textweek

Justified Violence?

At Sojourner's:

"Intentions, of course, are always good. The worse the fight, the higher its justification. "Justified" violence is the worst. Unjustified violence bursts out of a bad character or bad feelings, but it doesn't go very far. But when people feel justified in the use of violence, it becomes systematic and leads to all the horrors of history." - Lanza del Vasto (1901-1981) was a poet, Christian mystic, and nonviolent activist.

I'm wondering about this quotation in terms of more than just "violence". Maybe it can be applied to just about anything that becomes "idolatry".

Pentecost Thoughts

From "Spirit of Fire: The Pentecost Revolution," by Eberhard Arnold, at Bruderhof Communities:

"What has Christianity in general lost? What was the all-important event that took place in Jerusalem? The word of Jesus, and even more, his life and deeds from the manger to the cross, were really alive and present in that first circle of the Christ-movement. This community of faith and community of life in the first love was marked by the risen Christ—the Christ who had said, “I am with you always.” Everything depends on seeing the mystery of the risen Christ as unconditional love. There is only one thing that knows no conditions: that is love. There is only one Absolute: that is God’s rulership. There is only one direct way: that is the experience of God’s love in Jesus Christ. In Christ, his love is put into practice."

How do we remove the Pentecost story from abstraction and/or from a self-congratulatory celebration, in order to feel its challenge for us, as individuals, congregations, and as "secular" communities? How has the Pentecost Story been a model for understanding your experiences this week? How has your life this week been a model for understanding the Pentecost Story?

From Pilgrim Preaching by Mary Hinkle:

How does it change things to say "the Spirit of Jesus" every place where "Spirit" is in this week's texts? I may be playing fast and loose with the finer points of Trinitarian theology here, but I am trying the experiment as a way of reminding myself that the Spirit is one with the Father and the Son. If Jesus can say, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9), is it not also true that whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Spirit?

How and where is the Spirit of Christ incarnate in our world today? How is Christ incarnate in our world, in our communities, in ourselves? How do we keep Pentecost from being an abstraction? How do we keep from domesticating something that by its definition seems the opposite of domestic?

Shavuot - Pentecost

"Rehearing God's Voice," Jonathan Wittenberg, BeliefNet:

"Shavuot celebrates how Jews once heard God's voice on Sinai. But how do we hear God in our lives today?"

Probably, too much focus on Pentecost as a re-interpretation of Shauvot is unhelpful. Unless, of course, we take seriously the possibility that we, also, are called to new interpretations of our own traditions - in our churches, our "real life" communities, our relationships, and within ourselves. What would it look like for each of us, conservative or liberal and everything else in between, our congregations, our countries & world, to really listen for the voice of God, instead of pretending that we've heard it all before...

"Harnessing Hatred through 'Harmony'"

At National Catholic Reporter, "Harnessing hatred through 'harmony'," Francis Gonsalves, S.J.:

CHENNAI, India -- While interacting with students practicing different religions, I was impressed by the spiritual synergy stemming from an interfaith sharing of prayers, scriptural readings, religious insights and symbols.

Possible tie-in with Easter 7C? Unity may not always mean "agreement"! Are we unified by whatever is common between us, despite our diversity? Is it a mistake to claim the basis for that unity? Is the basis somehow "God", within all the mystery of the term? Is this the claim that Jesus is making in John 17 - that integration and unity might be very different from our usual claim?

"The Closed World of Insiders"

At National Catholic Reporter: "The Closed World of Insiders," by Arthur Jones:

"Military police are in the news. And it's bad news. Any closed world can be. I know."

Seven London Cemeteries

There's some fine photographs and interesting consideration of cemeteries as spiritual places at BBC London's "Cemeteries - London's Magnificent Seven."

Easter 7C and Christian Unity

What IS Christian Unity? Is it always positive? What is its basis? Basic doctrinal beliefs? Correct theological views or method? Particular social/political views? Relationship with Christ/God? (And what does that mean in practical terms?) What can and should be sacrificed or tolerated for the sake of Christian unity, and what absolutely must not be? How do we balance the sincere belief that the things we have experienced are nothing less than "from God," with the fact that we do not hold All Truth? How do we communicate the gospel and "make disciples" at the same time as we receive the gospel and are made disciples? How do we get beyond, "We would be united if only "they"/"you" (fill in the blank)?" What consequences do these thigns have for the church? For the world? For political systems? For the functioning of congregations/denominations? For our families and smaller communities?

"Is Torture Ever Justified?"

At PBS Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, "Is Torture Ever Justified?":

The Rev. Barbara K. Lundblad, associate professor of preaching at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, talks with Bob Abernethy about the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq.

I wonder when I read these articles, whether it matters to the thinkers whether the torturers are on "our side" or "their side". I see a pattern within some folks that it is somehow "justified" (or at least understandable) for us but not for them, or justified (or at least understandable) for them but not for us. I'm wondering about the implications of each pattern, and of others...

"Life of Brian" on NPR's Fresh Air

NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross has listed a program on Monty Python's "Life of Brian" for today. Audio will probably be available by tomorrow:

"Monty Python's Life of Brian, the biblical satire about Brian Cohen who was born one stable over from Jesus -- and gets mistaken for him –- is back in theatres. The movie was first released 25 years ago. Hear from members of Monty Python."

"Jesus in the Likeness of Americans"

"Jesus in the Likeness of Americans," book review of Jesus in America: Personal Savior, Cultural Hero, National Obsession, by Richard Wightman Fox, and American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon, by Stephen Prothero. From the review by James Fisher at National Catholic Reporter:

"Richard Wightman Fox and Stephen Prothero share methodological locations at the intersection of cultural and religious history as well as a conviction that Americans have continually reshaped their image and their understanding of Jesus in ways that reveal far more than theological conflicts. Both authors, for example, identify an enduring strain in American thought that distinguishes between Jesus as exemplar of divine virtue and the human institutions that sought to contain him or speak in his name. Both depict Thomas Jefferson, “razor in hand” (Prothero), making a “surgical strike on the gospels” (Fox) in order to “excise from the New Testament the corruptions of Paul and his ‘Platonizing successors’ ” (Prothero). Later, in 1896, writes Fox, “workers attending a clergyman’s speech hissed every time he uttered the word ‘church’ and cheered whenever he said ‘Jesus.’ ” Even mid-20th-century American Hindus of the Vedanta Society got into the act, according to Prothero, by dividing Christianity “into a true and false form: ‘the religion of Jesus Christ’ and ‘Churchianity.’ ”"