Making Heaven Wait

This year's Festival of Theology at Louisville Seminary, featuring Diana Butler Bass, Brian McLaren and Marcus Borg, stirred up lots of good thoughts and feelings, and prompted many fine reflections.

One reflection came in the intersection of one of Brian McClaren's concepts and a newspaper article printed in the New York Times last week.

Brian was critiquing the American cultural religious notion that the main point of Christian faith is to get each person to heaven. In two power point slides, he made his point graphically (see www.slideshare.net/brianmclaren/christian-faith-as-a-way-of-life). In the first, slide # 13, faith is imagined as "self enhancement in this life and the next" with a tiny circle representing the world, a middle side circle representing the church, and a huge circle representing the self on its way to heaven. His preferred image is showed in slide 14, with concentric circles. An arrow from heaven shows God's investment in the self and the church, with the smallest circle being the self, the next size the church, both of which moving into and serving and transforming the world, making God's "kingdom come, on earth as in heaven."

The article in the Times (I've lost the date and citation) reported a study that showed that the "very religious" are the most likely to request extraordinary procedures in hospitals and emergency rooms, postponing death even at the cost of comfort and dignity. When I saw the headline, I said to myself, "That's just crazy!" After I thought about it awhile, I realized the connection. The devoted Christians come from that "self oriented" perspective which wants what "I" want, not what heaven wants, so I can selfishly hold on to life, even with the promise of "heaven" waiting for me.

The contrast between the self-oriented faith and the service-to-the-world oriented faith could not be more stark. I'd rather be putting God's will to work here and now, not making heaven wait for justice and equity and peace, than making heaven wait while I get everything that's coming to me!

Cones of Hope

Watching the weather news about a recent hurricane, I heard the term "the cone of uncertainty" to describe the possible but unpredictable trajectory of a storm. I was reminded of it with a quote in my prayer book on the hope that all things will be brought to God in the end. That is an older world-view that projects a "cone of certainty" in which everything will work out according to God's "goal"--a teleology of seeing how everything comes together in the end.

A perspective more understandable to the contemporary mind might be to refer to the "cone of indeterminacy" -- it may sound better than "uncertainty" and it rings true with quantum physics. Rather than seeing all things coming to a pre-determined end, even God's end, we see trajectories of freedom and choice with lives evolving and changing as they go along. The picture of fractals, lovely and complex patterns of developing reality, but not predictable in their outcomes. This is a "process theology" approach, it seems to me.

We can found our hope, as Christians, not in certainty but in the sense that God is luring us all, including the whole cosmos, into newer and more whole ways of being.

I Love it when I was right!

Two items in the news in the last couple of days confirm my earlier opinions expressed in this blog.
1. The new book about Warren Buffett, The Snowball: Warren Buffett on the Business of Life, is being advertised with the heading "What would Warren Buffet do?" That reminded me of my blog of November 16, 2007, when I recommended a dream ticket for president (sadly my recommendation has been ignored until now) of two Buffetts--Warren for president and Jimmy for vice president. Think of the Alan Jackson country song "It's Five O'clock Somewhere" which includes the line, "What would Jimmy Buffett do?" The song is about skipping responsibility, but I maintain that even Jimmy Buffett would do a better job at governing than the yahoos who've been in power the past eight years. But we really should have been listening to Warren.
2. Watching the presidential debate and realizing that both candidates have gone back on their vows to avoid mudslinging in this campaign, I thought about my blog post from March 11, 2008, on the concept of "teleopathy"--which means "goal sickness." Obviously the goal of winning has overcome the deeper values of integrity and honesty in the presidential campaign, and the American people are the worse for it because it diminishes our respect and trust in whoever wins the election!

Follow up on Harvey Cox

The man hasn't lost a step, theologically or intellectually. As he walked into the room he was wearing his Red Sox cap, very appropriate. About 45 people gathered, about half the seminary faculty, a few folks from the Presbyterian headquarters, a number of retired pastors from the area, and a few students (most of the other students had no idea who Harvey Cox is!) He talked about his Harvard undergrad class on Jesus and moral ethics, noting that most students, including the most secular and including those of other faith traditions, have no problem talking about Jesus.

He also talked about how there is a resurgence of religion in our time, often in the form of "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual." I was fascinated by the ensuing conversation about what Jim Lewis labeled the intersection of the appeal of high liturgical worship, such as Eastern Orthodox, the endurance of Pentecostalism, and the "spiritual but not religious."

It put me in mind of David Roozen's sociological study of denominations (Church, Identity, And Change: Theology And Denominational Structures In Unsettled Times, Eerdmans, 2005) in which he notes that those American denominations based on "affective" religion--such as the Episcopalians and the Pentecostals--are having a better time at adapting to the 21st century than are those denominations based on "the word" or what Cox called the "assentive" faiths based on propositional adherence. Of course its clear that the Presbyterians are in that latter group and are not faring well in adapting to the 21st century.

That may be partly why I'm attracted to teaching "emotional intelligence" to old-line protestant ministers, and also why Diana Butler Bass is able to promote re-traditioning--since she's episcopalian.

When Harvey Cox Came to Louisville

An Evening of Conversation
With HARVEY COX
“A Theologian Reflects on
Religion, Morality and Politics
in the 21st Century”

For Students, Faculty, Staff, Friends of the Seminary
Free, no registration required!
MONDAY, OCTOBER 6
7-9 P.M.
HUNDLEY HALL—GARDEN COURT
Moderated by Dr. Christopher Elwood

Cornell West has called Harvey Cox “one of the most significant religious thinkers of the late twentieth Century.” Cox is Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard, where he has been teaching since 1965. An American Baptist minister, his research and teaching interests focus on the interaction of religion, culture, and politics. Among the issues he explores are urbanization, theological developments in world Christianity, and interfaith relations. He is a prolific author, including:
· When Jesus Came to Harvard: Making Moral Decisions Today, describing his immensely popular undergraduate course, “Jesus and the Moral Life,” which attracted hundreds of students each year.
· The Secular City, published in 1965, became an international bestseller and was selected by the University of Marburg as one of the most influential books of Protestant theology in the twentieth century.
· Common Prayers: Faith, Family, and a Christian's Journey Through the Jewish Year, based on his experience with his wife, Professor Tina Tumarkin, of raising their son in her Jewish faith.
· The Feast of Fools;
· The Seduction of the Spirit;
· The Silencing of Leonardo Boff: Liberation Theology and the Future of World Christianity;
· Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality.

Participants in this evening of conversation will be inspired by the range of Dr. Cox’s spiritual history as we engage him with our questions and comments.

Seeing into the Future

www.anonymouspace.com

Driving around Louisville yesterday I remembered the fun of finding my way back to places I'd been years before. In the 1960's I was a student here and had a fondness for places like Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church. When I came back to live here six years ago, I enjoyed driving around to find my way back, relying on the way coded deeply into my memories to guide my driving. It's fun. That's one way of finding our way around this world--following our memories.

A second way of finding our way is by using the encoded memories of others who have charted out the path ahead of us. We call them "maps"--printed on paper for those of us who remember them before the age of Google maps and GPS. Being able to read a map and orient oneself to them is a useful skill in negotiating a way around the world as it is known.

But I'm more fascinated by a third way of finding our way around. That is learning to move into an unknown future where our memories and our maps are not as helpful. If we truly believe that the cosmos is on a trajectory of transformation, then the future "ain't what it used to be." Simply downloading our memories and the guide-maps of the past and the present will only keep us stuck in the past or the present.

I like to pull from the insights of the behavioral and managerial sciences to inform my understanding of human nature, and for this question I look to the work of Gary Klein on intuition (Klein, Gary. The Power of Intuition: How to Use Your Gut Feelings to Make Better Decisions at Work. New York, Currency/Doubleday, 2003.) When new situations present themselves, our intuition pulls in our previous experiences and helps us transform them by imagination into possible scenarios for the new situation as it might unfold. Those quick choices of scenarios can inform quick action in a crisis situation.

If there's time for a more leisurely movement into the future, the spiritual concept of discernment comes to mind in which one quiets other voices and tunes into the deeper seated voice of God. A current source for understanding discernment in an organizational setting is Otto Scharmer's Theory U (Boston: Society for Organizational Learning, 2006). It's a discernment and systems thinking model that takes change into account for what he calls "leading from the future." I also go back to Jane Kise and David Stark's work in Life Directions (Bethany House, 1999) in which they help us identify our gifts, our passions and our values as part of the holy design for our lives that are part of of the guidance system. It is through these realities of our personal or corporate identity that we can build scenarios for the future that are true to ourselves and open to the future.

Finally, I like to invoke the notion of desire. If we can place in abeyance our own smaller agendas and fears and put our own desires in the context of what we understand of the Divine, we pray that our desires and the desires of the Holy One can be one. It's a future desiring, not for our own comfort and convenience, not to revisit the old familiar places, or even to impose the maps of others on the future, but to hope for something new that suits a new humanity in a new world.

How do you move into the future?.

New Lay Academy in Mid-Kentucky Presbytery

Called to Lead is a new program of theological education for congregational leaders offered in partnership by Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and Mid-Kentucky Presbytery. Focused primarily toward Elders, but open to all, this two-year program will engage leaders in Bible study and theological reflection, as well as equipping them to serve their congregations with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love.[1] A third component of small group coaching and mentoring is available to Elders who wish to further their study in preparation for becoming a Commission Lay Pastor under the care and authority of the Committee on Ministry (or Committee for Preparation for Ministry?) of Mid-Kentucky Presbytery.

Participants will meet one Saturday each month (except summer & December), for 8 hours. The fee of $30.00 includes lunch, handouts and instruction. In addition, participants will be responsible for purchasing required textbooks. Although participants are encouraged to commit to all classes, one may register on a monthly basis. However, those intending to complete the Commissioned Lay Pastor program must successfully complete all classes and any additional requirements for the CLP diploma. Costs for CLP component will be determined by the number of participants and will include other expenses for additional program requirements. *

Persons interested in participating in Called to Lead should complete the attached application, and send it, along with payment, to Mid-Kentucky Presbytery, 425 South 2nd Street, Suite 301, Louisville, Kentucky 40202. The application is also available on-line at http://www.midkentuckypresbytery.org/. Questions concerning the program should be directed to Rev. Peggy Owens, 502-561-8300 or owens987@bellsouth.net.


*Candidates for Commissioned Lay Pastors will attend additional small group coaching sessions and work closely with a pastor- mentor. Extra reading and written assignments will be required, along with psychological/vocational assessment and a final examination. The CLP component will be administered by the COM (or CPM?), which will have the responsibility of determining the fitness for commissioning. Participation in the program does not guarantee one a call to commissioned ministry.
For more information on CLP’s see Book of Order reference G-14.0800 or call the Presbytery office.