New Monasticism

I am gathering thoughts from friends regarding this new movement of doing and being church. If you have anything to add to the conversation please feel free to comment. I might not get anything...that's okay. I am working on my own response to it all, which will be my next post. I promised in an earlier blog that I'd share my beefs about Shane, and while they're mellowing out, I'm currently reading a new book (note the pic) about New Monasticism that's quite intriguing. It sparked a new spiritual quickening in me while I was in the Claremont library the other day. But then my phone started blasting her Back Street Boys ringtone, which not only pierced the quite of the summertime library (read: I'm the only nerd alert who was in there) but it interupted my pastoral contemplations and aspirations. So more to come, but in the meantime, please tell me what you've read and are thinking about it. Gracias.

P.S. Here is an interesting article about it from one of my favorite sites.

P.P.S. And here is an article about it from the Christian Century.

P.P.P.S. Krista Tippet has a few podcasts on the movement (easliy found through itunes) on her NPR show, "Speaking of Faith."

Too Much

I have been feeling so overwhelmed by this topic lately; I think that's why the posting has slowed down quite a bit from when I first began. Initially my mind was exhilerated by the ideas I wanted to share, the books I was/am reading, and the resources that have influenced mine and Tyler's finances in the last two years. But now...I am just plain tired. Not so much tired of thinking about these things-that will probably always keep me fired up and energized. I think my fatigue stems from the feeling of having so much to unload-- I'm not sure where to begin anymore.

Actually, here's the truth. About six weeks ago a friend of mine from college had a stroke and through a rough series of events has been on full life support since then. Mostly, I have been asking about God's intervention. How, when, why, where does God intervene or not intervene? Is this 'God intersecting our life stuff' just something we tell ourselves to feel better? I do still believe that God moves in our lives, but to what degree? This question is not just about my friend, but about all of life. Particularly, about poverty as well.

Where is God in the midst of the traumas in our world? I see Scritpure narrative teaching us that God is always present and near to us. I believe this. However, when and where are the miracles? I tend to believe right now that more than interacting in the processes of my friend's recovery, God is present through the redemption that comes to her family as they process this tragedy, cope in the meantime, and plan for the future. But isn't it true for the impoverished as well? God is in the process of redeeming this world through the power of Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit. So much so, that I confidently want to say, that God is just as grieved by the plight of the poor as anyone else who cares deeply for them, even more so, just as God is also grieving for my friend alongside her family. So why then, does it continue? Why does my friend still need her ventilator? Why is Skid Row a real place, and where did this AIDS pandemic originate? Did God surrendur the right to fully intervene and rescue when humanity was incorporated into the process of serving as God's helpers in redeeming and being redeemed? I am thankful for the Gospel of Matthew today (see prior post) and his eschatological assumption that Christ will come again and God's kingom will be fully restored. This is a truth I hang to tightly and often!


My work on the site is officially "due" on Wednesday, but I think my thoughts here will continue. Please keep reading and participating as you feel led. I will blog when the thoughts are too much to keep in and as questions keep arising.

What was Jesus really saying?

How many of us have read, assumed, or heard sermons articulating that the poor widow who gave the two coins out of her poverty and gave everything she had in Mark 12:41-44  did so as a result of her piousness and loyalty to God? Perhaps we've also learned at one time or another that part of the temple system was about providing provisions to the poor. (Even though we see through Jesus' cleansing of it that the temple skimped on that duty quite a bit.) I've always read the passage about this widow as saying that her devotion to God was so intense, so holy, that she was willing to offer even the last bit of what she needed for her very survival.

On the contrary, our professor comes to teach at Fuller, here in California, by way of a church in upper Manhattan populated mostly by homeless and marginalized people. After doing a teaching on this passage about the widow's offering at his church one morning, an African American man approached him afterwards and said in reference to the poor widow something along the lines of, "That bitch is gettin' ripped off." 

Wow! What a contrast. Maybe Jesus wasn't really praising her after all, but instead he was critiquing a system that was full of flaws and systemic evil. He had just finished talking to the scribes in the prior verses about their hypocrisy. Also, the temple money system worked by people giving money/alms to the temple which the temple authorities were then supposed to give to the people in the community who were in need. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work this well. So that, the leaders of the temple, i.e. the Scribes and Pharisees, were outwardly religious and pious, but inwardly straying from God's original commands as set forth in the law. 

In this way, her generosity toward an institution that is meant to provide for her but instead maligns her is not only foolish, but lamented by Jesus. This is a text that introduces us to new questions about what it means to be poor in the first century world and likewise, what it means to be poor today. The nuance in the text that is to be uncovered by Jesus' sentiments towards her when compared to her fellow patriots, who give out of their abundance, is the misfortune that she is forced, by her very devotion to God, to participate in a system that promotes injustice tempered with a (false?) promise of spiritual blessing for giving all that she has to share. 

There is so much that we miss in our white, educated, suburban worlds? How, then, does this messianic lamentation speak truth into our ecclesial structures and the systemic injustices they may or may not promote today?

(Oh man, I've never even thought about the widow being a young, single mother...that adds entirely new, deeper dimensions to the issue! It's actually made me tear up a little.)

Dabbling and Babbling

"Forgive me father for I have sinned..."

Well, maybe not really, but I do have a confession. Each time I begin a post for this weblog I can't help but feel a bit queasy just before hitting the "publish post" icon. The little devil on my should raises his pitchfork in triumph shouting, "You are working really hard here to make everyone think you know what you're talking about. You sure are painting a big picture like you care about all this." Then the voice gets a little sarcastic, "You even think you're doing your part now, caring for the poor and all on your blog." Then the little halo-ringed character opposes from across my neck, and while I won't continue the mock conversation, lest you think I've really flipped my schizophrenic lid, I will say I disagree with the little red man on this one. 

While my contact with the poor right now is limited, which is something that honestly keeps me awake at night as I try to figure out how to let that change, my intentions here are not a result of me thinking I've got the problems of global hunger or absolute poverty solved, or that I even understand all of them. That's why I am taking a class exploring what Jesus has to say about all of this. In fact, in the short time I've been posting here, God is transforming me from the inside out on the issue. I'm understanding better the historical implications behind poverty in the first century, along with political implications surrounding poverty in the twenty-first century. And surprisingly, the causes aren't all that different, but that's an entirely different conversation and beside the point. My point, then, is that if you're feeling a bit reticent as well to click that "publish comment" icon at the bottom of the page, I challenge you to go ahead and share yourself a bit. I invite you to contribute to this conversation. I find that's how I learn best these days, anyway. Know that I will work to continue to keep posting as well, espcially on the days I remember to take my psychotropic drugs, only kidding. 

And with that, my sins of arrogance and fear have been absolved. (Since I'm feeling a connection with my Catholic brothers and sisters today, I think I'll still do a few hail mary's nonetheless. Blame it on the nearness of the pope.)

Religion--An Opium for the People?

There is a new website in the cyber world  that once discovered leaves little time for other daily chores as a result of its highly addictive content and presentation. Consider that a warning, especially if contemporary forms of spirituality peak your interest. Dear God is an interdenominational, interreligious, already global site dedicated to God's people who wish to share needs, confessions, and desires in an online prayer format. It's amazing! Plus, the art associated with each prayer, which can be addressed to any diety (one prayer calls upon Oprah for help), can induce worship in and of itself; the images are beautiful. The prayer accompanying this one is moving:

Dear God,

Every feast of the Nazarene in a place here called Quiapo, thousands of people trample each other just to touch the statue of you being paraded outside the church thinking it will bring them luck or cure their ailments. Many do die in this event. During holy week they flagellate and crucify themselves to atone for their sins.People flock to masses when the lottery hits the high marks, praying for signs of what the winning combination will be. In this country where most people live below the poverty line, most people turn to you during their suffering. So much so that they do nothing for themselves and solely depend on you.

I don’t blame you God. But I wonder why you created religion when it just serves as an opium of the people and as a vehicle for violence?

Karen, Philippines

What do you think about her final question in the prayer? Based on reading almost every posting on the site, it seems like it is quite easy for us (I use that term in the most collective sense possiblt) to blur the line demarcating that which God creates and that which comes from humanity's hands. As a whole, I would lump poverty and homelessness into this fuzzy category of confusion.