Thursday, March 29, 2018

Passover and Easter: Questions and Glimpses


Every year Passover and Easter share an intimate relationship on our calendars.  They dance and wrestle with one another.  Passover, this year, begins on the evening of Good Friday, the day Christians remember the murder of Jesus. 

Both holidays begin with questions.  The Jewish seder or meal starts with the youngest person present, asking “the four questions”, as to why this night is different from any other night.  And Good Friday scriptures talk of Jesus on the cross in Mark and Matthew’s gospels asking the question: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  These questions lead to stories of deliverance, the Exodus and the Resurrection. 

But, did you notice?  From year to year the questions do not go away.  They keep being repeated.  The questions are an integral part of our traditions.  The questions remain questions because all the talk of deliverance from sin, death and evil is just that, talk!  In our time, sin, death and evil are doing quite well, Torah and Jesus notwithstanding.  The stories of deliverance are glimpses of hope yet to be completely fulfilled for Jews or Christians. 

During this season, we hold on to both the questions and the glimpses.  After all, Jews and Christians are two communities that continue to wait and wait and wait, at the same time doing what we can to reduce the madness of human beings.

Despite all the differences between Jews and Christians, and these should not be ignored or diminished.  The argument between them is important.  But this time of the year is about remembering, remembering who we are, where we came from, the questions we must ask, and the hopes that motivates us to get out of bed in the morning. 

Passover and Easter remind us not to forget. “In memory lies redemption.” And these holidays are ways we try to remember the problematic fragility and mysterious substance of our hopes.

Friday, March 23, 2018

A True Theologian


A true theologian is someone who knows he or she does not know.  There are such Jewish, Christian and Muslim theologians.  The word theology means “words about God.”  And, we who are theologians know we do not know what we are talking about.  It’s part of the dilemma of being a theologian that you are compelled to talk about an inexplicable, indescribable, elusive, mysterious being.  For thousands of years the three monotheisms have claimed this being has revealed itself through them.  And yet, to this day we remain frighteningly unsure whether there is anything there.  Is there even a there, there?

So, why do we keep talking?  What is the point of doing theology? 

Theology, when it is done well, is an honest articulation of the faith of the community.  Theologians are not arrogant or boastful.  A true theologian talks about what we trust, why we trust it, and how ought we live in view of what we trust.  Theology is always tentative and searching for the right words.  A deep part of theology is hope.   This hope is based on the promises made in scripture.  It is a “hope against hope.”  Again, it is not an ignorant or fearful hope, but a hope rooted in promises we continue to trust despite what happens in human history.

This “despite” is not an excuse.  It is a fanatical declaration of trust which refuses to concede to the meaninglessness and emptiness of life.  This trust is built on the belief that “something.” Is going on and we, as people who care about truth must bear witness in our lives to this something, vague, obscure and puzzling as it may be.  

Theology can be a good thing when it doesn’t talk about what it does not know.  In fact, some talk about God can be quite helpful in moving us to live a life of character where we care for the hurting neighbor.  Remember, the goal of religion is not to be religious.  The goal of every religion is to transform us into human beings. 

So, whoever you are out there, keep up the good fight and trust you are not alone. There may yet be a force at the heart of the universe that is for us and not against us. 


Friday, March 16, 2018

Love the Stranger???


Over 36 times in the Jewish and Christian Bibles people are commanded to “love the stranger.”  The scriptures are insistent!  Why this concern to be hospitable to the stranger?  And who was the stranger? Whether he or she was someone loosely attached to one of the tribes, a convert to Israelite religion, or a foreigner, the stranger was clearly a threat, an outsider who was different.

The person who is different or strange can hurt you.  This is not an illusion. The stranger can be a threat; Strangers look different.  They talk different.  They eat different.  They are different.  The stranger can be a threat by his or her mere existence.  And it doesn’t take much for us to be afraid. 

Being “different” does not always have the best connotation.  When I first came to live in this part of the world I learned about the word “different.” How was your date last night?  She was different.  How was your meal at the new restaurant?  It was different.  How was your class with Haar?  He was different.

So, why does the scripture implore people to “love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt?”  It is true the Hebrews were aware of what it meant to be treated in a terrible way just because they had always been foreigners.  They were made slaves, oppressed and their babies murdered. They were commanded to be different yet they were and are today desperate to belong.  But why should all of that result in a general command to “love the stranger?”

“Love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”  It is a warning to us all.  To not care for the stranger is to not be hospitable. This was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah,  to be indifferent or hostile to the stranger.  And Wiesel has a point:  "The opposite of love is not hate.  The opposite of love is indifference." And Indifference is decadence.  Indifference means to not care.  A person who is indifferent is already dead but he or she doesn’t know it yet. 
Love the stranger because we have all been and felt like strangers, like we were different,  like aliens, like we did not belong, like we did not fit in. We have all felt like outsiders. We are indeed a nation of outsiders whose forebears got into boats and came to this country hoping to belong.

Love the stranger despite your fear. The stranger may frighten you but do not live your life out of fear.  Love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.  Loving the stranger is at the heart of what it means to be a Jew, a Christian and if nothing else, a person of character.

Friday, March 9, 2018

A Mature Faith


I keep telling my students to create for themselves a mature faith.  But what does a mature faith look like?

Martin Luther said:
“The Holy Spirit is no skeptic, and the thing He has written in our hearts are not doubts or opinions, but assertions-surer and more certain than sense and life itself.”
While Luther may be right, the Holy Spirit is also not naïve and does not condone lies about human and divine indifference. The nagging questions surrounding faith will not disappear just because we will and proclaim it.  We can sing all the hymns and recite all the creeds, ignore or decide not to think about the questions, but they will not ignore us.  
A mature faith trusts God with heart, soul and mind and is not fearful or distressed by the questions.  We welcome them!  I have said this again and again.  Faith is not opposed to questions.  Faith and questions are inter-related and inextricably connected. 

But why?  Because faith is a relationship based on honest thoughtful trust in the promises of God.  We trust in the mystery that is God without knowing exactly what that means, hoping against hope that our trust is not in vain and that God is working with us and for us, whatever that means. 

I wish for you a mature and honest faith, a faith which propels you to care for the neighbor in pain and is unwilling to lie about the questions.

Friday, March 2, 2018

Baseball is Back!


Spring Training has begun and I’m wondering why the game of Baseball has such a profound effect on me and maybe you too? I suppose it has to do with its reminder of the innocence of youth and the hopeful coming of Spring.  While that seems to be true I sense there is something else going on.

Games can be important for expressing the inner yearnings we have about life.  I love the religious order and beauty of baseball, as humorously described by George Carlin. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=george+carlin+baseball+football+analogy&view=detail&mid=2501B7B2BFF03C869C592501B7B2BFF03C869C59&FORM=VIRE

 When you walk into a ballpark, you immediately relax and know you are going to be watching an orderly liturgical sport with clearly defined roles and foul lines.  There are the serious looking umpires in black as the interpreters of the rules, uniformed garbed, numbered and overpaid players of varying ability who do the best they can with an obvious mixture of failure and success, the intently staring manager trying to tactfully but forcefully control the very human mixture of skill, instinct and chance, the over the hill coaches doing what they can to help, the slightly prejudiced announcers and commentators interpreting the ambiguous happenings on the field while cheering for the home team, the noise of the mixed attentive and inattentive crowd, the gracious community gathered to judge and forgive the sins of the all too human players, the delicious sacramental hot dogs and other expensive foods sold by the people who seem pleased to just be working close to the game.  And let’s not forget the elders, the ushers who smile and welcome you to your seat.  There is something mysteriously religious about sitting at a game, eating a bun and a frank with a beer or pop, finally relaxed and away from the stress and commotion of life.

I know this sounds overly romantic, idealistic, escapist and it probably is but there is something magical about the game. 

So, if you are among the religious cadre that loves Baseball, I celebrate with you.  If Baseball is not your brand of sport, so be it.  We, each, have our ways of running away from the internal, external commotion and chaos of our times. 

But Baseball is back. Hallelujah!