly illustrated by
his famous praise of children.
Andrew
Harvey
Source: Son of Man
Source: Son of Man
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Hiding behind religion?
The thought has occurred to me often and increasingly that much of contemporary Christianity has become an elaborate system of ideas, experiences, traditions and ceremonies functioning as justification for American lifestyles and culture. In a real sense, organized religion works to shield adherents from the radical values and expressed directives of Jesus. Our lives have gone so far afield from what the founder championed and from the difficulty of real, devoted adherence to his seemingly near impossible demands.
Our response? We've fashioned a substitute or replacement religion that allows us to go on with our lives as they have been formed by our culture, while also inviting us to waiting for the next life to arrive.
An irony is that embracing the protective substitute version of the faith is not limited to the well-to-do or even the middle class, but affects the underclass as well. Media and marketing allow us all to believe that the rewards and certain outcomes of the American Dream will someday and soon be ours as well. Embracing the gospel of the status quo sets us free to compartmentalize life into manageable sectors that may or may relate to one another at all.
Countervailing voices to this mainstream, accepted accommodation get shouted down as "liberationists," "heretics," or worse. Clearly, Jesus would not be accepted by much of the contemporary Christian community, just as he was rejected by the religious of his own day.
Now comes conservative columnist, David Brooks whose words in an Op-Ed essay published on September 6, 2010 in The New York Times follow much the same train of thought.
Tell me what you think.
The Gospel of Wealth
By DAVID BROOKS
Maybe the first decade of the 21st century will come to be known as the great age of headroom. During those years, new houses had great rooms with 20-foot ceilings and entire new art forms had to be invented to fill the acres of empty overhead wall space.
People bought bulbous vehicles like Hummers and Suburbans. The rule was, The Smaller the Woman, the Bigger the Car — so you would see a 90-pound lady in tennis whites driving a 4-ton truck with enough headroom to allow her to drive with her doubles partner perched atop her shoulders.
When future archeologists dig up the remains of that epoch, they will likely conclude that sometime around 1996, the U.S. was afflicted by a plague of claustrophobia and drove itself bankrupt in search of relief.
But that economy went poof, and social norms have since changed. The oversized now looks slightly ridiculous. Values have changed as well.
Today, savings rates are climbing and smart advertisers emphasize small-town restraint and respectability. The Tea Party movement is militantly bourgeois. It uses Abbie Hoffman means to get back to Norman Rockwell ends.
In the coming years of slow growth, people are bound to establish new norms and seek noneconomic ways to find meaning. One of the interesting figures in this recalibration effort is David Platt.
Platt earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. At age 26, he was hired to lead a 4,300-person suburban church in Birmingham, Ala., and became known as the youngest megachurch leader in America.
Platt grew uneasy with the role he had fallen into and wrote about it in a recent book called “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream.” It encapsulates many of the themes that have been floating around 20-something evangelical circles the past several years.
To read on click here.
Our response? We've fashioned a substitute or replacement religion that allows us to go on with our lives as they have been formed by our culture, while also inviting us to waiting for the next life to arrive.
An irony is that embracing the protective substitute version of the faith is not limited to the well-to-do or even the middle class, but affects the underclass as well. Media and marketing allow us all to believe that the rewards and certain outcomes of the American Dream will someday and soon be ours as well. Embracing the gospel of the status quo sets us free to compartmentalize life into manageable sectors that may or may relate to one another at all.
Countervailing voices to this mainstream, accepted accommodation get shouted down as "liberationists," "heretics," or worse. Clearly, Jesus would not be accepted by much of the contemporary Christian community, just as he was rejected by the religious of his own day.
Now comes conservative columnist, David Brooks whose words in an Op-Ed essay published on September 6, 2010 in The New York Times follow much the same train of thought.
Tell me what you think.
The Gospel of Wealth
Maybe the first decade of the 21st century will come to be known as the great age of headroom. During those years, new houses had great rooms with 20-foot ceilings and entire new art forms had to be invented to fill the acres of empty overhead wall space.
People bought bulbous vehicles like Hummers and Suburbans. The rule was, The Smaller the Woman, the Bigger the Car — so you would see a 90-pound lady in tennis whites driving a 4-ton truck with enough headroom to allow her to drive with her doubles partner perched atop her shoulders.
When future archeologists dig up the remains of that epoch, they will likely conclude that sometime around 1996, the U.S. was afflicted by a plague of claustrophobia and drove itself bankrupt in search of relief.
But that economy went poof, and social norms have since changed. The oversized now looks slightly ridiculous. Values have changed as well.
Today, savings rates are climbing and smart advertisers emphasize small-town restraint and respectability. The Tea Party movement is militantly bourgeois. It uses Abbie Hoffman means to get back to Norman Rockwell ends.
Platt earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. At age 26, he was hired to lead a 4,300-person suburban church in Birmingham, Ala., and became known as the youngest megachurch leader in America.
Platt grew uneasy with the role he had fallen into and wrote about it in a recent book called “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream.” It encapsulates many of the themes that have been floating around 20-something evangelical circles the past several years.
To read on click here.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Shane Claiborne
What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?
This radical Christian's ministry for the poor, The Simple Way, has gotten him in some trouble with his fellow Evangelicals. We asked him to address those who don't believe.
By Shane Claiborne
To all my nonbelieving, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity.
Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of God.
The other night I headed into downtown Philly for a stroll with some friends from out of town. We walked down to Penn's Landing along the river, where there are street performers, artists, musicians. We passed a great magician who did some pretty sweet tricks like pour change out of his iPhone, and then there was a preacher. He wasn't quite as captivating as the magician. He stood on a box, yelling into a microphone, and beside him was a coffin with a fake dead body inside. He talked about how we are all going to die and go to hell if we don't know Jesus.
Some folks snickered. Some told him to shut the hell up. A couple of teenagers tried to steal the dead body in the coffin. All I could do was think to myself, I want to jump up on a box beside him and yell at the top of my lungs, "God is not a monster." Maybe next time I will.
The more I have read the Bible and studied the life of Jesus, the more I have become convinced that Christianity spreads best not through force but through fascination.
Read the entire essay here.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
An observation. . .
Rather, he offered invitations like, "Give all you have to the poor and come and follow me."
Maybe our ministry is really to and for the well-to-do--a ministry of giving it all away.
What do you think?
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Justice Revival
A movement is building momentum in the nation.
It is. . .
Spiritual.
Of the streets.
Material.
Real.
Sacrificial.
Young.
Fearless.
Significant.
Eager.
Faithful.
Fresh.
Radical.
Revolutionary.
Christian.
View an example of it here.
It is. . .
Spiritual.
Of the streets.
Material.
Real.
Sacrificial.
Young.
Fearless.
Significant.
Eager.
Faithful.
Fresh.
Radical.
Revolutionary.
Christian.
View an example of it here.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
The Rebel Jesus
What follows are the lyrics to a rather agitating song that speaks of Christmas. As I read it again, it seems to fit well as a Lenten meditation. Possibly we are better equipped to consider it during this season of reflection and repentance than at Christmas.
[Original recording from the Chieftain's album "The Bells Of Dublin"]
The streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants' windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
As the sky darkens and freezes
Will be gathering around the hearths and tables
Giving thanks for all God's graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus
They call him by the "Prince of Peace"
And they call him by "The Saviour"
And they pray to him upon the sea
And in every bold endeavor
As they fill his churches with their pride and gold
And their faith in him increases
But they've turned the nature that I worshipped in
From a temple to a robber's den
In the words of the rebel Jesus
We guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why there are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus
But pardon me if I have seemed
To take the tone of judgement
For I've no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In this life of hardship and of earthly toil
We have need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure and I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus.
.
[Original recording from the Chieftain's album "The Bells Of Dublin"]
The streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants' windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
As the sky darkens and freezes
Will be gathering around the hearths and tables
Giving thanks for all God's graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus
They call him by the "Prince of Peace"
And they call him by "The Saviour"
And they pray to him upon the sea
And in every bold endeavor
As they fill his churches with their pride and gold
And their faith in him increases
But they've turned the nature that I worshipped in
From a temple to a robber's den
In the words of the rebel Jesus
We guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why there are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus
But pardon me if I have seemed
To take the tone of judgement
For I've no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In this life of hardship and of earthly toil
We have need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure and I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus.
.
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