Kairos & Ambiguities

University of Pittsburgh

I am heading out this morning to meet up with Rich Hoffman.  We are going to do a presentation, a "Village Meeting" at the University of Pittsburgh.  Our project has to do with a deeper way to celebrate Christmas using the ages and stages model from psychology.  I think it will be an interesting day.

The theology part of the project comes from Tillich's Theology and Culture. The key element is how to put together the narrative of  Christmas and the narrative of our lives together using the metaphor of depth from this work. 

I am looking forward to the questions that the students and professors will be asking.  I really think it will help us develop this idea.

Until next time....Grace & Peace

BMNT & Beauty

I was driving back this morning from Clarion.  We had spent the night at the movie theater for our spring thingy.  We needed to stop and get some coffee and have a bathroom break and so we stopped at the Sheetz on 322 near where I grew up. 

It was a very pleasant stop and the birds were beginning their morning thrush.  It reminded me of so many mornings in the army when I would be asleep on the ground and I would wake up hear the birds singing to the glory of the new day.  I would often pause and collect myself before jumping out of the sleeping bag to greet the cool morning and get dress.

We had a wonderful evening the night before with Ron Hipwell giving a great personal testimony and altar call.  We had many youth come forward for prayer.  Then as we started down the highway BMNT came and I was reminded once again of the beauty of the preceding day and the beauty of the day to come.

BMNT is Before Morning Nautical Time.  It is the time just as the first rays of the sun break the horizon.  Normally it is just about the faintest light on the horizon in the east.  As we drove back the light grew and was beautiful on the clouds.  I was reminded of two great sunrises I had witnessed.  The first was in Iraq, after we had been on alert all night in the rain and the glory of that sunrise, and the second was in Timblin as the older kids were going to school.

In that Timblin sunrise I got lost in the beauty and missed that the kids had gotten on the bus and I was left standing there for about 15 minutes.  I remember reading about how Paul Tillich would do that and it used to drive Reinhold Niebuhr crazy.  Niebuhr would be talking about some matter of justice and he would complain that Tillich would suddenly stop and be lost in a sunrise.  I always attributed it to Tillich's service in WWI, for a sunrise to a soldier is a thing of beauty that points to the grace of another day.  A blessing of God.

And the beauty of this day was revealed to me this evening through the eyes of my daughter Sara's exhibition at the Art Show.  What eyes to see, what my eyes miss.  Thank you Sara.

Until next time...Grace & Peace

The Citadel of Reason

I don't want to keep my reflections of Dante in Limbo for that is the next stop on my reflections of Dante's journey through hell.  Limbo is the 1st circle of hell and home of the virtuous pagans and those not baptized.  All the great virtuous heroes of the past are there, Homer, Horace, Ovid, Aristotle, and of course this is the home of his guide Virgil.  Even Saladin is here in a place of honor.

The most prominent feature of the 1st circle is a great citadel, the citadel of human reason.  The citadel is built "as if it were [on] firm ground."  It omits a light that represents the radiance of human reason.  This is the highest state humanity can achieve without God, and the glory of it dazzles Dante, but he knows also that it is nothing compared to the glory of God.

I can remember reading an article a few months back in The Atlantic Monthly about today's university searching for meaning.  The premise of the article was that universities were initially founded and based upon the Christian faith.  During the enlightenment period, the joined the great experiment to found a structure, science, and art world on pure reason.  The post-modern critical eye of relativism has exposed the sandy ground upon which our ivory towers have been built.  So now universities are seeking "the faith" upon which they will build their towers of reason on.  But there is a shakiness to this and an unsureness of purpose as crept into the mix.

Dante reminds us that there is a dazzling light to human reason.  But reason with out hope leaves the inhabitants of limbo with a face of gray pallor.  Hope and color and brightness has been drained from their lives.

Tillich expresses the same idea in Dynamics of Faith.  Tillich reminds us that all reason is built on some sort of faith.  Flaws in our faith produce flaws in our reason.  And that is really what happens in the next circles of hell.  Reason is perverted by sin and desire and extinguishes the light not only of the hope of glory, but human reason.  Canto IV ends with these words as they leave the peace of human reason for the other circles of hell.

"My master leads me by another road out of that serenity to the roar and trembling air of Hell.  I pass from light into the kingdom of eternal night."

May the light of human reason transformed by the light and glory of God guide you on your way and give you a hope that shall never perish.

Until next time...Grace & Peace

It's True I Read Jeff Kahl's Blog

Yes, It is true that I read Jeff Kahl's Blog even though I haven't really figured out how to comment on it (as I don't have the right kind of blog account or something).  And he especially needs to be commended on his excellent entry on Paul Tillich and the "Sin of Hiding" (Thank you Sue Nelson).  Jeff provides an excellent summary.

It made me think back to one of my episodes as a cadet at Virginia Military Institute.  Between the chapel and the gym was a garden and in this garden was an excellent sculpture of a nude male.  Legend has it that during a more modest and Victorian era of the Institute's history the wife of the Superintendent found the large naked endowment of this sculpture to be offensive.  She promptly lobbied and had a large concrete fig leaf placed over the male endowment.

During an evening of celebrating a football victory, and intoxicated with the spirits of that victory (and in addition intoxicated by more mundane spirits), a cadet chipped away the concrete fig leaf and returned the statue to it's original state.  For this action the cadet was expelled from school.

This event led to my first attempt at protest poetry, "Between Sweat and Sacredness."  Probably not that artistic, although I think it did make it into the school's literary magazine "Sounding Brass."  The poem tried to play off the themes of the excellence and sacredness we work for and sweat for, compared to the sacred and divine gift of the image of God in human form.  What is really the sin, hiding such a form or restoring the human image.  And of course what is the fate of one who dares trespass the culture of this world and restore such an image, as with Jesus it means death.

Thanks Jeff for reminding me of the cost of sacredness and to help me to renew my desire, as the old hymn says, to let nothing between my soul and my savior.  For that is where true happiness and sacredness is to be found.

Until next time...Grace & Peace

Last Day of Vacation

Last day of my vacation and then its time to get back to work.  Mostly, this has been a working vacation on personal stuff.  We took Laura to college, I got lab work done on Monday, Tuesday we hit the dentist as a family, today I am off for my annual physical.  So far I am in good shape with my body.

When ever I go to the doctor, I am reminded of Tillich's book of essays called The Meaning of Health.  There are a lot of good essays, but I am reminded mostly of the essay The Relation of Religion and Health:  Historical Considerations and Theoretical Questions.  The idea I was thinking most about today is the relationship between healing and salvation. 

Tillich notes that salvation can be described as the act of "cosmic healing."  The root of the word salvation in many languages indicates this.  You can look at Greek soteria is derived from saos.  You can look at Latin salvatio from salvus.  You can look at German Heiland from heil.  That's about the limit of my languages.  But really salvation is basically and essentially healing, the re-establishment of the whole that was broken, disrupted, disintegrated.

And of course you can take the languages deeper and realize that root word for savior is from the one who heals.  So as the doctor heals my body and encourages me to do preventative health measures, I remember my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Great Physician who cosmically heals me and encourages me to do preventive health measures to live an abundant, healthy and holy life.

May that same blessing be yours.

Until next time....Grace & Peace

Harry Potter and the Elvish Script

I want to continue my reflection on why Harry Potter was such a powerful piece of literature.  I mentioned that the reason this is so is that it taps so powerfully into "the true myth."  What exactly is the concept of the true myth?

When I was growing up I had a great love for the works of Tolkien.  Tolkien developed several languages as he wrote The Lord of the Rings.  Actually the Lord of the Rings grew out of his study of languages.  He composed verse in these made up languages, much like the great poet John Milton composed verse in Latin to sharpen his understanding and use of the English language. 

As a teenager I was fascinated by the elvish script and language.  I used to be able to translate runes fluently and with elvish script with the book open.  My daughter Sara picked up on this and gave me a study of some of the ancient rhymes of Middle Earth, The Lays of Beleriand a couple of years ago for Christmas.  This book deals with the progressive development of verse from the First Age.  (Boy, does this make me sound like a geek when I write this down...I guess I am).

As I was studying Tolkien's understanding of language and story, I read where he felt that if you understand the meaning of a word you get a glimpse of the guiding myth.  These meanings come from the words that a word is used in context with.  A good verse or story and good meaning of words comes from placing the words in right context.  This right context is governed by guiding myth.  I think this concept was part of the unwritten objective of the writing group he had with C.S. Lewis and others.

That was a very powerful idea to me, that Tolkien would create a new language in order to gain clarity of the truth of language.  That he would create verse and story in this language to get a better glimpse of the guiding myth was amazing to me.  Of course we get the benefit of that with his great fiction.

Tillich comes at this same idea of myth from the direction of philosophical categories.  Myths for Tillich are ontological and  point to the structures of being and conflicts of values (vol. 1, pg 224).  Tillich discusses how the Romanticists of the early nineteenth century, philosophers and artists tried to develop a new myth, but failed.  Because no new myth can be created.  Myth's are not created on reason or conflicts of reason, but come from revelation. (vol 1, pg 91-92). 

Of course for Tillich and for me the ultimate category or root of all myth is Christ.  For it is Christ who holds all things together in truth and reality.  Colossians 2:17 "He himself is before all things and in him all things hold together."  In Christ are the structures of being (our reality) and conflict of values (holiness, sin, righteous justice, forgiveness) are reconciled.  Colossians 2:20 "and through him [Christ] God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.  What Jesus of Nazareth does is make myth an ultimate and historical reality to be the standard of measure of all other things.

The power of Harry Potter's Story is that it reveals how conflicting values can be resolved in a way that resonates with the true myth.  How the story of Harry Potter resolves the conflict between the power of love over the power of force, the power of friendship over the power of material power, resonates true with the true myth or guiding myth.  Again it was a blessing.

Until next time...Grace & Peace   

Tillich, Jesus, & Youth Work Camp Part 2

One of the great things that happened at Work Camp this year was our service at Lake Erie.  We take everyone up to Lake Erie (normally on Wednesday, but we went on Friday this year because of the weather).  We have communion at sunset and it is a very powerful time of sharing, fellowship and fun.  This year I had the honor of baptizing Olga Littlejohn in the lake as part of our service.

She had sponsors from her youth group.  And with the work camp as witnesses (and a few others who where watching) she chose Jesus as her savior and marked this new reality in her life with baptism.  I remember telling the youth that they would never forget witnessing this sight, it was special.  Even when we were loading everyone up in the parking lot, we were slow leaving because so many people
(from Ohio, Virginia and the local area) who were just observers of this powerful witness of Christ wanted to come and talk about it and how they were feeling.

This is the new reality that Tillich talks about, this new reality of the Christ in the second part of his 2 vol. of systematic theology.  One trades the reality of sin for the reality of Christ.  We appropriate that reality when we claim, in the manner of Peter, Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  The are many signs and symbols that point to what the meaning of what the symbol of Christ is, but it is Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ.  That is what Olga claimed that night at the beach and it was that new reality that she we celebrated with her.  And it was that power of the new reality that was felt all over that beach and even through time to our hearts today.

In his last subsection in The Reality of the Christ, Tillich explains how this new reality in Jesus as the Christ is the Power of Salvation.  There is a threefold character of salvation:

1. Salvation as participation in Jesus as the Christ (Born Again, Regeneration--he uses these terms)
2. Salvation as acceptance in Jesus as the Christ (Justification by grace alone)
3. Salvation as transformation in Jesus as the Christ (Sanctification)

That really is what we share at work camp, that participation in a community of the new reality of the Christ.  It is powerful and life changing and draws you in to abundant and eternal life.  I guess that is why I participate in events like this year after year, the joy of this reality of the Christ and watching people experience it sometimes for the first time.

So I guess like Tillich, my Christology is thin.  There's the reality of sin, there's the work of Jesus, and there's the way of salvation and all the rest is just smoke and mirrors.

Until next time...Grace & Peace

Tillich, Jesus, & Youth Work Camp

I have been reflecting the last couple days on two comments on the post Ambiguity and Karen Armstrong.  I really appreciated Eric's comments on Christology and Jeff's thoughts reinforce that I really use Tillich at work camp, even though his writing will never make MTV.

Eric is right.  Tillich's Christology is thin.  Just look at his Systematic Theology. Volume 2, Existence and The Christ is much smaller than volume 3, Life and The Spirit.  And Eric is right that it is about existence and essence.  That is why Tillich divides his volume on Christology into two parts. 

The first part is Existence and the Quest for The Christ.  What Tillich is describing as existence, is in summary Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  Our existence is in the reality of sin.  Original sin and our own sin.  This existence in sin causes real harm and real hurt.  Sin makes death, guilt, suffering, loneliness, doubt, meaninglessness, despair, and suicide a reality in our lives.

Youth know this.  They know it deep in their hearts.  3 million youth this year will contract sexually transmitted diseases.  They go to school and have to think about Virginia Tech and Columbine.  Many come home to broken homes, abuse, and isolation.  When we first moved to DuBois there were 5 teen suicides that year.  They know the effect even if they don't have theological word or ontological word that describes the cause.

Tillich points out that this existence in the reality of sin and this existence puts us on the road as seekers, seekers for salvation.  It puts us on the quest to find Christ, the one who saves.  Tillich then describes a lot of false ways of self-salvation: legalism, ascetic, mystical, sacramental/doctrinal, and emotional. 

Youth know all about these ways too.  Go to the book store and you will find all kinds of new age, witchcraft, and spell books on the shelves.  Ask the clerk who buys most of them and its young people who are seeking.  Some will seek salvation in a certain kind of dress (can be the latest fashion or goth) or moral code & community (sports or drug culture).  But all of these ways will ultimately fail and their search will continue until they find Christ.

Our culture lives in denial of the reality of sin.  That is also suppressed in our church.  When was the last time you talked about the reality of original sin in church, Sunday School material, Bible Study or seminary?  I have been told by many that sin is a hurtful word and talk about sin is hurtful.  Yet, as Tillich points out, the reality of sin continues it's assault on life even in denial.  Even if we want to be left alone in undisturbed silence and imagine our commercial, legalistic or other ways of self-salvation can ultimately numb the pain of our existence, the reality of sin still breaks through.

Youth want you to say yes to their contrived ways of salvation just like adults.  But they keep looking deeper as well until they find Christ.  That is what is so wonderful about work camp or mission discovery or any long period with youth or adults.  It gives you time to answer, life to life, the denial of the reality of sin, our contrived ways of salvation, and point the true Christ.  And Tillich helps give me the frame work to do that.  More about that next time in part two.

Until next time...Grace & Peace