the love family

Oncle and Auntie and Silas

God loves everyone and when people hate Him, He loves them still. He sings the love song to us and we love him always.  Jesus is powerful. 

By Silas Brandle,

May 31, 2014

the true story of the prodigal son

There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

I am the son who went and asked his father for his share of the estate.

He gave it to me without hesitation, which surprised me.

It surprised me because I had never heard of a son ask for his share of the estate. Even more, when I asked some of my peers in the neighbourhood what would happen if a son asked for his share, they were horrified at the idea. They couldn't imagine a son ever asking his father for his share.

“That would be like wishing him to be dead,” they said. “No one would do that, and even if someone did, his father would beat him for it.”

So I was surprised when he gave me my share.

But I was also not surprised.

eleven

Trigger warning: topic of suicide

[lgbt rights around the world]

The Guardian has just posted a survey of lgbt rights around the world, focusing on five areas:

1. Is sex between consenting lgbt adults legal?
2. Are lgbt people protected against discrimination in the workplace?
3. Do lgbt people have the right to marry?
4. Are same-sex couples eligible to apply for adoption?
5. Does the country’s legal system consider hate crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity to be an aggravating circumstance?

These are rights which those of us who are straight never have to think about. But for many lgbt people around the world, these rights are often limited or non-existent. (I'm pleased that Canada, the country I live in, allows for all five of these).

Take a global tour yourself, using the interactive charts to see the current state of lgbt rights, at the Guardian's website.

[the hug poem, by bradley hathaway]

Thanks to Wes for pointing this video out to me.

nietzsche at heaven's door

Philosopher Guiseppe Fornari, writing in A God Torn to Pieces: The Nietzsche Case, makes this rather shocking claim:

“In the end [Nietzsche] was much closer to Christ than many who would claim to be Christians.”


As Adam Ericksen explains in his review of Fornari's book,

Who was the Christ that Nietzsche rejected and that many Christians do not know? It’s the Christ who says from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Nietzsche rejected Christ because he couldn’t believe in a God who offers this universal forgiveness. And the truth is that many who claim to be Christians can’t believe in that God either.

In fact, while many Christians demonize Nietzsche with their words, they actually agree with him with their actions.

Ouch.

---

Read the rest of Adam's comments here.

Note: I have not read Fornari's book yet, nor can I confirm whether or not Nietzsche is in heaven.

However, I do believe that God knows us all by name, and so the man we often refer to as "Nietzsche" is a human being named Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, who is loved by God.  And I believe that God is bigger than us and our ideas (and statements) about Him, and bigger than our ideas about whom we will see in heaven when we get there....

streaking

Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said in an interview (source):

"There's always a pragmatic streak in evangelicalism that negotiates away orthodoxy for cultural acceptance."


My observation:

"There's often a dogmatic streak in evangelicalism that negotiates away mercy for self righteousness."


What do you think?

[city of god: faith in the streets, by sara miles]

city of god: faith in the streets is another fascinating book by sara miles. The book is about her experiences around Ash Wednesday, the people in her neighbourhood and church, and taking the ashes to the people in the streets.

A very good read. Not many sections which are highly quotable, other than this one where Sara quotes someone else:

As the Orthodox theologian Demetrios Constantelos points out, in a commentary upending many assumptions about evangelism: "It is the Spirit which moves where it wills, whose presence and operation is everywhere and all-encompassing. The Spirit of God may not be where one would like to see it and it may be where one refuses to see it.  Thus it is impossible to define the boundaries of God's people."

(p. 138)

Here's the official description from Amazon:

Paradise is a garden...but heaven is a city.
From the acclaimed author of Take This Bread and Jesus Freak comes a powerful new account of venturing beyond the borders of religion into the unpredictable territory of faith.

On Ash Wednesday, 2012, Sara Miles and her friends left their church buildings and carried ashes to the buzzing city streets: the crowded dollar stores, beauty shops, hospital waiting rooms, street corners and fast-food joints of her neighborhood. They marked the foreheads of neighbors and strangers, sharing blessings with waitresses and drunks, believers and doubters alike.

CITY OF GOD narrates the events of the day in vivid detail, exploring the profound implications of touching strangers with a reminder of common mortality. As the story unfolds, Sara Miles also reflects on life in her city over the last two decades, where the people of God suffer and rejoice, building community amid the grit and beauty of this urban landscape.

CITY OF GOD is a beautifully written personal narrative, rich in complex, real-life characters, and full of the "wild, funny, joyful, raucous, reverent" moments of struggle and faith that have made Miles one of the most enthralling Christian writers of our time.

our hearts are with you

jesus senyonjo

That priest is the retired Rev. Disani Christopher Senyonjo, a former Anglican Bishop in Uganda.

His "makeshift church in the Ugandan capital of Kampala has attracted many gays who are familiar with his sympathetic views in a country where anti-gay religious fervor has encouraged public anger and violence against homosexuals."

The AP reported,
"They said I should condemn the homosexuals," he said, referring to Anglican leaders in Uganda. "I can't do that, because I was called to serve all people, including the marginalized. But they say I am inhibited until I recant. I am still a member of the Anglican church."

(source)

The religious leaders in Jesus' day wanted Him to reject sinners, avoid lepers, ignore Samaritans, denounce women caught in adultery, and more... yet He stood with the least of these. Why is this so difficult to do for those who claim to follow Jesus?

How will you trigger the Jesus sensors today?


Background info:
In December 2013, the Uganda government passed the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which criminalizes same-sex relations and provides for penalties including life imprisonment. This bill was supported by many religious leaders in Uganda and some in other parts of the world.

beloved

[walking with our sisters: exhibit]

"Over 800+ native women and girls in Canada have been reported missing or have been murdered in the last 20 years. Many vanished without a trace with inadequate inquiry into their disappearance or murders paid by the media, the general public, politicians and even law enforcement. This is a travesty of justice.

Walking With Our Sisters is by all accounts a massive commemorative art installation comprised of 1,726+ pairs of moccasin vamps (tops) created and donated by hundreds of caring and concerned individuals to draw attention to this injustice. The large collaborative art piece will be made available to the public through selected galleries and locations."

For more information:
walkingwithoursisters.ca

primitive religion

And as time has passed, it seems that many of us have not gotten past primitive religion....

There are exceptions, of course, going both ways -- some even more primitive, and some more Christ-like.


You may have heard about the recent death of Fred Phelps, the pastor of Westboro Baptist Church, a church known for picketing at the funerals of gay people and soldiers, a church infamous for its "god hates fags" website.

As the news came out, there was a whole range of reactions, from those who proposed picketing his funeral in a similar manner to what his church had done, to others who hoped that Fred would finally understand God's grace.

My heart was most touched by what his granddaughter Megan Phelps-Roper, who left WBC a few years ago, tweeted:

An eye for an eye does leave the whole world blind.

Hatred for enemies leaves the whole world broken, no matter how we try to disguise it with "I love them but I don't love their sin".

Megan understands that Jesus has his arms wide open to all of us. Love and grace and mercy abound for everyone.

who would jesus stone?

.... and we all know forever is a very long time.

Jesus stoning people? Rather an outrageous idea, don'tcha think?

What inspired this sick cartoon commentary on Jesus and the effects of playing Xbox, was the message which a church in New York City put on its sign this month (March, 2014), a message which is not funny in the slightest:

Jesus would stone homos, the sign says. It then quotes four verses and concludes with, "Stoning is still the law."

Would Jesus really stone gay and lesbian people? Let's use their four verses of choice to consider the answer:

Here's a breakdown of the verses, each with a summary and a comment by me:

Matthew 5:17-19

Jesus speaks about not abolishing the law but fulfilling it.

Jesus did not get rid of the Old Testament law about stoning... (fairly clear) but came to fulfill it (the meaning of this is up for discussion). Doesn't support their premise.

Leviticus 20:13

Putting to death men who have sex with men.

Fairly clear verse, but doesn't tell us what Jesus would do, especially considering that Jesus broke other Old Testament rules, like working on the Sabbath, associating with sinners, etc.

Deuteronomy 17:5-7

About stoning people who do evil things and worshiped the stars, sun and moon.

Strange choice of verse, as it does not mention same-sex relations, and there are other verses about stoning which could have been included. Again, does not tell us if Jesus would stone people who do evil things.

John 8:1-11

Ironically, this is the passage about the teachers of the law and the Pharisees bringing the woman caught in adultery to Jesus... and you might know the rest of the story (if not, read it here).

Perhaps they included this passage because Jesus did not object to stoning, but said that whoever is without sin should throw the first stone, thus supposedly legitimizing stoning and suggesting that he (being sinless) could have stoned her?

And that's what makes this choice of verse so ironic, because the Jesus who the pastor of ATLAH claims "would stone homos", the Jesus who is without sin, did not stone the woman! Claims like those made by ATLAH are projections of their own hatred and bias, in religious disguise and with false Biblical justification.

The idea of Jesus stoning anyone is simply inconsistent with his life. And if I have to choose between verses and the life of Jesus, I'll take the life of Jesus anytime.

[shared meals as the message of jesus]

By simply sitting at table with those widely regarded as morally contemptible, Jesus earned the scorn of the Pharisees and other strict observers of Jewish custom. By sharing meals with those considered by the religiously righteous to be outcasts and sinners, Jesus challenged "the central ordering principle of the Jewish social world." As Geza Vermes puts it, Jesus "took his stand among the pariahs of the world, those despised by the respectable. Sinners were his table-companions and the ostracized tax collectors and prostitutes were his friends." The meals Jesus shared with the outcasts were not, therefore, simply the occasion for the delivery of his message. They were the message. They served as "prophetic signs" meant to manifest the meaning of Jesus' ministry. They involved what Borg speaks of as a "radical relativizing of cultural distinctions."

Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads, Gil Bailie, p. 213

This is the Jesus I want to follow.


Violence Unveiled is a fascinating book about myth, gospel, culture, mimetic theory and much more. I will be rereading it, and perhaps quoting more from it later. From a writing perspective, what I especially appreciate about it is that when Bailie refers to other literature, philosophers, and so on - which he does often, he provides quotes and context so that a reader like me is not at a loss.