How shall we teach in the 21st century: generous orthodoxy...

NOTE:  Here are my weekly worship notes for Sunday, October 9, 2011. Throughout this month I am going deeper into our mission and ministry for this year that includes faithful Christian formation for the 21st century, generous orthodoxy and creative contemplation and action. Last week began the conversation about formation and I trust I deeped it this with with some thoughts about generous orthodoxy.  I am grateful to the exegetical work of Brian Stoffregen as well as Daniel Patte and Brian McLaren.

The older I get the more I love St. Paul – and I mean the totality of St. Paul – his writing and his ministry – what he gets wrong just as much as what he gets so wonderfully right – I’m talking about the whole Pauline enchilada. Because, you see, old Paul is passionate about his commitment to Christ. His religion matters – and there is nothing lukewarm about his conviction.

• He doesn’t listen to the latest poll results and parse his message to appeal to the lowest common denominator. He doesn’t speak out of both sides of his mouth at the same time so that you’re left to wonder what the devil he really believes. 

• And he doesn’t fake it: what he knows and trusts he proclaims with such a deep conviction that I have come to cherish his witness in our more complicated era of focus groups, pandering and emotional manipulation by those with the most money to spend.

Paul is an advocate for the blessings born of living into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – and he wants everyone to have a shot at sharing this blessing, too. He is NOT a theological Ebenezer Scrooge – there is NOTHING stingy about the apostle – just listen to his words set aside for this morning and see if you don’t agree:

Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in the Lord! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute! (And please…) Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

To be sure, there were times when Paul got it wrong and made some mistakes – I haven’t met a theologian, preacher or a person in the pews who hasn’t, have you? And yes there have been times when Paul’s words have been twisted and taken out of context to oppress and wound those Jesus loved. I think of the ways that women and people of color have been brutalized and demoralized – beaten, bruised and abused for centuries – because of some literal and mean-spirited interpretations of what the apostle once wrote: it is an ugly and tragic legacy.

• But I have come to trust that even the twisted and horrific heritage of Paul holds something of Christ’s light for those with eyes to see for it calls us to combat misogyny and racism, yes?

• It calls us to challenge and make amends for the sins of the past – to live into Christ’s love and compassion in our generation – with authentic humility and deep faith.

• Because, know what? We’re not going to get it all right either! We can try – we can seek the light in the darkness – but let’s be honest: now we see only as through a glass darkly; only later shall we see face to face.

And that’s the first insight I want to share with you today in a message I’m calling, “How Shall We Teach in the 21st Century?” I think it is essential to teach the generous orthodoxy of St. Paul – what he got wrong – AND what he got right. We don’t need to be afraid of the sins and mistakes of our tradition, my friends. Nor do we have to hide from our collective shadow and pretend like we’re always right.

There is an old American colloquial expression – “It’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble – it’s what you DO know that ain’t necessarily so!” Are you at all familiar with the writing of NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof? Last year at this time, when we were all up in arms because some media savvy religious fanatic in Florida was threatening to burn the Koran during worship, Kristof ran a column that called, “Test Your Savvy on Religion.” It began: “… most religious people in America turn out to be remarkably uninformed about religion. Almost half of Catholics don’t understand Communion. Most Protestants don’t know that Martin Luther started the Reformation. And almost half of the Jews don’t realize that Maimonides was Jewish. Interestingly, atheists were among the best informed about religion.”

He then offered Americans another chance with a quiz that included these questions:

• Which holy book stipulates that a girl who does not bleed on her wedding night should be stoned to death? A) The Koran; B) The Old Testament; C) The Hindu Upanishads. Answer? The Old Testament in Deuteronomy 22: 21.

• Which holy book is sympathetic to slavery? A) Old Testament; B) New Testament; C) Koran? Answer: ALL of the above.

• Which holy text urges responding to evil with kindness, saying: repel the evil deed with one which is better? A) the gospel of Luke; B) the book of Isaiah; C) the Koran? Answer: the Koran although Jesus says much the same thing in different words.

Ok, the point is obvious, yes? When it comes to living our religion in the 21st century, more often than not it ain’t what we know that gets us into trouble, it’s what we do know that ain’t necessarily so! Exploring the wisdom of St. Paul’s generous orthodoxy strikes me as one corrective to the religious intolerance and bigotry of our era. Paul offers us passion and patience, light as well as darkness, tremendous spiritual wisdom and exasperating theological blind spots all saturated in God’s grace.

Now let me try to tease out why using Paul’s generous orthodoxy in our teaching ministry might be a source of blessing and integrity for us, ok? I want to explore some of the nuances in both the parable of Jesus as inspired by grace rather than emphasizing just the obvious word of judgment and literalism. You see, you could read these stories in a very harsh and ugly way:

• You could conclude that this is a story about class warfare. The rich reject the king’s invitation to the banquet so only the poor and lame, the broken and maimed are brought into the feast.

• You might observe that the spirit of Lord is mostly about anger, too. First the king gets angry at those who reject him; then the king gets angry at the guest who shows up in casual dress; and finally the king barks out a command to ship this fool off to hell – and tie him up forever so that he never gets back.

But there’s nothing generous or orthodox in such a reading, beloved. It is just more of the mean-spirited rigidity that already plagues so many hearts and minds. So, what would a generous orthodoxy bring to our reading of this parable? And please understand that when I speak of a generous orthodoxy I’m not talking about a liberal wishy-washy, I’m ok, you’re ok approach to Bible study. Nor am I talking about the slippery slope of moral relativism that is so popular in some post-modern thought.

Rather, I like the way Brian McLaren defines generous orthodoxy when he writes: To be a Christian in a generously orthodox way is not to claim to have the truth captured, stuffed, and mounted on the wall. It is rather to be in a loving (ethical) community of people who are seeking the truth (doctrine) on the road of mission..." (293).

Did you get that? A generous orthodoxy…

Affirms that there is still more light to be discovered in God’s word in Scripture, embraces the ethics of Jesus as practiced in community; and seeks to share this way of living through mission and ministry – that is, through acts of compassion to individuals, service to the world and social justice.

Another way of saying this comes from our old German Reformed tradition: Unity in essentials, diversity in non-essentials and charity in all things. So how would that help us rethink what’s going on in this strange and sometimes harsh sounding story?

Well, as I said, you could politicize it – the elements are all there – the king and the wealthy servants who reject him as well as the poor and wounded being brought into the banquet. And that is a piece of the puzzle, a part of the whole; but a deeper reading of this story suggests something else is going on.

The deeper reason why the first guests seem to reject the king’s invitation I think has something to do with apathy: it is not that they are unwilling to come, “they just don’t want to make the effort!” They’re too caught up in their own world – and problems – and habits and addictions and fears and phobias and work and gossip and comfort and all the rest of those things that distract us. And just so that we don’t miss this truth, Jesus lets another apathetic character show up, right?

What do you make of this man who is poor and chooses to show up at the wedding feast after he gets an invitation, but makes no effort to wear clothing that shows respect or gratitude? 

• What do you sense is going on here?

• What is he telling us?

Contemporary Bible scholars tend to agree that the man who showed up at the feast is the embodiment of apathy. You see, in the world of Jesus:

For any such occasion guests would be expected to wear clothes that were both longer than those worn by ordinary people on working days and also newly washed. Those who could afford it would wear white, but it was sufficient for ordinary people to wear as near to white as washing their poorer quality clothes could achieve. Poor people, who might own only one patched tunic and cloak each, would often borrow clothes for occasions such as weddings or religious festivals. ... So there is no reason to suppose that, once invited, these people have no time to go home, to change their clothes, and to borrow clothes from their neighbors, if necessary.

What’s more, “Wearing festal garments,” writes Daniel Platte in his commentary on St. Matthew, “indicated one’s participation in the joy of the feast. To appear in ordinary, soiled working clothes would show contempt for the occasion.” So first there are those who are too busy or unconcerned to show up; and then somebody actually makes the effort to get to the party but disdains the host by showing up in dirty clothes.

Now here’s the thing about Matthew’s gospel – and generous orthodoxy – it recognizes that there is both good and bad in all of us. The church is filled with wheat and tares – sinners and saints as well - and our hearts have competing loyalties that are rarely consistent, wedding guests have mixed motives for showing up at the banquet wedding feast of the king and both rich and poor, good and bad get an invitation.

So showing up probably isn’t enough – it is a start – but it is insufficient and incomplete. What the king wants – what Christ seeks – is not only that we recognize the goodness of God who invites us to the feast, but that we honor the Lord in our hearts and in our lives. The way of generous orthodoxy – the life of Christ in community – teaches that not everything goes. So make the effort to put on the wedding garment, man! Celebrate that God is God and give that some honor, shape and form. One old salt put it like this:

This is a sharp warning to the new Christian community! It is not sufficient to hold membership, to sit at table as invited guest, to have said yes instead of no to the feast. What is being promoted here is doing the Father's will, bearing fruit and being properly garbed. (Robert Smith, Matthew: Augsburg, p. 259)

Cut to the story of the Golden Calf: here, too, all of God’s people have been invited to freedom, yes? The children of Israel are all given liberation in the Exodus – everyone is offered a clear alternative to the violence and greed of Pharaoh in the Covenant summarized in the 10 Commandments – everyone is welcome to the feast. And what happens when Moses slips away for some intimate communion with the Lord of Hosts?

• His family and friends and followers melt down all the gold they took out of Egypt in order to start a new life and create an idol – a golden calf – symbol of all the gods who once oppressed them.

• These weren’t bad people any more than we are inherently bad or the people in Christ’s parable were bad, right? But, oh my God, they were easily distracted, yes?

• And in their distractions – their apathy, their fear, their ordinary concerns and all the rest – they turned their backs on the Lord of life and worshipped idols.

Now pay careful attention to how this story closes because it goes to the heart of what – and how – we must teach our faith community in the 21st century. The story says that when Moses returned and found the entire community distracted and worshipping idols:

• First, God noticed – God was paying attention – and was frustrated and angry with the people chosen to live in covenant. Showing up isn’t enough, ok?

• Second, God is changed – or moved towards compassion – when Moses brings prayers for his people. Are you with me here? God’s heart was softened and influenced by Moses.

• Third, God asks for a deeper relationship to emerge: Moses argues and rants, cajoles and commiserates and pleads in love with the Lord – and God responds but asks that the community repent. There is recognition and honor at stake here, ok?

And fourth the Lord shares love with the people once more for this is at the core of God’s heart: grace. We have been called by God – dare I say both invited and challenged – to take our teaching ministry deeper.

• We can start with “Jesus Loves Me” – but it is insufficient to stay there – for this moment needs more than a people who just show up.

• What about a generous people saturated in grace living with the passion of St. Paul?

I see that people right here today… and I give thanks to God for each of you.


credits: 
1-6) Emily Ashworth @ http://www.gallery280.com/pages/emily-ashworth.html
7) Art from the Street @ popartmachine.com
8) Chagall @ reproduction-gallery.com
9) McCleary @ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/19/arts/design/19john.html
10 Mako @ artinlove.wordpress.com
11) Mako @ bucknell.edu
12) Mako @ faithandleadership.com