This morning Peter Rowan took us on a tour of the weeping prophet, Jeremiah's life...
some described him as "a patriot commissioned to be a traitor". (Infernal Affairs?)
Here are some snippets of lil' moments of inspiration i experienced during the sermon, retold in not-so-literal ways...
There is a place for celebration in worship, of reveling in God's grace and goodness, but exuberant joy is not the only possible human response to God... we can't be happy and clappy all the time. Look at the Psalms of the Israelites... there were emotions like anger, laments etc, the whole range of human existential struggles with the realities of the world.
Modern worship is often, a denial of the real suffering and pain in the world, more triumphalistic sometimes... if it remains so, it could be a form of escapism from the world rather than bringing the realities of the world to God to be transformed in His presence.
"Do we know that 150000 die each month from preventable diseases?" Peter asked
Instead of the detached serenity of a Buddha icon, untainted by the sufferings of the world, we see Christ crucified on the cross, body twisted in pain, nails through his hands and thorns upon his brow...
God is in the midst of the world's realities.
Vinoth Ramachandran indicted those who suppress doubt under a litany of jolly tunes may be guilty of unbelief because they refuse to believe God is big enough (sovereign enough) to handle their rage...
But that is not all... the Christian hope does not linger on Holy Saturday for there will be resurrection and vindication on Easter Sunday. Hallelujah!
Comments
I think for many of us, there is this tendency to want resolution. Being in the place of pain is uncomfortable if we want to put our trust in a God who saves. It's a tension that is difficult to maintain. So we often resolve this tension through quick & easy answers - these would often take the form of explanations as to why the pain exists or diverting our attention away from the pain by focussing on a future hope.
Yet we are told to carry our cross and to bear each other's burdens, lay down our lives for our friends etc. That should make us pause a bit.
Too often we either view the cross in a utilitarian fashion or fast forward to the resurrection/pentecost/ascension. But the cross is Christ identifying with the sin & pain of the world. And as the Father sends Christ, so Christ sends us. Therefore, likewise, we need to identify with the pain of the world. Only then will we be agents of God's saving love as God's blessing flows out to the world through the "breaking" of our own bodies and the "spilling" of our own blood (in fact, for many Christians, this is literally true). This will not happen if all we want is to escape the tension into the safety of having the tension resolved. If this is the way our theology is worked out, we will do worship in the same way.
The resurrection wasn't the avoidance of death... but triumph after going through death and out the other side. We need to truly learn to reckon with pain, evil & suffering... only then are we in spiritual warfare... after which we can celebrate the victory.
Dave, who's Peter Rowan and is there any place I could read a bit more of his message you wrote about?
I like this quote:
"Vinoth Ramachandran indicted those who suppress doubt under a litany of jolly tunes may be guilty of unbelief because they refuse to believe God is big enough (sovereign enough) to handle their rage..."
Was he quoted by Peter or was he there speaking?
Anyway, when I read all this, I am reminded about the need to have a balance between the more non-charismatic and charismatic outlook of Christianity, and also a proper understanding of the theology of the cross.
My favourite Reformed-Charismatic author wrote:
"Martin Luther used to contrast what he called theologia crucis, the theology of the cross that was centered on the crucified Jesus, with theologia gloriae, the theology of glory that tried to deal with God in a way that did not take the cross fully into account. He knew very well that our sinful hearts are forever devising ways of evading the cross...We need to be on constant guard, in case, without any conscious intention we should begin to evade the cross by devising and promoting a charismatic theology of glory. A spirit who diverts us from the cross into a triumphant world in which the cross does not hold sway may turn out to be a very unholy spirit...If we stand back a little and measure modern charismatic spirituality against the whole tradition of Christian worship in all its varied liturgical expressions, we shall see that the charismatics, as well as having valuable contributions and indeed corrections to make, have lacks and defects to be remedied and filled...We shall perhaps not be too surprised to discover that these are the very defects that can easily spring from a theologia gloriae that does not wrestle with a theologia crucis, and can engender a worship style that concentrates too one-sidedly on the triumphs of Easter and Pentecost and does not sufficiently take into account that they can be reached only by way of the cross. Bearing that in mind, charismatics need to ask themselves whether it is possible that their very joy in their direct and immediate relationship to God in the Spirit might make them forget that God's saving act that makes that relationship possible was done without our having any part of it or feelings about it, indirectly and in our absence long ago, when Jesus gave himself for us on the cross. We need to incorporate into our worship the realization that the event on which our salvation wholly depends was not done in us by the Spirit, but for us by Jesus at Calvary, and that everything else follows from and depends on that. Worship must have a place not just for the moments when hearts lift high and eyes and shining and joy abounds, but for the dull days when we are empty and unresponsive in ourselves and can only hold out empty hands for the bread and wine, the body and blood, the redeeming gift of His living but crucified self that Jesus gives us from the cross....I worshipped most days in the charismatic exuberance of the college chapel, but I was glad every Sunday to be part of a local parish of distinctly catholic churchmanship, where I was not under any pressure to shine with joy or glow with gifts, but was constantly reminded in the sacrament that, however I might be feeling or faring, what Christ has done on Calvary was done forever and was available for me."
Charismatics love praise and worship time and often get their "fix" there. And too much of this can be dangerous, a form of escapism and also something unhealthy and one-sided. (I'm saying this even as I worship at a charismatic church do consider myself a charismatic!)
I like what Vinoth says. It reminds me of three of my favourite U2 songs - "Peace on earth", "When I look at this world" and "Wake up, dead man". Bono talks about not being able to understand God and all the suffering the world has. And he's quite explicit in his words. Bono has rage in his heart. Maybe a bit at God, but more so of not being happy that this world is a world of suffering. I think he's realistic. He knows this world is suffering. Often, Christians put on a mask and are unwilling to confront the aweful suffering in this world. They act as though everything is going well and to be angry or upset or troubled or to struggle that there's so much suffering in this world is a lack of faith to them.
Okie, better go now :)
God bless!
Jonathan
"There may be coarse hypocrites, who consciously affect beliefs and emotions for the sake of gulling the world, but Bulstrode was not one of them. He was simply a man whose desires had been stronger than his theoretic beliefs, and who had gradually explained the gratification of his desires into satisfactory agreement with those beliefs. If this be hypocrisy, it is a process which shows itself occasionally in us all, to whatever confession we belong." (George Eliot, Middlemarch)