Faith Impromptus - extended edition

8/3/2019 Faith Impromptus - extended edition

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/faith-impromptus-extended-edition 1/12

sinnaluvva.blogspot.co.uk

http://sinnaluvva.blogspot.co.uk/

http://sinnaluvva.blogspot.co.uk/



Impromptu on Faith, Dogma and Belief - a blog post for Christmas

When I consider FAITH I definitely don’t mean DOGMA nor, come to

think of it, do I mean BELIEF. Faith is an overwhelming necessity,which in the final resort overrides all our actions and beliefs. At

times it even seems as if Faith is simply another name for God, it is

that in which we live, move and have our being. A rudimentary faithprecedes any action, without it we could never make the first step,

that first tentative move.

Before we ‘knew’ we could take our first step, we had already

embarked on that exercise and so, we start to walk. It’s almost as if we question the reasons for our being confined to sitting, rolling

over and crawling. There must be more! Without that step of faith,our lives are restricted in terms of both action and thought. We

breathe because we can, it is not an act of reason … a rationaldecision … it simply is! For most of us, not being able to understandhow this amazing organism, the human body, functions doesn’t lead

us to give up on breathing. We don’t have to ‘believe’ in breathingin order to partake of the activity but, I must admit, our lives would

be much poorer without our participation in this particular activity.

Our faith may later have a set of doctrines/ beliefs as its foundation

but, the faith is much more than the beliefs that we affirm. Comingfrom a Christian background, I tend to use a broadly Christian

terminology; at its core my life (in thought and action) is shaped byvarious Christian myths. Dogma is an easy way of handing over

responsibility for our faith, to the traditions of learned (and not so

learned) others, whereas faith itself isn’t averse to questioning anddoubt. [Of course, I have to acknowledge that without some of

these dogmatists we wouldn’t have the canon of scripture fromwhich I draw my inspiration.]

Christ said that He came that we may have LIFE and have itABUNDANTLY. Dogma, on the other hand, is that which restricts

this fullness … to question a dogma is frequently confused withdenying the faith. To question is to have faith; to blindly follow is to

renounce the muscle of faith.

Our Christmas faith tells of a helpless child, whose birth causes the

political and religious establishment to tremble. This helpless child,the “word made flesh”, still holds out a challenge both to the pious

and to the politically powerful. Though frequently stumbling, I try tofollow His call.



I am not nobody

My wife is currently busy* on the task of sermon preparation; theverse which provides the starting point for her exploration is taken

from the book of Exodus, chapter 3 verse 11: But Moses said toGod, “I am nobody. How can I go to the king and bring the

Israelites out of Egypt”.

Whilst I am impressed with the amount of preparation that hasgone into the draft of her sermon, I suddenly realized how

differently I would tackle the same text; she prepares, I burst into a

polemical rant!

**************************

Moses was raised in the corridors of power and, duly appointed to

(or at least inherited) a position of authority. This is the man whoprofesses “I am nobody”! Perhaps he feels that life has not really

been so kind to him, as he’s now working as a shepherd, havingbeen forced to flee from his “regal” position following his act of

“terrorism”.

Perhaps he has begun to question his own motivation; the slaying

of the Egyptian may have stemmed from his moral outrage at theway the taskmaster had treated the Hebrew slave; on the other

hand, it may simply have been that he lost his cool and so, let histemper prescribe the action rather than any sense of justice. An

awareness of the injustice that surrounds one demands a response

but, will we respond out of love or with hate?

Maybe this is reading too much into the situation and, his feeling of unworthiness is quite understandable when exposed to this

theophanic vision. But, God is soon going to pull him up short; this

is the task that God has ordained for you and, I God will be withyou; how dare you call yourself a nobody. God recognizes that this

man, disguised as a Shepherd, is capable of the task to which Hecalls him!

For God, there is no such thing as a nobody. God himself becameincarnate as Jesus, the “Son of Man” and, this man did far more to

transform the world than any abstract notion of God. He drew on arich tradition of justice, from the Jewish community into which he

was born and, re-vitalized it, redeemed it from the hands of the

pious. Unfortunately, piety can so easily result in dehumanizingattitudes.



Jesus came and consorted with publicans and sinners, he even

prevented a brutal and brutalizing death of an adulterous woman.Her life was of value to Jesus, she was a “somebody”. We are none

of us perfect but, we are all worthy, worthy of love and respect andopportunity.

Jesus demonstrates to us our “worthiness” not our unworthiness.Perhaps in earlier phases of his life Moses had been consumed by

his own ego, whereas now he was a broken man and, God tells thisbroken man “I have a task for you; the labourer is worthy of his

hire”. We are all important to God and, are worthy to represent him

in our struggles against corruption and injustice. It is time we alllaid claim to our worthiness and forgot our self-denigratory

posturing.

As we lay ourselves open to God’s call, we hear the voice of love;

we are all His children!



HUMBLE ACCESS?

Why are we not worthy? Do we really mean it? Is the prayer of

humble access a true statement of humility or, rather an expressionof spiritual arrogance?

“I am unworthy”, look at me, listen to me, I’m so full of piety, theFather must listen. If one is so unworthy why should they have the

gall to assume that the Father has time to listen!

If grace is to have any meaning at all, surely it is to make us worthy

not in spite of what we are but, because of who we are. How can Ideclare unworthiness and yet deign to enter into the presence of,

open a line of communication with, the great God. We enter His

presence because we know our worth, and that we all are sharers inHis power, love and compassion.

I am worthy, but Lord, help me to prove it. Grant me the strength

to be a servant, the courage to stand for what is right according tothe example of Jesus.

We are the adopted Sons/Daughters of God, that leaves no time forfalse modesty; what we do need is to share in the power of the

‘ultimate’ so that we are enabled to make a stronger stand for

ustice and love, no matter what the cost in societal terms.

Lord, I am worthy. Thank You!



Jesus and me

Jesus transformed my life but, perhaps, in turn I changed his. His

story has been transmitted to us via faith communities and, to

some extent, each believer adapts this person to their own needs.

The power of symbols is simply amazing. One time, I entered intoa personal relationship with Jesus and, my God, was it hard. It’s

strange how he expected me to take on the comfortable lowermiddle-class lifestyle of my peers in the faith. Some of them knew

no better, they’d grown up with him as had I but, they’d never seen

the need to rebel.

Rebellion, now there’s a pain, one may even have to start askingand, even worse, answering questions! Me and Jesus got along fine

for quite some time, we shared all these intimate conversations but,

no … he wasn’t prepared to back me whatever I chose to do; thepastor knew best on that score. God, how I loved Jesus social

conscience and his love of the company of outsiders to the faith but,according to the pastor, it was only because he was divine that he

couldn’t be tainted. It seems that somehow we poor fallencreatures couldn’t take that risk so, we had to set ourselves apart.

It wasn’t long before we parted company, at least the church andme; I don’t think the Jesus symbol ever let me go! My journey took

me a long way round after that, via Eastern religions, Trotskyistpolitics, and experimentation with various substances, asking

uneasy questions and collapsing along the way.

All this time I remained under the spell of this divine symbol Jesus;

in him I found a voice and image of inclusivity, his demands may behard but ultimately that became part of the attraction. If no

demands were made how could one possibly grow? This time, the

demands weren’t to do with opposition to my working class statusbut, more to do with caring about the people it was necessary to

challenge.



On my return to the fold, even in a transitional state of charismatic

fervour, I was far less inclined to “preach at” non-believers; themost important thing was that they should realize that I was there

for them. For some time, strangers would turn up at my doorstep

or, I would be granted an insight into someone’s need to bebefriended.

It took so long for the realization to grow that, the most important

thing was quite simply to be there. Although full of doubts andquestions, regarding the Christian faith, the symbols of the faith

have well and truly grasped me. I am acceptable, tetchy human

that I may be.



A Susceptibility to Faith?

After undergoing an evangelical conversion experience at the age of 19,

there followed a spell of fervent evangelising (perhaps alienating rather than

helping the victims of my outreach!). On experiencing the more conservativesocial values of my evangelical peers, I was forced, by the more "mature"

Christians, to choose between Christ or social-activism.

At this point I tried hard to reject my Christian faith, even to the point of asking God to reveal the unforgivable sin to me! An involvement in political

activism, an investigation of Eastern religions, and a later dabbling with

drugs, somehow never managed to fill a God-shaped void in my life.

Eighteen months of born-again Christianity was followed by many years inthe wilderness. Various apparent coincidences led me back to a Christian

faith, sensing the prodigality of the Father's love as he came out to welcome

me despite my aversion to many of his ardent followers.

My journey this time was via existential & linguistic philosophy, literature andbiblical

criticism, subsequently by degree and post-grad studies in Theology.

The secular homophobic attitude of many evangelicals saddens me, a

reminder of the social conservatism that forced me to seek de-conversionnearly forty years ago. Although evangelicals now recognize the need for

committed social action, their intolerance and fear of peoples sexuality canblind them to many real injustices in society at large.

Isn't it strange that issues of militarism, party politics, usury etc. do notbring the threat of schism to the Anglican communion! Arms dealing and

legalised extortion are obviously insignificant when compared to the issue of gay clergy!

My theology is now more liberal /radical than formerly yet, I still read andstudy (contextually) the same scriptures, follow the same Lord and am

prompted by what seems to to be the same Holy Spirit as my evangelicalbrothers & sisters.

Is it a psychological weakness on my part, that I need FAITH, or is Faith mynecessary means to overcome the apparent impossibility of deriving an

ought from an is?



Faith Matters

FAITH is that set of values, and ultimate questions, by which welead our lives. Questions and doubts are an integral component of

faith, if we are not to become stuck in a rut of blind belief. I have

been grasped by certain concepts and values of community andcompassion, and much of the reported teachings of Jesus

(acclaimed by many as the Christ), throughout my life, both thosein which I have been unwittingly indoctrinated and, those which I

have arrived at or returned to through a prolonged period of questioning.

It has always seemed a major mystery that some people seem to"need a faith", some "seek a faith" by which to measure their life's

course whilst others are quite simply "grasped" by an ultimateconcern which they have neither sought nor been aware of a need

for.

In my personal journey, I have at times embraced (or been

embraced) by each of these modes yet, a deep rooted scepticismhas proferred me a deep rooted intellectual and emotional

resistance to making room for such a faith. That same stubbornresistance also occurs when anyone attempts to fob me off with

multifarious scientific hypotheses disguising them as facts. I

suppose I'm slightly averse to 'fundamentalisms' be they secular orreligious.

Perhaps, with my low level reserves of physical and emotional

stamina, I do not pro-actively fight for my beliefs as much as I

should, but the mystery of LOVE (almost) always compels me toaccept a transcendent reality.

I am "grasped" by the person and work of Jesus the Christ yet, am

unable to accept much of the dogmatic doctrinal baggage with

which he has been encumbered. Some emphasize his humanity,others his divinity, fully God and fully man proves a bit of a

conundrum yet, in this myth of the Christ many, including myself,have found the strength to challenge the social and economic

injustices of our day.

In spite of my deeply rooted sceptical nature, it is far easier to

accept the existence of God (all the flawed ontological/ teleologicalarguments for His/Her/Its existence notwithstanding) than it is to

understand how it is possible that so much bigotry, intolerance and,

upholding of the status quo can possibly be carried out in the nameof Jesus Christ. It's as if the ideological baggage of state blessed

Christendom has blinded us to the truly radical nature of the Christ.



The Affirmation - Life "As If ...."

A time when one feels extraordinarily aware of one's own mortalitymay seem to be an inopportune one for starting to re-assemble

one's faith convictions; alternatively what better time?

Having always been aware of the interpretative skills of the variousNT authors, only recently has it become more of an imperative for

me to sort out the wheat from the chaff! The last thing I want is tofall back on "my own experience" as the sole basis for faith, nor do I

wish to make Faith into a God. The big question is, do I make Jesusof Nazareth (proclaimed the Christ by his followers) into a God?

I have long held that accepting Jesus simply as an examplar of a

certain lifestyle somehow falls short of the mark; why follow a deadman … etc.! Of course, I believe in the resurrection;

something happened to a group of disheartened anddejected followers, encouraging/enabling them to go out

and proclaim some GOOD NEWS. Although many became

martyrs, I don't think it was a death-wish (a suicide instinct) thatbrought them out of the closet.

This life is all we have, and they knew that Jesus promised them"an abundance of life", not a restricted and cowed existence.

If eternal life is not now it can never be; it's not a future promisewe must live as if..!

Jesus was fully human with all the hopes, fears and despairs of

humanity. His was a life of prayer and action; in his actions andstories we are enabled to participate in a new understanding of

God, a God who knows more about forgiving than most of us do; aGod of both strength and weakness, alongside those who are

hurting and challenging those who oppress them!

The understanding of God that I have gained through Jesus is aconstant challenge to my own selfishness but, increasingly I find

difficulty in calling Jesus God much as he may manifest myunderstanding of God. How can I use words like 'understanding'alongside a word like 'God'? Certainly there is something beyond

mere materiality, the simple fact of any human aspiration,compassion, love etc. takes on symbolic force!

I pray, I study scripture and,despite any assurances find more andmore questions. Whatever the positive co-incidences (God-

incidences!) in my life, I still need help in AFFIRMING EACH DAY,

too frequently escaping responsibility by blaming my inaction uponminor physical or mental infirmities.



Jesus Lives

Jesus of Nazareth, referred to by the faith community, in the light of that ex-perience called “resurrection, as the Christ, has a hold on me. His subver-sion, and some would say fulfilment, of the religious culture in which he wasraised continues to excite me through all the fluctuating phases of my faith

journey.

The fact that he was fully human implies to me that he shared our weakness-es in order to walk fully alongside us. He was no respecter of social status,and was frequently to be found alongside the poor, the oppressed and out-cast of society. I’ve always loved that primitive Christian hymn in Philippians2:6-11 – He “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant ...”

What a contrast to some world leaders who, claiming to be his followers, actas if they have exclusive access to God’s will and, in so many actions (thatthey order their subjects to perform) bring shame to the name of Jesus theChrist. Unfortunately, right from the birth of Christendom in the 4th centuryCE, there have been attempts to transform the “good news to the poor” intoa message which is used to further subjugate the poor and oppressed.

Excuse the rambling but, I’ve just been enjoying the nation’s top ten hymnson tonight’s “Songs of Praise” some of which rate amongst my favourite’s,Wesley’s ‘Love Divine’ and, in the top 20 (last week’s edition of theprogramme)another of Wesley’s ‘And Can It Be’. All of Charles Wesley’shymns have a theological profundity which is hard to match, embracing the

life, death and resurrection. [Must admit, although I may be stirred, howmuch of it I accept is a variable feast!]

Personally, I feel equally at home with Ewan MacColl’s ‘Ballad Of The Car-penter’ as with a Wesley hymn, I love the recognition of the political dynam-ic in Jesus’ life and ministry but, I am still moved by the symbols of a moretraditional Christianity ... I know that Jesus lives! But, were he simply an av-atar of YHWH what would be so remarkable about that, a symbol of a defini-tion rather than a beacon in the fight against oppression and injustice. Theman Jesus died early in the Common Era, many profess to witnessing his

physically resuscitated form but, most importantly, his Word and Spirit in-spire action to counter oppression and injustice wherever it occurs.

It is time to reclaim Jesus and to be empowered through the symbols of thefaith.



Denouncing And Announcing

'Phone calls disturbing the thought-flow, an unresolved problem with the pond-pump,an inability to find a required item ..... nothing major there but, yesterday morning itcertainly sent me off into an angry tirade of metaphysical proportions. If in doubt,blame God ... whoa there, if in doubt it's questionable whether there's owt there toblame!

Anyway having dismissed the thought god (or the Thought God, or the thought"God"), what's left to rail against. If the doubt is meaningful enough turn it on oneself but, that's hardly likely to make one feel better.

So, what do I settle for; I denounce God but I've already (by this time) ackowledgedthat there is no existent object or subject responding to this name! The strange thingis, belief has never been a strong point of mine, it's always faith that graspsme.

Jesus shows us his understanding of (his) God's nature. This understanding leads himto care for the downtrodden and the outcast which, in its turn leads to resistancefrom the religious authorities as well as the imperialist Roman occupation forces.When he's executed by the imperial and religious authorities he leaves a lot of dispir-

ited followers; I'm frequently dispirited when I see the collusion between conservativeevangelicals and murderous gits like George Dubya but, I do know that somethingknown as resurrection occurred and a core group of followers had the cour-age to live communistically and declare themselves as his followers. Theyproclaimed GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR.

When Jesus died, the end had occurred ... an end to complacency and an urgent de-mand to build the Republic of God here on earth. It is my hope against hope that oneday the peacemakers

will overcome.

Anyway, to get back to the here and now; a post-lunch nap (following another of mysuccesful culinary inventions) helped to restore a little emotional energy/balance. Thequestion of God's existence is not even on the agenda. I have Faith!

Documents

Faith Impromptus - extended edition