[single stories]

There often seems to be an aversion to hearing the stories of others. I'm not referring to hearing the stories of a poor widow in the Sudan, of a homeless family in Toronto, of our friend's weekend camping adventure. No, our aversion is to the stories of those whom we dislike and whom we often despise, those whom we see as being sinful and out of line, those whom we see as being beyond hope or unregenerate.

We like to hear one side of the story. It keeps things nice and tidy for us; it avoids disrupting our world.

But it is narrow and limited. And it negatively impacts those whose stories are not being told.

Richard Beck, in his review of Michael McRay's Letters from Apartheid Street, refers to these single stories and how hearing the other stories – or, to put it differently, the stories of others – counters the effects of the single story:

Reversing the dynamics of dehumanization, Michael describes this as a process of rehumanization (pp. 25-26):

...the danger of the single story. Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie warns of the danger of single stories--that is, stories which depict only one side to a person or event. Such stories, when repeated often, convince the audience that the description within the story is the whole truth...

 ...I must confess...I have a single story of soldiers...

 ...I want to take seriously Jesus's call to love my enemies...[But without] another story to add to the original, though, I cannot create a fabric of humanity in which to clothe them. I have needed a story to re-humanize the Israeli soldiers occupying this land...

Michael finds this second story in conversations he seeks out and recounts with some of the Israeli soldiers. It's a wonderful example of how you, practically, go about learning to love your enemies.

From http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.ca/2013/06/letters-from-apartheid-street.html, (quoting from Letters from Apartheid Street: A Christian Peacemaker in Occupied Palestine by Michael McRay. Emphasis added.)

[you will know them by their fruit...]

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:35-40, NIV.

It seems that a lot of us Christians missed this particular saying of Jesus, as our gay and lesbian neighbours sure haven't been feeling the love. A just-released survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans found that a high percentage of LGBT adults say that the evangelical church is unfriendly to them.

prediction

From reading the New Testament, we know that there was resistance to the idea that the Gentiles would be included in the Kingdom. Yet Jesus again and again surprised and shocked those around him by his embrace of the stranger, the outcast, the outsider. Whether it was the tax collectors, the lepers, Samaritan woman, or Roman centurions, he treated them with full respect and dignity.

What if Jesus came today and the proclamation was that the Kingdom of God will surely include gay, lesbian and transgender people?

If you were in the crowd, would you be angry at the announcement, or pleased about it?

Would love to hear your thoughts and comments....

pop art: diversity

I set up the following 'pop art installation' at my workplace, to see what kind of reactions it would get. I was particularly interested in seeing what people thought it meant. The label says "pop art: diversity".

The following three reactions occurred at different times:

One colleague to another: "Hey, did you see Rob's pop art?"
Other colleague comes to take a look. Chuckles, and says, "It takes all kinds."

Another colleague reads aloud, "Pop art diversity." Laughs, and says, "Very cute."

Another colleague comes over, points to the upper right hand set with two Diet Lime Cokes, and says, "This one's wrong, though." I look at her with anticipation, thinking that we now finally have some real interaction with the installation. "Oh," she says, pointing to the lower right with the two Pepsi cans, and realizing that I did not mean to have them all the same.
"Pop art," I say, "like Andy Warhol, but not with soup cans or it would be soup art."
She laughs, and says, "You're too funny."

I had been hoping that people might make comments or ask questions related to the title of the display instead of affirming my sense of humour, but none did. Will try again with another variation.

What do you see in this picture? Would love to hear your comments.

a brutal unity: personal case study

This post follows up on a previous post on “a brutal unity explored”. I highly recommend that you read it first, as it provides the conceptual background for understanding this case study. The original post talked about brutal unity as an individual might apply it to their situation in a church or community context. This post takes a specific conflict at a real church and provides extensive discussion of how one individual (the author) is applying the concept of brutal unity to the situation, as well as some discussion of how the church in question might apply the concept within the larger denominational context.

the church

St. Pea’s Church, located in a large Canadian city, is part of a mainline denomination. While the whole denomination believes in the gospel and in evangelism, St. Pea’s specifically considers itself evangelical and Bible-believing. The leadership is conservative in its views and holds to a traditional view of marriage. While there is a range of views and perspectives on sexuality among the parishioners, the leadership is not affirming of LGBT people.

the church member

My family and I have been attending this church for the past eight years. I hold a more progressive view and believe in the true equality of LGBT people in the body of Christ. The rest of my family has a range of views which are left of center and would be considered gay-friendly. This belief, or standard, is at variance with that of the leadership and many of the parishioners. I can live with this because the community is good and because conservative views regarding marriage are not a focus of the church. Thus, I let my “standards be suffered” for the sake of the church community. This does not mean that I ignore, give up or deny what I believe. It means that I put these beliefs to the side in order to be in relationship with others who may not share my views on sexuality, but with whom I have much in common as we follow Jesus together.

the synod resolution and decision

Along with the other parishes in this geographical area, St. Pea’s is part of and comes under the authority of the diocese. In the early fall of 2012, the diocese held its synod (assembly), at which Resolution G-3 was presented:

Blessing Same-Gender Committed Unions: That Synod request the Bishop to grant permission to any clergy who may wish to offer prayers of blessing for civilly married same-gender relationships.

a brutal unity explored

introduction

In this post I want to explore the concept of “brutal unity”, which I came across in Matthew Shedden’s brief review of Ephraim Radner’s A Brutal Unity: The Spiritual Politics of the Christian Church. In his book, Radner writes:

“In this life that is God’s, any Anglican—or Roman Catholic or Methodist or Lutheran—can be a Pentecostal; any Catholic Protestant can be an evangelical Protestant; any member of one church can be a member of another that has separated from the first; any Roman Catholic can be a Protestant. Any Christian can do this not because standards of truth have been cast away but because the standards can be suffered, in their very contradiction by the place where he or she will go with Jesus.” (p. 447, italics added)

unpacking the concept of “the standards can be suffered”

First, what is meant by standards? The term “standards” is used to refer to a range of things believed at a theological or philosophical level: doctrines, statements of faith, liturgical confessions, dogma, religious beliefs, and so on. Moral standards would be included, but as used here, the term does not refer to facts and figures.

Secondly, the term “can be suffered” is not about denying, ignoring or giving up one's standards. Instead, it is about giving the standards second place, laying them down for the sake of one's calling and the community, emptying oneself of the need to hold tightly and insistently to standards as if they are our salvation when they are not. Our salvation is in Jesus Christ who "made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:5-8). Does this mean we change our beliefs or decide that they are irrelevant? No. But we put them second to the greater calling we have, for unity and the community. Because Radner’s use of the word “suffered” is not common, our discussion here will often substitute terms such as “set aside”, “put second”, and so on.

Third, “the place where he or she will go with Jesus” will be understood here as either a calling to a particular church or community, or general involvement with a particular church or community, and will often be referred to as “church” or “community” for the sake of simplicity.

chic

[not a joke]

In February 2012, Relevant Magazine posted an article called What Diversity Should Look Like by Matt Chandler. In discussing how differences make a community stronger, it looked at righteous and unrighteous, rich and poor, and race and ethnicity. After reading it, I posted a comment. Here is a screenshot of that comment with the subsequent reply from another reader, and my question back. Didn't hear back...

[Ask a transgender Christian]

Christian blogger and author Rachel Held Evans has a series of posts called "Ask a...". In this series she invites questions for the interviewees from her readers in advance, and then posts the answers a few days later.

I found the recent Ask a transgender Christian particularly valuable, as I know very little about this and also because Lisa (pictured at right) talks about the role that other Christians and churches played in her journey. I was particularly pleased to hear her mention her involvement in a small church in Vancouver "where the motto is “everyone is welcome…and we mean it.” And they do." The embrace they offer is quite remarkable and regrettably rare.

In introducing Lisa, Rachel writes:

Lisa was born in Colombia, grew up in California and moved to Vancouver, BC in the early 1970s to start a successful career as a graphic designer and photographer. After living for 25 years as a devoted husband and father, Lisa was diagnosed with gender dysphoria. She says this diagnosis was both a blessing and a curse. Though it offered an explanation for her years of struggle, confusion, and guilt, it did not offer any simple solutions. It would take another ten years before she could come to terms with the diagnosis. Lisa has written her autobiography, Transparently: Behind the Scenes of a Good Life, which is available on Amazon. She has given sensitivity workshops at Gay Christian Network, companies, high schools, and churches and hopes to do more in the future.

Lisa responded to your questions with thoughtfulness and honesty. I hope you learn as much as I did.

Click here to read this interview.

Other interviews in the series include:
Ask an Atheist
Ask a Feminist
Ask a Funeral Director
Ask a Humanitarian
Ask a Gay Christian
Ask a Muslim
Ask a Nun
and many more.

[our lady of lourdes]

How's this for a welcome!

Here's the full text from the bulletin at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Parish in Daytona Beach, Florida:

We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, yo no habla Ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying new-borns, skinny as a rail or could afford to lose a few pounds.
 
We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like our pastor who can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re “just browsing,” just woke up or just got out of jail. We don’t care if you’re more Catholic than the Pope, or haven’t been in church since little Joey’s Baptism.
 
We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems or you’re down in the dumps or if you don’t like “organized religion,” we’ve been there too.
 
If you blew all your offering money at the dog track, you’re welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church.
 
We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers and doubters, bleeding hearts … and you!

source 1 source 2

[the last supper for everyone]

A diverse collection of last supper images showing the width and breadth of God's love for everyone.


Jesus is my homeboy by David LaChapelle

David LaChapelle's Website

ecclesia in the field

This is the second cartoon in the ecclesia series. Not as graphic as the first one, but still exploring the body of Christ and how ecclesia (the church) responds to unwholeness (a.k.a., being divided or broken).

What kinds of things cause destruction in the body of Christ?

What kinds of responses have you heard when faced with separation between different parts of the body of Christ?

small group

Words mean different things to different people. Sometimes we need to step into their heads to understand what is meant or, if all else fails, to ask them directly.

getting along

"People are people so why should it be,
You and I should get along so awfully..."
(from "People are people" by Depeche Mode)

That is the question, isn't it.