this page supplements the write up for the september 2009 reflective.
keys to the threshold
the keys we are keeping hold of are:
the song ‘lord of the dance’ e.g. ‘i danced for the scribe and the pharisee, but they would not dance and they would not follow me’… jesus was trying to facilitate a non-religion but it got hijacked.
valuing the marginalised and looking out for the outsider (odd key).
‘constantly amalgamating disparate experience’ (TS Elliot) synthesis, everything will fit in. also connect as part of community and with god.
‘only connect’ (EM Forster) – don’t disconnect passion and poetry/ don’t compartmentalise things. (two keys together for this and the above)
pilgrimage – church as a pilgrim and prophetic people (locker key for rucksack)
mystery and paradox – e.g. justice and love (old key)
examining my conscience – thinking about the spirit in which you do things (grubby key)
god knit me together in my mother’s womb – i’m allowed to be who i am even if the Church says i’m not e.g. gay/thinking/liberal/post-structuralist (square key for a round lock).
are there particular conventional beliefs which have led you to this place of being unconventional? are there well quoted passages from a sacred book which you still hold onto, but now read differently?
luke 11 (amplified bible) so i say to you, ask and [b]keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and[c]keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and [d]keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. 10for everyone who asks and [e]keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and[f]keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and [g]keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.
we noted that the ‘amplified’ version of these well known verses emphasises a continuous tense – keep questioning. it indicates that there isn’t a one off event of salvation (a more conventional reading would interpret this verse as a one off knocking which God answers). if you think that you’ve found and stop seeking you didn’t find. the finding is in the seeking.
1 corinthians 1 (amplified bible)27[no] for god selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame. 28and god also selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is lowborn and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt, even the things that are nothing, that he might depose and bring to nothing the things that are,
this passage influenced luther, who then influenced heideggar (Destruktion), who then influenced derrida (deconstruction). indirectly this passage has led to the practice of deconstruction which is often seen to be atheistic. we interpret these verses as decentering power and a sense of call to support the marginalised. we also discussed how an uncertain faith can be described as ‘weak’, but does it take more strength to live out this type of faith? but if so, does that then put us back in the disadvantaged and shamed position of strength?!
hebrews 5 (amplified bible)13for everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action), for he is a mere infant [not able to talk yet]! 14but solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law.
we weren’t so sure about re-interpreting this verse and most of us had a strong reaction against it from Evangelical days. it was relevant though because we had a breast feeding baby with us – he can’t yet decide for himself what’s edible but when he’s older he’ll be able to discern this. we talked about possibly this being spiritual in the sense of after a certain point not needing to accept what’s said from a pulpit and taking responsibility for your own decisions. this quote still seemed too binary though and there’s a danger that whoever reads it will interpret themselves as the mature ones…
hebrews 11 (amplified bible) 1now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, [a]the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]… 3by faith we understand that the worlds [during the successive ages] were framed (fashioned, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose) by the word of god, so that what we see was not made out of things which are visible.
we discussed the nature of faith. physics is faith based too. we can’t see the molecules and forces at work in our table. we wondered how faith, hope and certainty relate to each other and thought that either faith and certainty are unrelated, or faith is more related to uncertainty than to certainty. faith is less positivist and binary. faith doesn’t describe the truth value of a statement (ie ‘i have faith in god’ rather than ‘i have faith that God exists’?). we thought you could re-read this passage to emphasise the hope and uncertainty rather than the certainty aspect. there’s a hope in uncertain certainty (because you’re hoping in something you know you actually don’t know).
galatians 3:28 (amplified bible)28there is [now no distinction] neither jew nor greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male [a]and female; for you are all one in christ jesus.
no religious nor secular; no ethnicity; no gay nor straight etc. we discussed how from this verse only the male nor female bit is quite an obvious divide still. but when we discussed this more we brought in the issue of intersex and that even this biological binary is actually more like a spectrum. we concluded that in Christ jesus we transcend binaries.
