Evil and things that go Bump in the Night

A Sermon for Halloween based on Ephesians 6.10-18

[10] Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. [11] Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. [12] For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the forces of evil in the spiritual realms. 

[13] Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. [14] Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of justice in place, [15] and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the good news of peace. 

[16] In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. [17] Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. [18] And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 

The Incarnation and divine embodiments

The Truth of the unique top-down Kenosis of God who becomes incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth does not need to be in conflict with the claims of Divinity in other spiritual paths. It can be true that the great Avatars and Bodhisattvas and Gurus and Saints are all bottom-up realizations of humans who experienced that they are one with God and one in God and that God lives through them. And it can still be uniquely true that the central Self of God— the Self who contains and imagines into being all other selves— that this Self has uniquely become a human self in Jesus. The many bottom-up realizations and the one top-down incarnation can all be expressive of the same truth: That the One Love has emptied themself to become many, so that all our many-ness can be realized and gathered up into One Love. The Love incarnate in Jesus is the Archetype of all of us, in whom we all participate, and toward whom we all journey. Just as an Archetype does not contradict copies of varying fidelity and perspective, but rather fulfills them all, so also the Incarnation does not contradict myriad divine embodiments, but rather fulfills them all. 

World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts

If you are a Religious Practitioner, Spiritual Person, Student of Theology, or just love understanding how people make sense of the world and their purpose in it, I have a resource for you!

Metric Maladies: The Disease of elevating Quantity over Quality

As Jerry Z. Muller notes in his book "The Tyranny of Metrics", we live in an age of "metric fixation". We use quantitative data to give us the assurance of success (or failure) because it simplifies what can be a bewildering sea of qualitative information and experience. But as helpful as some quantitative data can be at some times, it also can be deceptive. Over-reliance on quantitative data can become a poor replacement for the inherently messy, multi-causal process of discernment. Quantities can be mis-attributed, mis-assigned, and mis-counted to give decision makers a false assurance.

The Entangled Reality of Spirit and Water Baptism

Ever since I began following Jesus in my late teens, I have read about the debate over the nature, efficacy, and relationship between Spirit baptism and Water baptism. Are these two separate events? Are they one event? Does one lead to the other? Does one exclude the other? To unpack this, here are some preliminary definitions and some Scriptural sources they draw on:

Acts and Afterlife, Hope and Gospel

Recently a friend online posted this quote:

"In all of the evangelistic sermons in the Book of Acts, none of them makes an appeal to afterlife issues. If you cannot preach the gospel without an appeal to afterlife issues (heaven and hell), you cannot preach the gospel like the Apostles." --Brian Zahnd

From what I know of Zahnd— and that’s not more than a cursory glance because he has not really piqued my interest— it seems like he is not really into recovering the New Testament Church as part of his project. In fact, from what I can remember, he seems to think the New Testament and Old Testament are problematic in important ways (and on some points I agree). But, if this is the case, why tell anyone to evangelize more like the Apostles did? If the Apostles were fundamentally flawed in several ways, why should we look to them as a template about how to evangelize?

You are a Theophany

Every single person is a theophany. May we all see God’s image in each and every person God puts in our path, and welcome them as we would welcome God. 

Genesis 1.27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Matthew 5.14-16 You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid… Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Luke 9.48 Jesus said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.”

The glory of God is humanity fully alive, and human life is the vision of God. (Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 4.20.7)

You are a theophany, made to shine the Light of Christ to others. So… shine!

Wittgenstein and Hope beyond hope

Recently a friend of mine posted a neat quote by Wittgenstein:

One can imagine an animal angry, fearful, sad, joyful, startled. But hopeful? And why not? A dog believes his master is at the door. But can he also believe that his master will come the day after tomorrow? —And what can he not do here? —How do I do it? — What answer am I supposed to give to this?Can only those hope who can talk? Only those who have mastered the use of language? That is to say, the manifestations of hope are modifications of this complicated form of life. (Ludwig Wittgenstein, “Philosophy of Psychology — a Fragment,” i.)

Provocation on Revisionists, Traditionalists, and Jesus

Revisionists often proclaim Jesus as a radical prophet of the justice of God who overturns Empire, while denying or ignoring Jesus as the Incarnation of God in solidarity with humanity. 

Traditionalists often proclaim Jesus as the Incarnation of God in solidarity with humanity, while denying or ignoring Jesus as a radical prophet of the justice of God who overturns Empire. 

I think the outline of a solution is obvious: Both general trajectories are right in what they affirm and wrong in what they deny. 

Jesus is a radical prophet of the justice of God who overturns Empire BECAUSE Jesus is the Incarnation of God in solidarity with humanity.