"advent is patience"

Some interesting thoughts from Stanley Hauerwas on patience and advent as a way of understanding Christian living in the world. And while some (including myself) have argued his idealism leads to an impractical - and often vague - approach to Christian living, his reminder that Christians are a "patient people" is particularly poignant around the chaotic busyness of the holiday season.

"To recapture advent is to recapture a sense of what it means to live as a people in a world which has taken the time of God's patience not to live the way Jesus made it possible for us to live. So, advent is the recovery of how to live in a world of impatience as a patient people."



(h/t The Work of the People - if you haven't checked out this website, do it. It's great!)

searching

The Christmas season often involves a search for meaning and connection - a desire for inner peace or as the cartoon suggests, a need to simply "feel good." In my preparation for an Advent sermon this coming Sunday, I came across this poem which describes how in the context of Advent, we are reminded not of our own searching, but of God's coming.




THE BONDING by Ben Witherington III

A cold and listless season,
And full of cheerless cheer,
When hopes are raised and dashed again
And joy dissolves in tears.

The search for endless family
The search for one true Friend
Leaves questers tired, disconsolate
With questions without end.

Best find some potent pleasure quick
Some superficial thrill
Than search for everlasting love
When none can fill that bill.

So hide yourselves in shopping
And eating ‘til you burst,
Use endless entertainment
As shelter from the worst.

And hope at least for truce on earth,
Though warlords rattle swords
As if to kill could solve our ills
We seize our ‘just’ rewards.

Mistake some rest for lasting peace
And calm for ‘all is well’
And absence of activity
As year end’s victory bell.

But what if Advent is no quest
Despite the wise men’s star
What if Advent isn’t reached
By driving from afar?

What if Good News comes to us
From well beyond our reach?
What if love and peace on earth
Are more than things we preach?
What if a restless peace
Is what He did intend
Until we open up our lives
And let the stranger in?

What if a peaceless rest
Is not the Christmas hope
What if nothing we could do
Helps us truly cope?

What if there is a bonding
With one who rules above
Who came to us in beggar’s rags
And brought the gift of love?

The God shaped hole in every heart
Is healed by just one source
When Jesus comes to claim his own
Who are without recourse.

So give up endless seeking
Surrender is required
The one who is the Lord of all
Cannot be bought or hired,

He’s not conjured into life
By pomp and circumstance
By Yuletide carols boldly sung
By fun or drunken trance.

He comes unbidden, unawares
Fills crevices of souls
He comes on his own timely terms
And makes the sinner whole.

‘We shall be restless’ said the saint
‘Until we rest in thee’
And find that we have been reborn,
Our own nativity.

How silently, how silently
The precious truth is given
And God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heaven.

curiosity over assumptions

In recent months I’ve begun listening to podcasts from Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett. Produced through American Public Media, Speaking of Faith is a weekly radio program discussing topics in “religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas.” In exploring the various topics, each episode attempts to tell the stories behind the ideas. Each program, then, “takes a narrative, or first-person, approach to religious and philosophical conversation (and) draws out the intersection of theology and human experience, of grand religious ideas and real life.”

As I prepared for my participation in the Living Library (see here), a recent Speaking of Faith episode caught my attention. Titled “Curiosity Over Assumption – Interreligiosity Meets a New Generation,” the program introduced the Muslim-Jewish relationship of two young women in Los Angeles. While openly admitting their differences – differences that have the Middle East mired in violence – these women are determined to seek peace not violence. And they do this in the simplest fashion – they spend time together and they listen to each other’s stories. Simple, yet radical, these women are “innovating templates of practical relationship that work with reality, acknowledge questions and conflict, yet resolve not to be enemies – whatever the political future of the Middle East may hold.”

Through the story of these women, I’m reminded (chided?) that engaging our differences requires humility and honesty. Conveyed in the phrase “curiosity over assumptions,” humility shelves our own preconceptions about others and their ideas until we’ve let them tell their story. And honesty is an important companion to humility. It acknowledges that humility doesn’t always mean agreement. In fact, the women readily admit that “dialogue is messy.” There are no easy ‘lets-just-get-along’ answers.

And so I'm inspired that even amidst the stark differences in our world, humble and honest dialogue can bring hope to our conflicts – a hope that in our curiosity we’ll find peace.

living library

Last week, I had the chance be a book. Not write a book. Or read a book. But be a book.

How, you ask? Well, a local community college (Douglas College) has recently introduced the Living Library, a movement designed to “promote dialogue, reduce prejudices and encourage understanding” amidst the diversity of our pluralistic world. This goal is achieved by participants engaging people instead of just borrowing books.

So, last week I was a book on the topic of religion and culture, with the specific title, “Engaging Our Stories - Living Amidst Spiritual and Religious Diversity.” People could ‘borrow’ me for up to a half-hour and discuss anything related to my topic. For two hours I occupied a small table in the library in which three people signed up to discuss religion and culture with me.

Most valuable was the chance to hear peoples’ stories. I met a woman from Guatemala who grew up Catholic, a woman recently immigrated from Iran who is a faithful adherent to the Baha'i religion, as well as another person who resides in East Vancouver and is intrigued by the shifting role religion has in Canada. All three people I met probably did more talking than me, even though I was supposed to the ‘expert.’ But considering my book title, I didn’t mind. In fact, interacting with these folks simply reaffirmed my belief in the value of sharing our stories.

In a Canadian culture that prides itself as tolerant, we too often tolerate without understanding. You know how it goes: “You do your thing. I’ll do my thing. We’ll all just get along. That’s the Canadian way!” Well, I believe we need more – we need tolerance with understanding. In a culture as diverse as Canada, the idea of simply tolerating fails to address the reality of our differences – differences that in other areas of the world lead to intense conflict both personally and politically. If we simply tolerate, I wonder how long our Canadian peace can last? But when we take the time to understand what’s behind our diverse values and beliefs – i.e. examine how our stories shape our values – we make a very important statement: in the midst of our differences: people are important.

And so as we strive for peace in society, acknowledging our stories can add depth to our tolerance. When addressing differences, an engaging tolerance can equip us to peacefully handle conflict - not because we are a tolerant country, but because we know each other.

And so I think events such as the Living Library are actually quite countercultural (perhaps without even knowing it). Instead of a passive tolerance we’re used to as peace-loving Canadians, the Living Library calls for an engaging tolerance that values peoples' stories. And considering the Christian belief that humanity is created in the image of God and along with all creation was declared “good,” I’m willing to support any efforts in my community that affirm God's view of the world.

"One Love" on World AIDS Day

It's only fitting that I came across this music video today - World AIDS Day. May the unity expressed in this music reverberate into a tangible response to the brokenness around our world. And in particular, the brokenness caused by AIDS.



(h/t Dave Cho)

a rant on worship

For many 21st century modern evangelicals, just the mention of liturgy causes a stir. Images of old cathedrals, monotonous readings, organ-accompanied choral singing, and uninterrupted periods of silent prayer (what, no music or video!?!) all betray what we’ve come to know as “contemporary” worship.

In my time studying theology and pondering topics related to church, Stanley Hauerwas has been influential (and challenging and frustrating!) to both my theology and how I view the church’s role in my life and the world (see here). I recently came across this clip of Hauerwas discussing (ranting about?) modern worship - and in particular, the problem of worship emulating entertainment:

(h/t Mike, via The Work of the People)

To begin, I liked Hauerwas’ comment that “liturgy is the work of the people.” Most simply, liturgy refers to how worship gatherings are formulated and presented – be it readings, songs, meditations, etc… In this sense, all corporate worship involves liturgy of some sort, whether you are in a 'liturgical' tradition or not. Liturgy as the work of the people, however, implies our full participation, not merely our consumption of spiritual experience. And it’s in this participation of the liturgy, according to Hauerwas, that we experience transformation – we “discover we are made in God’s image” (Performing the Faith).

I agree, then, with the admonition that worship is never about entertainment. Hauerwas rightly comments, “If you compete with television, the television in the end will win cause it’s so good at what it does.” For us to presume that “we know what it is we need and want” implies an incorrect focus for worship, making our (selfish?) needs primary. We must remind ourselves that worship isn’t measured by its ability to sustain our attention. No, worship is measured by its ability to remind us who we are – “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved” (Colossians 3:12).

“Through worship we discover the truth about ourselves, making possible lives of goodness otherwise impossible” (Performing the Faith)

“One of the ironies of our times is that many ‘conservative’ Christians fail to understand the relation between truthful worship and truthful living…The question, then, is not choosing between ‘contemporary’ or ‘traditional,’ to change or not to change, but rather the faithful character of our worship, insofar as such worship shapes the truthful witness of the church to the world” (A Better Hope).

more than just the ability to drive

For someone interested in the impact of individualism (see here) in contemporary culture, the following quote stood out to me. It reveals an attitude behind something most of us take for granted and think very little about: the ability to drive.

“In modern society, getting a drivers’ license at age sixteen is a more significant rite of passage than being able to vote at age eighteen. After all, in many ways a young person’s life is far more practically changed by the ability to drive than the ability to vote. It represents the ability to direct one’s own path, to not rely on others for transportation”

(Albert Y. Hsu, “Spaced Out – The Impact of Commuter Culture” in The Suburban Christian).

BTW: I hope to share more on Hsu's book at some point. It's been a challenging read considering my context in Greater Vancouver suburbia.