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Good News for Intellectual Inquiry

April 19, 2017 0 Comments

photo credit: Jaie Miller

I’ve been thinking about intellectual inquiry and my Christian experience as a person of faith. Six recent experiences have catalyzed my thinking about the topic:.

Conversations with students in my Life Group at UBC.
Reading Scott McKnight and Dennis R. Venema — Adam and the Genome.
My disappointment elicited by ecclesial pragmatism.
Praying through the text for the latest Origin Church gathering. Luke 24:13-35, The Emmaus Road.
Reading Allister McGrath, Inventing the Universe.
Pondering the most recent Angus Reid report, Religion in Canada – 150.

 

It’s tempting to believe that intellectual inquiry, especially our own, is a solitary experience and can be a pure experience of reason. We may imagine going off by ourselves into the wilds of the Canadian wilderness. But “by ourselves” is an illusion. I say that even as a baptist, a protestor. Such theological independence is an illusion fuelled at its worst by pride but at its best perhaps by a more hopeful motive – a yearning for purity of thought and a desire to live well and close to Christ.

 

The intellectual survivalist imagines what it would be like to come to truth by themselves. I believe they stand to delude themselves into believing they are the solitary champions of truth. These intellectual Christopher Knights dive into the woods, avoiding people of faith, when in truth they are dependent on other people of faith for their survival. Christopher Knight was recently upheld as one who survived alone for 27 years. But he didn’t survive alone. His independence and isolation actually required the enterprising provision of 100 other families. In fact his solitary experience of 27 years required a community, even be it an unwilling community. In relation to them he lived as a parasite. (I think my catholic and orthodox friends may have a field day with this metaphor… but I’ve put it out there anyway. He smiles.)

 

Intellectual inquiry doesn’t happen in a vacuum of pure reason. Intellectual inquiry occurs in the interplay between what we think and what we experience. Its a process but not a linear process. If we are honest about the intellectual process of inquiry its best seen as a cyclical process in which we poke into a matter, retreat into consideration, poke into a matter again and retreat into consideration, poke again with others, and then retreat with others for consideration, and then we land on or in a statement of ______. (You fill in the blank.  Its tempting to believe its a statement of reason. But on the matters that truly matter — justice, love, purpose — you land on a statement of faith. Reason from scientific “fact,” as Allister McGrath notes, actually has a very small landing area.) Intellectual inquiry may indeed have its moments of serendipity and even ecstasy, but most often its a prolonged agony, especially as we test out, idealize and realize the statement of faith we will adjust our lives to in response to Jesus Christ.

 

Why prolonged agony: Faith seeking understanding.

Anselm introduced the phrase which we can use to describe the process by which persons of faith move forward with reason in their life of faith. I am proposing its use in the most relational and faith-full of ways. Faith seeking understanding is personal. Personal and communal faith seeking understanding is constantly agitated by the question of truth. Although we declare and may experience the confession, “my faith has found a resting place,” this process sets us up with a persistent willingness to not only tolerate disruption but to also engage the disruption with Christ and grow in Him.

We enter Christian faith via the person of Jesus Christ. Inquiry is an enterprise in which we commune with Him allowing ourselves to be taught by the Resurrected Lord Jesus and drawn to participate in His Kingdom as dearly loved citizen-family-sojourner-friends. While there are many questions that may be settled in our lives by faith in Christ, there is usually something just around the corner to stir us up: our stage and season of life; the questions raised by the city we live in; new discoveries or perspectives in science; a reading of Scripture; a traumatic experience; the inquiry of other persons of faith. All these can disrupt our peace and ease of faith thus pushing us to enter into the agony again of intellectual inquiry.

 

I find the Emmaus Road text helpful for framing some of my expectations for intellectual inquiry. I am enthralled with the image of Christ accompanying us in the journey of life. There are several relationships at play here: me with others, us with Christ, and me with Christ. Furthermore this framing accepts  intellectual inquiry as an active process (a journey) strung out over time, punctuated with rest and with a movement between community and solitude. Three processes can be engaged as intellectual inquiry:

 
1. Identifying unmet or crushed expectations. Here we are trying to understand what makes no sense to me; this requires that we identify my expectations being challenged by reality. This is most often accomplished when the community asks me personal questions and waits for my answers. I may not have yet given voice to the reality I’m facing and I may not have yet actually named the unmet expectations. On the Emmaus Road, the “unknown companion” (who we as readers know is the Resurrected Jesus) leads them into inquiry. “What are you discussing among yourselves?” Their answers reveal unmet expectations and realities they are trying to comprehend. They were trying to make sense of that which made no sense to them. Their expectations of Jesus of Nazareth as the redeemer of Israel were unmet, for Jesus was crucified. (It was traumatic.) Their expectations that it was all over when Jesus died on the Cross were overturned by the women’s proclamation that Jesus is alive. Intellectual inquiry has to take hold of both matters: new realities and unmet expectations.

 

2. Welcoming strangers or even people we know as companions who teach/explain from the wealth of their pool of knowledge. Intellectual inquiry welcomes the company of people who can shine a light on our ignorance or on the shape of our mental map of reality without annihilating our own agency or participation in the process. On the Emmaus Road, the unrecognized Jesus becomes not only their fellow traveler but also their rabbi. He challenges the foolishness of their picture of the Messiah. He truly rocks their boat; he creates more disequilibrium and in so doing creates the space to learn something they didn’t yet comprehend. (He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”) Although they had the “right Scriptures” they had the wrong picture of the Messiah and thus had created the wrong expectations about the outcomes God desired. The Messiah had to suffer and then enter His glory. That was a different picture. So beginning with the Scriptures which they “knew” he explained to them what they did not yet see.  Their seven mile walk must have gone quickly! The two travellers invited their teacher to remain with them longer and share a meal; they were inviting further consideration and relationship.

 

3. Receiving grace to recognize and authorize Jesus as Lord so we become His witness.

Now Jesus does not require our authorization to be Lord. He is Lord. He has received the name that is above all names that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. However, in relationship to Jesus in this life He is actually the initiator of intellectual inquiry. Jesus Himself approached the travellers with questions to stimulate their inquiry with Him. And in so doing, Jesus seems to not really be interested in making sure these two travellers make it to Emmaus. Jesus is truly interested in giving them the grace to recognize Him as the Resurrected One and become His witness. Intellectual inquiry does not need to cease with the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ as Lord of All. It needs to begin and to continue. These two travellers, Cleopas and the unnamed disciple, return to Jerusalem quickly to report to the others that Jesus is alive. They are witnesses now to the Resurrected Lord. Their repentance, their change of mind, their authorization of Jesus as Lord, is quickly translated into their return to Jerusalem and their testimony among the disciples as His witness.

 

There is good news for intellectual inquiry: Christ is Risen. For the follower of Jesus, every venture into intellectual inquiry if it is in the company of Jesus as Lord can find its culmination in communion. Though we may be tempted to build hollow identities on intellect, or on the prevailing virtues of our academy, or perhaps even on being a hostage of our deathly doubts, the Spirit of God woos us to recognize Jesus and become a participant in His death and His resurrection. I don’t need to fear the disruptions of unmet expectations and confounding realities. Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” However, I do need company for intellectual inquiry. And I do need to comprehend Christ in ten thousand places.

 
This is the grace we desire. Lord, help my unbelief.
The is the joy of the Lord. Lord, warm my heart to you.
This is life redeemed. Lord, you!

Change, Discipleship

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Praying with Patrick

March 17, 2017 0 Comments


It’s St. Patrick’s Day. Here is a part of a famous prayer attributed to Patrick. I encourage you to pray with Patrick today. Take a moment now to pause and pray:

 

I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s host to secure me–
against snares of devils,
against inclination of nature,
against everyone who shall
wish me ill, afar and anear,
alone and in a crowd.

 

Christ to protect me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit,
Christ where I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity,
through belief in the Threeness,
through confession of the Oneness towards the Creator.

 

Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of Christ.
May Thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us. AMEN.

 

This prayer is part of the Breastplate of St. Patrick, missionary to Ireland.  Born 385 AD in England.  Enslaved in Ireland at age 16.  Escaped but returned to Ireland to proclaim the way of Jesus.  Died March 17, 461.

Discipleship, Prayer

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Fainting Alone

March 16, 2017 0 Comments

If a tree falls in a forest does it make a sound? If I faint alone, does God care?

These words of despair and even of fear are not the cries of just those who are old or sick. These words reflect the condition of even the young and healthy. Each of us can arrive at moments and seasons of life where we feel that we carry an unbearable weight alone.

Where is God when I’m hurting alone? Apparently the people of Israel voiced such a complaint to God. Their burden was too much. And to bear that burden meant to them that God was not present to them with care or concern. I have taken solace in the words of God given to us by the prophet Isaiah many times.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,

“My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?

Have you know known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD
shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:27-31

 

Change, Discipleship

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The Users’ Guide for Becoming Lovers

February 21, 2017 0 Comments

We are all known by our worship. Jesus Christ comes from the Father seeking true worshippers who worship in truth and in spirit. (John 4) Worship is the application of ultimate worth to something or someone. When we worship people, or ourselves, or the stuff of earth, we will become users not lovers. I do find the classical sense of idolatry helpful; idolatry is the misappropriation of that which has been created as a substitute for God. These false gods have powerful shaping influence in our relationships and in our brokenness. We mirror these gods. The Psalmist highlights the “mirror factor” when he says,

 

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear; noses but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their their throat.
Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
(Psalm 115:4-8)

The mirroring factor is at work in our worship. The explosion of visual enticement through our screens is cueing up not just our brains, but also our souls — to worship. And when we do, our souls are being hollowed out. All too often, death inhabits the desperate scroll, not life. For that idolatry also works to create false views of God and a false view of living well. A living, dynamic, grace-filled life is what God intends for us. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life of the sheep.” (John 10:10-11)

One of the beautiful observations we can make about King David is that he is more widely known for his worship of God than any other aspect of his life. The evidence of his relationship with God is recorded within the Psalms. The diversity and breadth of these prayers covers the spectrum of human emotion. David honoured God even as he talked, complained, questioned, and cried out to HIm. When I read the Psalms as an act of worship, I am drawn into deeper conversations and worship of God.

 

King David’s confession and prayer in Psalm 23 is a profound departure from the idolatry of his day and of ours.  David is following a personal and relational real God who is sufficient for the trials and brokenness of each day.

Psalm 23 — A PSALM OF DAVID.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

 

Worship matters. Jesus Christ is our Shepherd. He is our guide. Jesus doesn’t use people. He shows us who the Father is. He is the lover of our souls. He is the one who turns “users” into “lovers.” And for that we need grace! We need the Gospel truth of God’s pursuit of us through the life and work of Jesus Christ.

Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us — eternal life… And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are are… Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
(1 John 2:23-25, 28-3:1, 2-3)

Discipleship

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Crushed by Comparison

February 16, 2017 1 Comment

Everyday our comparison reflex is being trained so comparison becomes automatic. Our internal insecurities lend themselves easily to the economy of a comparison culture. It’s killing us. It’s crushing our souls. Even when our friends post a happy moment the comparison reflex kicks in and leads us to filter the photo so we cannot celebrate with them. Instead we covet their applause and their good fortune.

 

I know. I’m a pastor. Positions and responsibilities in the work of the Gospel do not create immunity to the comparison culture. Pastors can be exhausted by an insatiable desire to be liked, to be successful. Its miserable. Comparison creates misery! So Saul’s story is scary.

 

It’s possible to believe that success will heal us of such misery. But no, many a king has lain awake at night spinning in the tale of lost affection, applause, and attention. Israel’s first king was so taken by the comparison reflex that he quit listening to God, turned his back on God, and even came to actively oppose the activity of God. King Saul was driven by insecurities that he believed could only be sated by the applause of people.

 

Early in his kingship, when the stakes seemed high, Saul rejected God’s instructions and overreached his authority. He told the prophet Samuel, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come… I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal and I have not sought the favour of the Lord.’ So, I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” (1 Samuel 13:11-12) Saul lost the kingdom. But ultimately he lost his soul.

 

Saul’s concern for the affections, applause and attention of people created a cascade of jealousy in his life. When the people celebrated victories in battle, the refrain, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands,” galled Saul. Saul’s displeasure fuelled his premonition that David would be the next king. As a reader of 1 Samuel we become observers of tragic lost potential as Saul is hollowed out and crushed by comparison. He is filled with insecurity, overreaching, idolatry, lack of peace, progressive rage, and active resistance to what God is doing in the world. No doubt, the companion culture creates vulnerabilities within each of us that can be taken full advantage of by Satan.

 

In the New Testament, James would write to people being formed by Jesus Christ, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” (James 3:13-16) Jesus is the true wisdom that came down from Heaven — He shows us the good life and invites us into it: humility and godly  ambition in the love of God.

 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ creates perspective for us to observe our own hearts and ask, “am I giving safe harbour to envy and selfish ambition? In the great letter of identity in Christ called Galatians, the Apostle Paul declares “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10) So it is: if we are living loved through the declaration of God’s love for us shown through the Cross of Christ, then we are released internally from the oppressive consuming power of comparison. Even if others insist on comparing us to another person, we can be free internally. I am loved by God. My heart does not have to remain a safe harbour for envy. Living loved in the grace of Christ means we have a place at the foot of the Cross where we can stand and calmly confess, “I’m comparing myself to others. I’m becoming driven to outdo another. I can’t celebrate their success or God’s grace in their lives. Help, Jesus. I need You!”

 

Mortification of the comparison reflex requires grace, otherwise we will resist the movement of God. When his disciples were going over to Jesus, John the Baptist declared of Jesus, “He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:30) And the Apostle Paul who was ministering in a hyper-comparison culture declares, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Psalm 131
A Song of Ascents. Of David

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high.
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvellous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.

Discipleship

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