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Easter

Jordan Peterson on the Resurrection

Jordan Peterson is a controversial figure. I have written about him before.

I found this fascinating YouTube clip where he is at Liberty University (another controversial topic) and he is responding to a question about the resurrection of Christ.

I loved how he wrestled with it. Watch this clip and listen to how he addresses it through the lens of mystery, metaphysics, and symbolism.

Of course Falwell’s smug jest at the end wreaks of certainty – but that is all the more contrast to what Peterson had just said.

Two years ago, Easter was on April 1st and I preached a message called ‘Easter Fools’ and I said:

It is not about physics. It is not about verification of historical accounts. That is the wrong kind of foolish.

Easter fools are people who live into hope, possibility, justice, imagination, and second chances.

  • Life ruptured death.
  • Christ penetrated history and split it in two.
  • Hope overcame darkness.
  • New life rose up out of the ashes.

This is the fascinating and troubling thing to me. We live in an either/or world. Nearly every topic gets broken down into ‘this or that’ categories.  [examples]

Easter has been affected too. Every year I hear people (and especially preachers) talk about a physical vs. a spiritual resurrection. Did Jesus’ corpse get resuscitated or did his spirit just manifest which is why the disciples thought he was gardener or a pilgrim and it took a while to recognize him and figure out who he was.

The truth is that both of these positions are to miss the point!!!  The reality is that neither is a good option. The problem is that one starts with science and then reads that back onto the narrative – the other starts with history and the imposes that on the text.

But if you actually look at the gospel accounts of Easter, you get a very different picture. The better option might be a third way called “glorified”.

Listen to the Peterson clip and let me know what you think.

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Live As Easter People

Tomorrow will begin a new blog theme on Public Theology.

Today I wanted to share the most recent sermon series. It was a 3 part sermon centered on Easter. The themes are:

  1. Palms as Protest
  2. Easter as Life
  3. … as Easter People

The videos are below or you can listen to them on the podcast stream: http://vermonthillsumc.org/feed/podcast

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Skinny Jean Fundamentalists

Broderick Greer, who often writes insightful and sharp critiques on his twitter feed, set off an interesting conversation with his tweet:

“The evangelicals with instagram hipster aesthetics and churches that meet in theatres know EXACTLY what they’re doing: Misleading otherwise-progressive urbanites to adopt fundamentalism in skinny jeans, accompanied by a drum set.”

The conversation took a non-sequitur turn when subtweeted:

“I have personally been duped by churches where the pastors wear traditional stoles with crosses on them, only to find out years later that no one on the pastoral staff affirms the resurrection.”

The opinions that flew in response to her were varied and fascinating.

I have three quick reflections on these tweets that I would love to hear your response to.

First, in my year out of church ministry I had a chance to go to different church services each Sunday. I would mix it up between Evangelical and Mainline congregations mostly. Sometimes I went to multiple churches on the same morning. It was an eye-opening experience.

Perhaps the most interesting trend I saw was that the more conservative an Evangelical church was – the more fashionable the clothing style. It was odd enough that I would comment on it to my students (I was a visiting seminary prof.) They were well aware of this pattern.

Turns out that lots of non-LGBTQ affirming churches dress really hip.

I first noticed the trend about a decade ago, ever since the Mark Driscoll led Mars Hill Church in Seattle was so over the top at it. At first, I thought that maybe it was more pronounce here in the Pacific NW (I live in Portland) but then I asked friends around the country and it is actually probably even worse east of the Rockies.

I now understand why nearly everyone who visits a church has scouted the website first. Rock-n-Roll evangelical churches may say “all are welcome” but if they are not open-and-affirming or don’t support women in ministry … eventually it will come out.

Second, I am not sure how ‘progressive’ is being used in this current debate. When I use progressive (as in ‘Bible Study for Progressives’) I mean that:

  1. History has progressed and the present is not the same as the past.
  2. The arc of history is long and there is a trajectory towards justice.
  3. That trajectory is more inclusive and empowering of formerly marginalized and disadvantaged people and groups.
  4. The future is not found in reclaiming a romanticized notion of the past.

In this sense, I’m not sure that ANY of these ‘hip’ evangelicals would qualify as progressive. Broderick is Anglican so maybe Rock-n-Roll evangelicals are progressive when it comes to worship innovation?

How do you understand ‘progressive’?  I want to make sure I know what others are hearing when I identify as a progressive.

Third, I am amazed how any conversation about ‘the’ resurrection – both for and against it – presume a literalist physical view. The result is that both views miss the point of resurrection entirely.

The resurrection is one of my favorite topics because the either/or options that most people have been provided after the Enlightenment seem to be a real barrier. The conservative versus liberal arguments about a physical versus spiritual resurrection seem to focus on the probability and provability of a resuscitated corpse and sound dangerously close to gnostic notions of body and spirit.

The gospel narratives, on the other hand, point to a Jesus who had a glorified body post-Easter.  It could both walk through walls (for miraculous entrances) but was solid enough to make breakfast on the shore for His disciples. It bore the scars of Calvary so that (doubting) Thomas could touch His side where the spear had entered but different enough that He could be mistaken for strangers at first. He was neither a zombie nor a ghost – we have completely missed the point of Easter: glory.

Resurrection created an Easter people who live into hope, possibility, justice, imagination, and second chances. Life ruptured death. Christ penetrated history and split it in two. Hope overcame darkness.

New life rose up on the other side of this life. This is the proleptic moment. We know the future of every human and of all living things: New Creation.

 

I look forward to your thoughts.

 

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Prolepsis and Future God

This 5 minute video presents 3 ideas that come together in a powerful way.

Here is my most adventurous and experimental theology.

  1. Christ as Prolepsis
  2. God as Future
  3. Process of each moment

Please let me know what you think and how I can tighten up the concepts (as I will be presenting this to a live audience soon)

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Waking Up To Easter

Easter is a waking up. How do you wake up an Easter people?

When I was a child, my father would sometimes wake us up with an Easter song. It is called ‘Up From The Grave He Arose” and it still brings a smile to my face when I think about it.

This came to my mind as we were picking songs from Easter. We did not choose this song but it is always in the back of my mind.

It became even more relevant when I started reading ‘Liturgy of the Ordinary’ and the opening chapter was about ‘waking up’.  I started working on my sermon for ‘waking up’ before Easter and found it impossible to think about one without thinking about the other.

Easter is a waking up.

It is waking up to new life, hope, second chances, and possibilities.

Every morning is invitation to an Easter people to ‘be a different way in the world’.

Here is a video about being woken up by Easter.  I hope you enjoy a little levity on a Wednesday afternoon.

I also hope that in this series you hear the invitation to wake up to a different way of being in the world as Easter people.

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Easter Fools Sermon

Tomorrow is a rare day. Easter and April Fool’s fall on the same day. This happens approximately every 67 years – so it will happen once in my life time.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!  Here is my sermon tomorrow :
_________________

If you don’t believe in the resurrection you are a fool.

Easter fools – that is what the apostle Paul wants us to be – fools for Easter.

The whole thing kind of reminds me of a story about a Slovenian philosopher. He was a well known intellectual and an avowed atheist. His friend came to visit him at his cottage in the country and was disturbed when he arrived to see that this philosopher had a ‘lucky’ horseshoe above the doorway to the cottage.

After a while his friend couldn’t hide it anymore and finally said “I am so disappointed in you – you are a man of reason and intelligence – how can you have this superstitious charm hanging above your doorway for luck?”

The philosopher was quick to calm his friend and said “no, no, it’s ok. Of course I don’t believe in that … but I have been assured that works whether you believe in it or not.”

That seems to me to be a great approach to Easter. It works whether you believe in it or not –  Easter fools.

One of my favorite thinkers lived through WWII in Germany and he came up with this idea that I absolutely love. You don’t need to remember this unless you want to impress people at a cocktail party (or at dinner later this afternoon). It is called the Ontological Priority of the Future and it basically says: whatever turns out to be true in the end will have been true the entire time whether we knew it or not … whether we believed in it or not.

Like gravity it acts upon us before we are aware of it or understand it. It has its pull on us.

We live in a day when people have reduced faith and belief into these little pithy sayings that can be dismissed or explained away.

Just try talking about heaven and watch people eye-roll so hard they are in danger of injuring themselves or twitching so hard that might pull a muscle.

But if the afterlife turns out to be true – that there is existence on the other side of this life – some of you are going to be really surprised! (or disappointed). You will be like the person who wakes up tomorrow in Hawaii and thinks, “if I had known I would packed my bag differently!!”

Resurrection is like this. Easter is about new life – hope – possibility – vindication for the victim – and life!!!!!

It is not about physics. It is not about verification of historical accounts. That is the wrong kind of foolish.

Easter fools are people who live into hope, possibility, justice, imagination, and second chances.

  • Life ruptured death.
  • Christ penetrated history and split it in two.
  • Hope overcame darkness.
  • New life rose up out of the ashes.

This is the fascinating and troubling thing to me. We live in an either/or world. Nearly every topic gets broken down into ‘this or that’ categories.  [examples]

Easter has been affected too. Every year I hear people (and especially preachers) talk about a physical vs. a spiritual resurrection. Did Jesus’ corpse get resuscitated or did his spirit just manifest which is why the disciples thought he was gardener or a pilgrim and it took a while to recognize him and figure out who he was.

The truth is that both of these positions are to miss the point!!!  The reality is that neither is a good option. The problem is that one starts with science and then reads that back onto the narrative – the other starts with history and the imposes that on the text.

But if you actually look at the gospel accounts of Easter, you get a very different picture. The better option might be a third way called “glorified”.  Jesus had a glorified body post-Easter.  It could both walk through walls (for miraculous entrances) but was solid enough to make breakfast on the shore for his disciples. It bore the scars of Calvary so that (doubting) Thomas could touch his side where the spear had entered, but different enough that he could be mistaken for strangers at first. He was neither a zombie nor a ghost – we have completely missed the point of Easter: GLORY!!!   Jesus had a glorified body and was glorifying God.

This matters because your body really matters to god. It is not insignificant to your journey and your experience. You are not just a mud shell that houses the good (and eternal) part of you called your spirit. That is Gnosticism and not Christianity at all.

Look if you don’t want to get into debates about resurrection, or resuscitation, or reanimation .. I get it.  But don’t you dare give up on concepts like hope, new life, possibility, and glory.

We are to be, among all people, fools for this kind of thing.  Easter fools. We see Christ in the gardener and the in the traveler. We bear the marks of our experience – but they do not limit us. Our body informs our experience of the divine but it does not define it or exhaust it.

We are an Easter people.  Fools who believe in a better way. The world does not have to work the way it currently does. We can imagine the world working a different way. Call that foolish if you want.  It is actually part of the job description – to be foolish. Fools for new life, hope, and justice.  Easter fools.  Fools who believe in a better way.

For some of you your faith had died. You either thought it to death or life just beat it out of you.

Today might be a good day for some resurrection. For some new life. For some hope.

Does that sound A little foolish? Well that is what Easter is all about. Fools for a different way of being in the world. Easter Fools.

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Good Friday Homily

Here is my short homily for tonight. We are doing a Tenebrae service where we start in total light and descend into darkness.

He didn’t deserve this.

He never deserved this.

For what?

Telling people to be nice to each other and speaking in riddles? For healing people and feeding people?

No.

But he made them nervous – so they made an example out of him.

But they didn’t need to do it like this – they could have just killed him and been done with it.

Crosses are cruel. They are torture.  They are not just death – they are spectacle.

Crosses are designed to humiliate the victim and intimidate the rest of us.

They are tools of terror meant to scare the rest of us into submission.

He didn’t deserve this. He got scapegoated.  They always do this.

When the pressure builds too much it has be vented. The machine has to blow off steam before there is a rebellion.

They choose a goat and they blame and place all the guilt on its head.

What do you do when the goat is innocent and goes silently like a lamb led to slaughter?

He said nothing when he had the chance to defend himself. Now he says things like ‘forgive them, they know not what they are doing’.

The angels are not coming to save him. They would if he would cry out. But he won’t.

Instead he is exposing the system. He is laying bare the powers that be and exposing the scapegoat mechanism.  IT doesn’t work … to scapegoat others. It never worked.

God sent us this man some call the Christ. And we killed him.

It is almost as if God is saying through him, “you do this to the innocent, you do this to my servants, and you would even do this to me”.

Someone needs to break this system of scapegoating. Someone needs finish this once and for all.   Someone needs to say, “don’t do this to anyone anymore … it is finished.”

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Easter In 2 Sentences?

Easter is an amazing symbol which signifies all that we can hope for in that time which is to come!  It has a surplus of meaning and is overflowing with insights, interpretations, and implications.

A pastor friend of mine asked me a fun question today:

If you had to preach an Easter message in just 2 sentences, how would you do it?

Here are my sentences – and I would love to hear yours.

  1. Christ is the prolepsis * of humanity so that we know how this story ends: resurrection and new life for everyone !!!
  2. The glorified Christ can be seen in the gardener (hourly worker), the traveler (immigrant and refuge) and the stranger-become-friend (neighbor-other).

If you had to proclaim the truth of Easter in 2 sentences, how would you do it? 

________________________________

*  Prolepsis is a concept that comes from ancient Roman theatre where a chorus or narrator would come out between acts of play and reveal how it all ends (aka: our hero accidentally kills his father and sleeps with his mother). The audience then goes back to the next act knowing how the play ends but not how the plot gets there. It is a type of foreshadowing that is explicit.
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Silent Saturday

This is one of my favorite days of the years. Partly for its awkwardness and partly for its symbolic possibilities.

I grew up evangelical so we never really knew what to do with the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday except to get ready to get ready for the Sunday festivities. Our Catholic neighbors seemed to take the same approach.

Then I was a pastor in Saratoga Springs, NY and we had church on Saturday night. This was wonderful because, like the disciples in the story, we went back to business-as–usual with the full knowledge that it was anything but.

As a Mainline pastor you kind of hold your breath because you have been busy since Ash Wednesday and Lent has worn you down (especially if you gave up something fun) but you still have the biggest service or services of the year to get ready for.

I love Silent Saturday because as much as we declare that we are ‘an Easter People’ and as fond of substitutionary atonement as our worship choruses are, we live primarily on Silent Saturday.

I have been reading a lot in the last couple of years about the spirituality of everyday life.  It is a fascinating subset of thought.

Everyday has the possibility of being transformative and building up an accumulation of goodness. Think of what you could do if you did something 365 times in a row!

Unfortunately in the modern world, it too often becomes the repetition of monotony, boredom, and routine. We have been lulled into the quiet resignation of drudgery and the malaise of channel surfing and binge watching.

The amazing possibilities of the everyday has been drowned out by the dull droning and endless offerings of clickbait and online sales.

This is where our faith should make the biggest difference! Unfortunately something vital has been conceded and many are suffering for it in an impotent existence and unfruitful faith.

My friend put it this way:

” I think we killed belief in the resurrection with historical critical scholarship. When we did that (last century), we killed belief in a God who does anything in general…and the effects are trickling down. We sucked the life out of our tradition. Thing is, the scholarship adds up. It is right. We just need to find something to believe in again if we want our churches to invigorate. It just can’t be the harmonized, naive reading of the gospels. So…we’ve got work to do.”

We have work to do.

It is one of the reasons that I am excited to head back into the pulpit this summer.  This year of being a seminary professor has been a fascinating and eye-opening experience. I am professing at an Evangelical seminary on the heals of pastoring at a Mainline church.  I’m not sure that anything could have illustrated the profound and pronounced differences more than this. Continue reading “Silent Saturday” →

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