disruptive grace

Celebrating the in breaking of new creation in to our time and space this Sunday with the following tunes:

Track 11 was supposed to be Louis Armstrong’s Wonderful World, maybe for this Easter week play list.

The mind mapping software on my phone now has PDF export – so I thought I’d post these thoughts I’ve been playing with.

creation-ethics-kingdom [PDF]

I wrote this poem as I reflected on Clint Eastwood’s excellent film ‘Grand Torino’. To those of you who’ve seen it this will hopefully make a lot of sense, to those of you who haven’t, I think its poetic enough to give no plot spoilers away.

Just Like Clint (after Grand Torino)

I have no classic car, no Grand Torino,
But a dented, T-reg, Ford Mondeo.
I have no war wounds, I’ve killed no man,
But, still a past, a master plan.
No obvious prejudice so to speak,
‘Though malice lurks deep and renders me weak.

Pointed a finger, never a gun.
Raised a fist, but hit no one.
Seen the evil, done nothing about it.
Took a few words but never a bullet.
Knowledge of joy, but rarely known mourning,
A little of life, but nothing of dying.

[J_Norridge 2010]

Only those who walk the paths know more than maps;
Only those who enjoy the Presence can truly talk of God.
(David Adam, Walking the Edges)

I just discovered this in the archives of my old blog, the original post was dated September 2006. It seems worth while to post it again here (with typos and grammar corrected):

One idea which as captured my imagination in recent years, is the idea of seeing time as us being drawn into God’s future. This thinking moves away from the idea of “God as first cause” or a God who creates a clockwork universe and simply sets it going. Rather, it maybe more helpful to imagine God at the end of time (as we know it), beckoning creation on into His future, like the father of a toddler encouraging his child to walk across the room to him. Following this line of thought leads us to completely re-think about many concepts including what it means for God to be in control or even what it means for God to know all things. In fact those categories seem completely in appropriate, they are not big enough to hold the reality of God’s being.

Thinking through this reminds me of an interview with Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Concerning where we are in today’s culture, Sacks spoke about how he was struck by the analogy of a car sat-nav [satellite navigation system]. If you driving to a place you know well and the sat-nav suggests you go right, you may think, “well actually I think its best to go left”. Once you have done this the sat-nav will pause and then offer new direction as if say, “well in that case you need to now go straight on”. Sacks spoke of how this reminded him of the story of the Exodus and Children of Isreal’s time in the wilderness. And perhaps this is how God calls us on today with the unique circumstances of our time.

As we look around the world we see beauty but we also see nature and nations in turmoil. Earthquakes and economic collapses destroying families, cultures and individuals. We still long for a better future, the future God beckons creation into. For like us he sees the goodness of creation but also its pain. Perhaps the universe was created good, but not complete. Perhaps it was meant to change and evolve until it reaches its fullness in God. Lead us on into your future, may your kingdom become our present.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:13-17

I love this passage. This marks the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Up to this point Jesus has, as far as we know, lived an ordinary 1st century Palestinian life. The gospel don’t record him doing any big work or achieving anything. And it is at this point the Voice of heaven says, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” This is grace. As I reflected on this it reminded me of this passage from Marilynne Robinson’s ‘Gilead’, in which an aged dieing father writes a letter to his very young son.

“I’d never have believed I’d see a wife of mine doting on a child of mine. It still amazes me every time I think of it. I’m writing this in part to tell you that if you ever wonder what you’ve done in your life, and everyone does wonder sooner or later, you have been God’s grace to me, a miracle, something more than a miracle to me. You may not remember me very well at all and it may seem to you to be no great thing to have been the good child of an old man in a shabby little town you will no doubt leave behind. If only I had the words to tell you.”

I’m reminded to live in this grace, by receiving it from the One who gives so recklessly and seeing the gifts of grace in my friends and family. “I’m writing this in part to tell you that if you ever wonder what you’ve done in your life, and everyone does wonder sooner or later, you have been God’s grace to me, a miracle.” Thank you.

In an interview recently EddieIzzard was talking about dinosaurs. Naturally, he made the whole thing brilliantly funny. Then, in a break from the jest, he mentioned something that left me thinking, he said: ‘that’s why I can’t believe in god, what kind of person would create giant animals that would roam the earth for millions of years then die out with no one being around to see see them.’ This is a fascinating statement, as it reveals some interesting presumptions. First, we (or in this case Eddie) know what God is like and we know that it is not in his character to allow this to happen. Second, that the reason for things to exist is for humans to see them; this is a very human centric reasoning. In recent years some people have taken a similar approach in regards to ‘how things came to be’, but coming to different conclusions. By assuming certain things about God, they conclude that he couldn’t create using evolution.

Having said that, the nature of knowledge and understanding requires that we follow lines of thought and as a result we have to assume certain things and then follow the thought trail. I do think, however, that the thought trails described above (though carried out by intelligent and well meaning people) have been left wanting.

What if we start with the assumption that evolution is a genuine reality and that God is also reality. Perhaps then by looking at the world this way we can start to discern aspects of who God is and his character. As the Psalmist wrote “the heavens/skies declare the glory of YHWH” and Paul notes that creation is witness.

If we follow this thinking, looking at the history of this evolving creation, we find that God is not a person who regards time in the same manner that we do. God appears to enjoy process and is patient. Apparently willing to allow things to change slowly over time and also not just create a universe and then leave it to it’s own devises, but rather create a universe that goes on creating and that being the intention. Perhaps we could also say: God would take great joy in this evolution, just as many of us do as we wonder at how things came to be this way.

Our own lives seem to testify to this. None of us are born adults, nor do we remain children all our lives. We are made to change and we recognize that as a good thing. We also know that change happens very slowly in our lives, sometimes to our own frustration, particularly when we’re trying to overcome an addiction or character flaw.

I sometimes speculate that if God wanted to break a block of concrete he wouldn’t attack it with a cosmic sledgehammer but rather plant a small acorn in a small crack. Then over time an oak tree would grow, and gently but majestically break the concrete. This, I think, would be the righteous way.

Glaciers are created very slowly over time, each year another inch of ice is added to there surface. Apparently glaciers wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for a slight tilt and wobble as the the earth revolves on its axis. This small inclination makes all the difference. So, slowly the size of these glaciers increase, until one day the weight of them becomes so much that they start to move and then nothing can stop them. They are one of the most powerful forces on the planet, slowly carving up the earth and creating new valleys and rivers.

At this time of year we remember the birth of a baby, over two thousand years ago, born in poverty and squalor. A vulnerable human born to a downtrodden people, at the edges of an oppressive, and apparently, almighty empire. Within 400 years the empire was a distant memory, but the life of this human is remembered and admired two millennia later across the globe.

I’ve broken a few rules which I set myself when I started this site. More recently I broken my intention not to blog on ‘church’ or ‘The Church’ etc. I find these subjects intensely interesting, but they’ve been given and a lot of attention on the web (and continue to be), and I don’t think I have anything to add which others haven’t already said. More importantly that was never supposed to be the emphasis nor the language of this site.

What I hoped this site would be is a recording and exploring of all this idea-stuff and this Love-stuff – with skin on, and made real in our world *. But, it’s not always easy to write about such things and sometimes its inappropriate. These are the lives of out friends, family and neighbors we’re talking about here, when it means the most – it’s deeply personal. Sometimes the stories are so mundane it would seem bizarre to record them, and yet these small stories, beautiful in there own overlooked-sort-of-way, are indeed part of something much, much bigger.

And so, I’ll point you to this wonderful post from the Mustard Seed, because at this time of year we remember that the Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood. The Creator became one with the created and this event was completely missed by those the world considered significant. The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood, and so do we: The Reality of What We Do