Hyde Park Speaks

Jim Finds Truth In "The Shack"

In case you missed it, you can read Jim Harnish's excellent take on "The Shack" online here.

At one point he says:

"I don't believe that everything that happens is micromanaged by God. But I will bet my soul on the assurance that there is nothing that happens that cannot be used by God for God's redeeming purpose, and that God's grace can bring good out of even the worse that happens to us."

That particular quote more or less illustrates one of my stronger impressions of The Shack (which our Tuesday night group has been reading). I've always struggled with the thought of pre-destination and whether or not God is micromanaging our lives. I don't believe He is. It's just beyond my human comprehension that this would even be possible (even though with God, anything is possible). I mean, if we're all praying for certain things to happen and they're in complete opposition to one another, how can that be managed? The answer is "I dont' know," and may never know. So I much prefer to follow the notion that God takes the events of our lives and uses them for His purpose.

This is why I don't pray for a good parking space or for the Gators to win their next game. I pray more for ... well, God to help me make sense of whatever is going on in my life. Right or wrong, that's my opinion.

Does anyone else feel this way?

Life After Life After Death

I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my favorite theologians,  Bishop N.T. Wright, on the Colbert Report last week. He was talking about his new book "Surprised by Hope." I bought the book at Annual Conference last month, and it's in my "to read" cue on my nightstand. After seeing this, I think I'll move it to the top.

Trying To Understand Sin And Punishment

I posted recently about a DBS book our Wesleyan group is studying: Invitation To John. (Read more about it here.) This week's reading has us looking at Jesus as provider (feeding thousands with but a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish). And also as healer. In particular, the story of the lame man Jesus heals at the pool of Bethesda. "Stand up, pick up your sleeping mat, and walk!"

I assume the healed man was quite delighted with this sudden turn of events after 38 years of misery. But before he gets too comfortable with his new found health, Jesus warns him, "Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you." (John 5:14)

What is the lesson here? Many believe sin is punished by God. Interestingly, in our group, there seemed to be some consensus that we do a pretty good job of punishing ourselves by sinning. If you eat too much, you become unhealthy. If you envy what others have, your actions lead to self-destruction. And so forth. Seems like there's little need for divine intervention, given the amount of harm we make for ourselves.

You may fall on one side of this fence or the other, but then there are the gray areas. How do you explain how natural disasters (such as recent events in Myanmar and China) offer plenty of suffering to go around -- for the good and the wicked?

So, Jesus admonishes the man to "stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you." So from where do you think this something worse comes from? God? Or by our own hands?

A Pint-Size Disciple Bible Study

I guess this is sort of appropriate that I only have time for a short post now, because I'm here to tell you about a short-term Disciple Bible Study. That's right. Anyone who's taken one of the four 34-week studies may be surprised to learn that DBS also offers shorter 11-week studies.

I'm part of a little tight-night group that meets most Tuesdays to discuss Christian learning and we've done so by reading a series of books. Over time, we realized that although we were reading a number of very thought provoking tomes, we weren't reading the Bible itself so much. Sort of ironic for a "Bible" study group, don't you think? We all remembered back to our DBS days and were delighted to find that DBS offered these shorter studies. We're going to be reading "Invitation to John," that literally focuses only on this one gospel. Perhaps you have a small group that might be interested in such a study. We ordered ours through the Aldersgate bookstore, and you can learn more about it at the Cokesbury site.

We have fond memories of our 34-week studies and created close bonds with a number of the participants, including some who went on to join our Tuesday group. But perhaps, like us, you might want to supplement your learning with one of these shorter studies.

I can't exactly go on to recommend "Invitation to John" yet. I've barely cracked it open. But hopefully I'll find time to update you on our progress.

Can't my friend see God?

Along with about 25 of his other friends, I was the recipient of an email this morning that was forwarded to me by a friend who lives out of state. We all have at least one of them in our lives: A "serial forwarder." Someone who feels compelled to forward EVERY email that they find remotely interesting to ALL of the people in their address book. It's amazing to me that even some of my most respected, intelligent, centered friends seem to truly believe that if they don't forward that email they just received to 93 of their friends within 17 minutes, their greatest wish won't come true. Delete!

Now, I have to admit that in my own mind, I tend to categorize these habitual senders, based on what they've sent in the past, and my resulting degree of amusement. If it comes from so-and-so, it gets immediately deleted, but if it comes from that guy, it's a guaranteed laugh and at least worth saving for later. So for me, this guy - the one who sent the email that I received this morning - falls into the category of "Delete Most / Save Some, Depending on Subject Line."

The subject line of this morning's email was "Fantastic Photos." Hmmm, I thought, during the split second in which my index finger lay poised on the mouse, ready to delete - hmmm... sounds intriguing enough to open. So I opened. There was no email text - just an attachment - a PowerPoint Slide Show entitled "The Simple Life." Well, I'd gotten this far, so I decided to go ahead and open the attachment.

The opening screen read: "Sit back, relax and enjoy. The simple, yet remarkable life... of Mother Nature and the animals she created. Please use the enter button to scroll through at your own pace."

Wait, I thought... "the animals SHE created?!?" Mother Nature!? What is this?! I followed the instructions and used my 'enter' button to scroll through about 60 "Fantastic Photos." And they were. There were photos of magnificent animals, majestic mountains, colorful creatures of land and sea... absolutely breathtakingly beautiful, just as God created them. As I viewed each photo, I was struck by the awesome love of our God who so generously gave us such an amazing world to live in, so much beauty for which to be grateful... to enjoy and appreciate and cherish. Mother Nature?!?!

The 7th photo in the series (shown above - click to open it), summarizes the attitude and belief system of both the creator of the slide show, and the friend who sent me the email. It's an image of a large silver-back gorilla, lying on his stomach and "reading" a book that's propped in his giant ape-hands. The title of the book: The Origin of Man.

Beautiful photos. Sad commentary. Can't my friend see God?

What is your Purpose?

I have a friend who forwards emails to me all the time. This is her primary way of keeping in touch with me. Isn't it strange how we have devolved into relationships that consist almost entirely of email? How is that forwarding a stupid video to me is keeping in touch? Though when they stop forwarding the emails, I really do feel like I've lost touch with them.

But anyway - the point of this entry is because she finally sent an email that was really worth sharing (not that laughing at funny Maxine cartoons isn't worth anything...) but really, I'm not much of an email forwarder, I'm one of those people that do not EVER keep the chain going and I NEVER believe for one instant that anything at all will happen to me if I don't forward that email. But once again, I digress.

The email she sent was this amazing interview with Rick Warren (the author of The Purpose Driven Life). His comments were nothing short of stunning. I just sat there staring at the screen for several minutes. And then I forwarded it to my friend, John, who forced me .... er I mean he suggested that I add this post to the blog and share this with all of you who are checking out Hyde Park Speaks. Since this was actually a really good idea, I thought I'd see if I could figure out how to include a link into my post. Here is the full text.

Here are just a few lines from the interview to pique your interest ...

• People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
• Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
• The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
• God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
• I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free

Hope you enjoy. Let us know what you think of his comments.

 

Rethinking the Atonement

Emergent Village invited people to spend some time this Lent reflecting on the atonement. They hosted a contest asking people to come up with some new metaphors for the atonement. Below is an email outlining the results.

THE FRIDAY WE CALL "GOOD" – ATONEMENT CONTEST RESULTS

By Mark Baker and Tony Jones

We greet you in the Lord's name on this Good Friday. It's the day that we commemorate Jesus' death on the cross, and its meaning for all time and for all of humanity. As Christians, we call the outcome of this event the "atonement" -- that's the doctrine that stands at the center of the area of theology called soteriology.

But what exactly is atonement? How does it work? These questions lie at the heart of one of the most robust theological discussions in the church over the past two millennia and it is particularly active today. In fact, some have gone so far as to call it the "Atonement Wars." Others around Emergent have said, "Not so fast!" Instead, the multiple theories of atonement over the centuries complement each other, like a vase full of flowers or the clubs in a golf bag.

In that spirit, we launched Lent with a contest of sorts, in which we asked people send in alternate metaphors for the atonement, different from the ones we often grew up with. (Here's the initial announcement.) We received several dozen entries, and we're thrilled to share the winners on this Good Friday.

But before I get to the winners, I want to thank the judges: Mark D. Baker, editor of Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross: Contemporary Images of Atonement and co-author with Joel B. Green of Recovering the Scandal of the Cross: Atonement in New Testament and Contemporary Contexts, and associate professor of mission and theology at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Fresno, California. Debbie Blue, contributor to Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross, author of Sensual Orthodoxy (Cathedral Hill) and From Stone to Living Word: Letting the Bible Live Again (Brazos), and one of the founding pastors of House of Mercy church, St. Paul, MN. Dan Whitmarsh, contributor to Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross, and pastor of Lakebay Community Church, an Evangelical Covenant Church in Lakebay, WA. Bill Yaccino, director of Catalyst, mobilizing churches for spiritual revolution across Lake County, Ill. He previously served in various pastoral roles in Illinois and California and in 2005 Bill launched www.WeddingPastorsUSA.org to network pastors willing to bring Christ-like love to couples far from the Church on their wedding day.

The Runners-Up:

• "A Dad Who Is Mad" by Paulette Lovelace
• "Atonement and Atonement" by Jenny Warner
• "The Who Cane" by Marty Folsom

The Winner:

• Three Stories of Grace" by Steve Sherwood.

Great job, Steve. And thanks to everyone who sent in submissions!

May God bless you this Easter weekend.