The FLOOD

It has been spoken about since 1974 .... Brisbane can expect another flood like 1974. Little was done to prepare. A dam was built to minimise the impact but never to prevent. This week the flood came through Ipswich and then into Brisbane. To the west Toowoomba was hit traumatically, totally unexpected, the small village of Grantham was swept out of existence by a wall of water. The whole state of Queensland has been deluged by rain and floods.
The day it hit Brisbane was a fine day for us, we put two lots of washing out on the line to dry, yet over the hill .... well that was another story. Steve and Anne's house went under, as did Cathy's , Ian and Carmen, Jacques and Pia and so many others. I include these names of friends because this story is personal, like every event like this. 1000 plus people, with names, have died at the same time in floods in Brazil, 35 plus in Sri Lanka.
There are echoes of The Flood, and every other catastrophe. In so many stories, films, poems so often they are over there or in the past and our interest is more cerebral.
With one person, a brother had been murdered six months ago and this flood compounded that sadness and added another. We cannot forget that these people were already dealing with issues, yes even the great delight in living ... all is well. .. my identity is assured with house, possessions and people.

The real test for all will come in the weeks and months ahead when the adrenalin rush of these moments will disappear.

Salvation

"Salvation is not "going to heaven when we die", but 'BEING RAISED TO NEW LIFE IN GOD'S NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH'

This is found in Bishop Tom Wright's book SURPRISED BY HOPE - p210 in the chapter entitled Rethinking Salvation: Heaven and Earth and the Kingdom of God.

The implications of this are more than profound, giving a total new perspective on NOW and the FUTURE. Christians are to be living signs of the new in the here and now. Jacques Ellul declares this in his seminal book "The Presence of the Kingdom"

I have included this post in the JOURNEYS LESS TRAVELLED, section because most Western Christians believe and operate on the going to heaven when we die agenda.

The Cry of dispossession

Road upgrade! Progress proceeds.. Trees destroyed.
Then came the cries .. of two brown goshawks - 2 year olds - male and female .... no tree=no home. No Home! Call emergency! Wake up! The Homeless are crying ... for home and for justice.

They circle and cry .. for two weeks.
Dispossession .. no compensation.
Eventually they found a new home, we think.
They have chosen to stay in the area.

Here the suddenness of dispossession is so confronting.
Warnings were made that suffering would occur but progress over rode such warnings.
Progress involves cost .... borne by others .. so it's ok!

What to do?

J.I. Packer: "More Catechesis, Please" says this great man of the Church.
"Biblically challenged Overcoming scriptural illiteracy" is the title of another recent article that I have collected and read.
Similar concerns are presented and my sense of the situation here in Australia is that there is a serious illiteracy among Christians even though the resources are manifestly available to address this.
"Bless and save me now and then Heaven" is the substantive notion of today. To take up your Cross and follow Christ is an optional concern. ( I reread this and found it totally out of order. Yet sadly it does seem to be an attitude which prevails. )
That the Gospel is the proclamation that Christ the Messiah by His Death and Resurrection is LORD over ALL and that because of this He calls us Home Now in order that in this life we might by our lives be signs that the Kingdom has come and is coming. We are Light ..... Salt
( sign of the Covenant ) and living as sheep among wolves. A VERY CHALLENGING BLESSING.
Until a change occurs the label for this post remains.

The Presence of the Kingdom - Jacques Ellul

From the Europe of 1933 - 1945 the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is well known as faithful Christian in a world of tyranny and disaster. He is one from whom we derive great inspiration however to be fair and to balance the Christian testimony from that period the name of Jacques Ellul should be heard with Bonhoeffer. Ellul faced the enlightened world of Europe from and within France, the birthplace of the Enlightenment... the world view that among its benefits also brought us the catastrophe of the Great War 1914 - 1945 with flow on effects to this day.
"The Presence of the Kingdom" is the seminal book which allows us to engage with what is to be learnt from this Christian teacher. One who speaks prophetically to us.

THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD - a unique role and function for the very existence of the world. That function is defined by Scripture in three ways:
* You are the Salt of the Earth - salt is the sign of the covenant between God and Israel (Leviticus 2:13) Thus in the sight of humanity and in the reality of the world the Christian is the visible sign of the new covenant which God has made with the world in Jesus Christ. BUT IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THE CHRISTIAN REALLY BE THIS SIGN, THAT IN THEIR LIFE AND WORDS THEY SHOULD ALLOW THIS COVENANT TO BE MANIFEST IN THE EYES OF HUMANITY. Apart from this Covenant the earth will feel bereft of any covenant .. The fact that Christians are in their lives the "Salt of the Earth" does more for the preservation of the world than any other external action.

* You are the Light of the World - "and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not apprehend it ( John 1:5) Light separates Life and Death cf Matthew 5: 14 - 16 where good works are noted. the Light reveals what good works really are.
The Light of the World gives meaning and direction to the history of the world. Revealing the world's true condition.

* I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves - here again the Christian is a 'sign' of the reality of God's actions. It is the Lamb of God - Jesus - who takes away the sin of the world. But every Christian is to be treated like their Master, and every Christian receives a share in His work. Christians are "Sheep" not because their actions or their sacrifice has a purifying effect on the world, but because they are a Living and Real sign constantly renewed in the midst of the world, of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
In the world everyone wants to be a wolf, and no one is called to play the part of the sheep. Yet the world cannot live without this living witness of sacrifice

Old Testament revisited ... to read again

I have noted in an earlier post that Walter Brueggemann is worth reading. He provides great and refreshing readings from and of the Old Testament.


On the Primary Tension of Old Testament Faith

"The traditions of Israel's faith are in interaction between the full assertion of common theology, which is relentlessly contractual, and the protest [and pain] against it...."

"There is a restlessness in Israel that seeks to move through and beyond or against the common theology, and that restlessness is articulated in Israel's practice of lament.. Israel's lament is a way of protesting against the common theology. The lament in Israel is a way of asserting that the structure cannot always be legitimated and that the pain needs also to be embraced. This pain, when brought to public speech, impinges upon every structure and serves to question the legitimacy of the structure."

"In risking this form of speech, the conventional distribution of power is called into question. It is no longer placidly assumed that God has all the power and the covenant partner must simply submit...."

"In the risk there emerges a new mode of faith between Yahweh and Israel....One never knows, until the bold act is done, whether one has gone too far. Any new speech of this kind that is boldly probing may be the probe that goes too far and evokes the rage of the legitimated one under attack. The regular experience of Israel, however, is that in the moment of honest risk, Israel characteristically discovers that the speech is not only not resisted, but it is taken seriously in a way that permits a newness."

"In the public utterance of such pain, both parties emerge with freshness. Obedience turns out to be not blind, submissiveness required by common theology. It is rather a bold protest against a legitimacy that has grown illegitimate because it does not seriously take into account the suffering reality of the partner. Where the reality of suffering is not dealt with, legitimate structure is made illegitimate when the voice of pain assumes enough authority to be heard."

"Old Testament theology, as distinct from sociological, literary, or historical analysis, must assume some realism in the text - that the poets and narrators in Israel do, in fact, speak the mind of God. God's mind is not closed on this question, because God in Israel must decide about the practice of contractual theology and the embrace of pain that permits and requires life outside the contract...."

"So far as Christian extrapolations are concerned, the challenge of pain-embrace to structure legitimacy is presented in the symbol of the cross; but symbols can be misused. The cross is claimed to disclose God's true character as the source out of which new life comes, and yet the language and claims of a theology of the cross are now used to justify a theology of imperial exploitation that ruthlessly condemns pain and sees competence as the stuff of humanness. Such theology, when not criticized and corrected, lacks compassion toward those who are not capable of effective function. In our contemporary values, therefore, just as in the faith of ancient Israel, there is a moving back and forth between the assertion of common theology and the anguish about it, an anguish that protests against it."

"The laments are not widely used among us, not printed in most hymnals, not legitimated in our theology. Many Christians think the laments are superseded by some christological claim. We have in practice reneged on the bold break made in Israel's protest against the common theology. Unwittingly, by silencing the break of embraced pain, we have embraced the uncritical faith of structure legitimization. Much biblical faith, as commonly held, has in fact become a support for the status quo by using a theological mode that understands God primarily in the categories of structure legitimization. Such a move is reflected in both liturgical use, where the laments have largely fallen out of the repertoire, and in popular theology as reflected in the catechisms, to say nothing of popular proclamation."

from Old Testament Theology: Essays on Structure, Theme, and Text, pp. 18-9, 21.

- Walter Brueggemann.


( please note it was actually posted at 17.22hrs in Brisbane Australia. Not 12:22

Cadences of Home

It was while we were collecting and sending books to the Nanjing Theological Seminary that we were introduced to Walter Brueggemann. So we purchased "Cadences of Home" and read it. It is a must read.

The title extends with ...... Preaching Among Exiles. The suggestion is made that the Jewish experience of the Exile is the learning experience for people today.

A first theme finds expression in the Book of Lamentations ... see chapter 3. In the midst of despair the writer pauses and remembers .. the steadfast love, mercy and faithfulness of Yahweh. A refocus occurs and new hope emerges even with the glory and power of Babylon in full display

Secondly, while in Babylon -Jeremiah reminds the exiles ... "to seek the welfare [ shalom] of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare [shalom] you will find your welfare [shalom] (Jeremiah 29:7). The word 'shalom' - 'peace' can be so often offered so cheaply. To realise it means welfare in a total/broad sense fills this word with so much more power and import.

Thirdly, in chapter 8 'Disciplines of Readiness' Brueggemann touches on remembrance and memory. In times of exile there are two serious temptations. One is to give up remembering, scuttle the past and pretend only the present is important. The second is to remember more respectable and 'secure' memories - for Jews, to remember the Temple and the Royal city of Jerusalem and their restoration. Israel in its time of power and security. BUT, Yahweh says different.

"Hearken to Me, you who pursue deliverance,

you who seek the Lord,

Look to the rock from which you were hewn,

and the quarry from which you were digged.

Look to Abraham your father,

and to Sarah who bore you;

for when he was but one I called him,

and I blessed him and made him many." Isaiah 51: 1 - 2

If you want to seek Yahweh, says Isaiah, seek Yahweh in the oldest, most embarrassing circumstance we ever had. Remember Abraham ..... great yet weak and fallen ....... remember Sarah ... princess .... yet weak and fallen. Even with their failings and doubts and stumblings they are named as living by faith ... BECAUSE THIS WAS ALSO TRUE. They were real people in other words.

There is another note that answers critics of Bishop Tom Wright. Bishop Wright insists that the Gospel is that 'Jesus is Lord'. The Gospel is not foundationally about how you and I are saved. That is consequential of the Gospel. What does Walter Brueggemann write that addresses this matter?

He writes what Isaiah has written.

Isaiah 40:1 Lift up your voice with strength,

O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings ......

Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God"

Then again in Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who brings good tidings

who publishes peace

who brings good tidings of good

who publishes salvation,

who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."

"Good tidings" is "Gospel" - "basar" in Hebrew.

Walter Brueggemann proceeds from "Your God reigns" with "Your God has just become King"; "Your God has prevailed!" "The gods of the empire have been defeated". These declarations were made when the Babylonian Empire was to all intents and purposes in power.

The result is that THE JEWS ARE NOW FREE TO GO HOME! What a wonderful way to describe salvation .... you have been in exile, you have been lost, BUT NOW YOU CAN COME HOME!

Paul and Jesus are Jews; their story is the fulfillment of what Isaiah prophesied. Paul writes to the Romans, to the Galatians etc about the Gospel and its implications. For Jesus, for Paul the Gospel is that CHRIST IS LORD, CAESAR IS NOT. Even though Rome to all intents and purposes remained in power. However there is a fundamental difference between Isaiah's words re Babylon and Christ. Caesar claimed to be Saviour and Prince of Peace and the proof of this was civil society and the Cross was used for any who chose to challenge these claims. But the Cross became Christ's statement of victory through His resurrection. Caesar where is your power. Consequently, Salvation is a reality, the publishing of salvation is a result of Christ being, becoming Lord.
Caesar offered salvation. So did the kings of Babylon about whom Isaiah prophesied. Jesus could not offer salvation unless He was / is Lord. This is Paul's purpose in writing "Romans"

a voice of experience

From the Diary of an Almost-Four-Year-Old

Tomorrow, the bandages
will come off. I wonder
will I see half an orange,
half an apple, half my
mother’s face
with my one remaining eye?

I did not see the bullet
but felt its pain
exploding in my head.
His image did not
vanish, the soldier
with a big gun, unsteady
hands, and a look in
his eyes
I could not understand.

If I can see him so clearly
with my eyes closed,
it could be that inside our heads
we each have one spare set
of eyes
to make up for the ones we lose.

Next month, on my birthday,
I’ll have a brand new glass eye,
maybe things will look round
and fat in the middle -
I’ve gazed through all my marbles,
they made the world look strange

I hear a nine-month-old
has also lost an eye,
I wonder if my soldier
shot her too - a soldier
looking for little girls who
look him in the eye-
I'm old enough, almost four,
I’ve seen enough of life,
but she’s just a baby
who didn’t know any better
- Hanan Mikha-il ‘Ashrawi


As with the poem by Adonis this poem is published in a collection of poems now called "the flag of childhood - poems from the middle east" selected by Naomi Shihab Nye. ISBN 0-689-81233-7 (hc) It was previously published with the title "The Space Between Our Footsteps" which remains an excellent title AND an invitation to explore for oneself. Hence its inclusion under this particular label

Lest this point is ignored - as I suspect it might. The four year old, the infant AND the young soldier are all hurt, damaged and victims.

An invitation to answer a question

Beginning Speech.
That child I was
Came to me once
An unfamiliar face

He said nothing - we walked
Each glancing in silence at the other
One step
an alien river
Flowing
 
Our common origins
Brought us together
And we separated
A forest written by the earth
And told by the seasons
 
Child that I once was, advance
What now brings us together?
And what have we to say to each other?
 
Adonis (from Syria)