Remembering

Two things have been different about acts of Remembrance for me this year. For the first time I’m wearing a white poppy rather than a red one. It’s a poppy for peace. I do want to remember those who have died and continue to risk their lives in war, but not at the expense of recognising its horror and the need to continue to strive to end it. Also for the first time, Remembrance Sunday wasn’t overtly marked in the church service I went to this week.

The think tank Ekklesia reckons we need to shake up how we mark Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day. In a report published last week, they suggest: incorporating those executed for conscientious objection or “cowardice”; acknowledging that some people “die in vain”; ending automatic reference to soldiers dying for “the freedom we enjoy today”; and making a greater commitment towards peace. Perhaps the “unarmed forced” (peace organisations) should have chaplains in the same way the armed forces do? They also suggest there should be wider acknowledgment of other effects of war,  such as ecological damage. You can read the full report here.

I’m not sure what I think of this, but my gut reaction is that this is easy for me to approve of as someone whose family and friends have remained thus far untouched by war-related death. I might take a different view if I was the mother, sister or daughter of one of a soldier killed in action this year.

Signposts to simplicity

Posts last week handled some big questions. Mulling them over I started to think maybe it’d be safer to lock myself in my room all day; there’s a big old pile of stuff we can do that upsets God, and even when we try to get it right, there’s a risk we’re getting it wrong. So today, some signposts to a simpler side of life.

I’m bothered about interpreting the bible correctly. Here’s an alternative view:

… we should be trying to work out how to read the bible well rather than reading the text right.”

Paula Gooder

Maybe as long as I’m open to what God wants to say to me, I can cut the paranoia about “right” reading a little.

I still worry about all the stuff I might end up doing wrong, though… What about that?

Let’s shut the door and block out sin!

“Then how”, says Truth, “shall I get in?”

Rabindranath Tagore

Aah. A little irony, and a ring of truth. Perhaps seeing as Jesus offers me “life, and life to the full” I should grab it by the horns and enjoy the ride. Sure, I’m scared I’ll mess up, and of course I will mess up. That’s what I have a conscience for – warning me as I veer off down the wrong track. But God shows up in all the best stuff in life, whether we recognise it or not.

Apparently C. S Lewis once received a letter from a worried mother whose son (aged 9) had read the Chronicles of Narnia. The boy was feeling bad because he felt he loved Aslan (the lion hero of the story) more than Jesus. Lewis replied that they didn’t need to worry:

“For the things he loves Aslan for doing or saying are simply the things that Jesus really did and said. So that when Laurence thinks he is loving Aslan, he is really loving Jesus: and perhaps loving Him more than he ever did before”.

So for now, maybe I’ll try to quit worrying about getting stuff right, and just work on living well.

Faith

I have some sympathy with this.

(hat-tip ASBO Jesus)

The Death Penalty: Just Deserts or Justice Deserted?

In Texas yesterday another life ended in the USA’s most-used death chamber.

Khristian Oliver was 32 years old. He was declared dead 8 minutes after administration of a lethal injection.

In 1999 Oliver had been convicted of  a murder carried out in the course of a burglary. His victim was shot and beaten to death with the butt of a rifle. He accepted he carried out the shooting.

Texas is one of several US States to retain the death penalty for such cases. However, the decision to impose it on Oliver courted controversy. It was reported that during deliberations on sentencing, the jury brought biblical rather than purely state law into consideration. A juror allegedly read this aloud:

“And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.” (Numbers 35:16)

Another juror later reported that about 80% of the jurors had brought scripture into their considerations, considering that if civil law and biblical law were at odds, biblical law should prevail. He’s reported to have said that if he had been told he could not consult the bible, “I would have left the courtroom.” Another said jurors looked to and took comfort from the bible in making their decision.

Oliver’s lawyers appealed on the basis that the Jury ought exclusively to have considered state law in reaching their decision, and that accordingly there had not been a fair trial. They were unsuccessful because although it was established that impermissible information (biblical law) had been taken into consideration, no prejudice had resulted given it had been established that a murder, for which the death penalty was open to the Jury under state law, had been committed.

The death penalty is something that seems to escape our attention much of the time in the UK. It’s not something we think about very much. According to Washington’s Death Penalty Information Centre, there were 3297 convicts on Death Row in January 2009. Between January and October, 42 people were executed. Forty two human lives ended at the hand of the state.

Reflecting on Oliver’s death I’m troubled. I have questions.

How does a “Christian” state justify the death penalty? Can it?

Anyone can pick and verse from the Old Testament to justify a position, but what does Jesus have to say about this situation? What’s the effect of the new covenant on this Old Testament teaching? And what of Jesus teaching here:

Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously. (Matt 5:38-42)

Where is the interface of justice and mercy here? We’re exhorted “to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God“. Is this the face of doing so?

What’s wrong with church? Have your say in OU Christianity survey

“Would you call yourself a Christian? You’re not alone. In the 2001 Census, 71.6% of people in the UK described themselves as Christians, but only about 15% of these said they belonged to, or were active members of, a church.

So, what does it mean to be a Christian without a church? What exactly do people mean nowadays when they describe themselves as Christian?” (www.open2.net)

The Open University is carrying out an anonymous online survey to gather views. They especially want to hear from you if you don’t go to church. Share your views, and learn about other people’s, here.

As a “nosey parker” bonus (!), once you’ve completed it you can view snapshot analyses of the responses so far…

The survey ties into a BBC series called the History of Christianity, kicking off at 9pm tonight.

Dat man, he da King?

There’s a part of me, if I’m brutally honest, that sees a video like this one and wants to curl up in a corner and die. If someone had sent me a link to this a few years ago it woulda made my shoulder blades draw together. So why am I posting it here? Well, I stumbled across it over at another blog I like.

As I was watching, the part of me that didn’t want to run screaming from the room was slowly being rooted to the spot. As the voice thundered out and the words flashed over the screen, their cumulative force crept up and struck me.

The claims about this Jesus guy are big. No, really. They’re BIG.

I guess I need to sit down and think (again) about what I really believe about him, and about what that means. Maybe we all need to do that sometimes.

Transsexual Jesus?

Over 300 people demonstrated outside the Tron theatre in Glasgow last night over the depiction in Jo Clifford’s new play of Jesus as a transsexual woman.

My view… I’m not about to join the crowd who were penning hate-fuelled placards, that’s for sure.

First though, let’s be clear. Was Jesus transsexual? Highly unlikely. In the 4 accounts of his life (the gospels) Jesus is consistently and exclusively portrayed as a fully human male.

However, do I think God is male? No. Does God transcend sexuality? Yes. God is triune (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). John’s gospel starts by explaining (describing Jesus) that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning”. Jesus lived on earth as a man around 2000 years ago, but he existed before then, at the creation of the earth, and he continues to live today, one interdependent part of the trinity. For another modern characterisation of God you need go no further than a (fabulous) book like The Shack to have your preconceptions challenged.

Is the play intended to cause offense? I haven’t seen it, so take all of this with that caveat, but I don’t think so. According to an interview with Clifford in the Scotsman:

“Jesus, Queen of Heaven, which portrays Jesus as a transsexual woman and has been condemned by elements of the Christian community, is “about rescuing Jesus from the fundamentalists”. But it’s also about Clifford’s pride in being transgendered; she insisted on performing the role herself. Her honesty is striking and within minutes I get a one-woman show of her memoirs, starting from the beginning, Clifford peppering her lines with laughter and relishing the story of her own life.

It’s taken her a long time to get here. “There is an awful lot of hostility towards transgendered people,” she says softly. “I’d internalised a lot of that and was terribly ashamed. I was ashamed for most of my life.” These feelings formed the subject matter of a play Clifford wrote in 2002, when she still was identified as John, called God’s New Frock. The new play is the sequel. “God’s New Frock was partly an autobiographical piece about growing up transgendered and trying to suppress it,” she explains. “The story I told was of me and God in parallel.”

There’s a trailer for God’s new frock here. It looks to me more like an autobiographical attempt to understand how Jesus relates to a personal situation than anything else. Or am I wrong? I’m open to suggestions as to how else I should look at it.

No doubt there are those who will discard both plays out of hand as blasphemous. Maybe they’re right; I’m not sure. Even if I was, I don’t think shouting it down would be helpful. Building relationships and getting round the table to work through an issue isn’t usually facilitated by reciprocal insult-slinging.

What I do think is that it’s complicated. I think there’s something to be said for Clifford’s desire to “rescue Jesus from the fundamentalists”. We (and I mean everyone, but maybe especially people of faith, who seem to think we can claim “right” understanding of the Bible) need to consider what it is we know about God through the Bible very carefully. I do believe that objective truth is there to be had, but the Bible is a complex ancient collection of texts, and must be recognised as such.

I was privileged to hear and be challenged by a gay bishop, Gene Robinson talk on the subject of our biblical understanding of sexuality earlier this year at Greenbelt. It was interesting to hear just how persuasively he made the case for the alternative to the mainstream evangelical view.  It encouraged me to reflect on how easy it is for us to twist (in many different directions) the Bible’s teaching to fit our cultural norms. God’s Word needs and deserves to be handled with care, respect, and with a realisation of our potential to twist it. For those of faith – in which I include myself – that means being self-aware, studious, careful and most of all prayerful in considering what God wants me to understand from scripture.

The other thing that strikes me as I ponder Clifford’s interview and the trailer for God’s New Frock is (yet again) how sad it is that the best we seem to be able to do as a Christian community is to react to things in such a way that, as Jesus’ followers, we’re viewed as judgmental and exclusive rather than loving and accepting of people for who they are. I struggle to see how protesting outside the Tron fits with following Jesus’ example. Surely we can learn to love better than that.

Robbie Williams is (nearly) back

Of course, if you’re a female in your 30’s or you watch the X Factor you almost certainly know that already. And I’m guessing you’re either delighted and have your pre-order in with iTunes for the album’s release next Monday, and you’ve been sneaky peeking the previews or you’re trying to drown out the every mention of his name (in which case you’re probably not reading this).

Love him or hate him, Robbie likes to court a little controversy. It’s good for sales figures, after all.

I’ve been pondering what his latest single, Bodies, is getting at. Here’s an excerpt…

God gave me the sunshine 
Then showed me my lifeline 
I was told it was all mine 
Then I got laid on a leyline 
What a day, What a day… 
And your Jesus really died for me 
Then Jesus really tried for me

U.K. in entropy 
I feel like it’s fucking me 
Wanna feed off the energy 
Love livin’ like a deity 
One a day, One day 
And your Jesus really died for me 
I guess Jesus really tried for me

Bodies in the bodhi tree 
Bodies making chemistry 
Bodies are my family 
Bodies in the way of me 
Bodies in the cemetery 
And that’s the way it’s gonna be

All we’ve ever wanted 
Is to look good naked 
Hope that someone can take it 
God save me rejection 
From my reflection 
I want perfection

Praying for the rapture 
Cause it’s strange and gettin stranger 
And everything’s contagious 
It’s a modern middle ages 
All day, every day 
And if Jesus really died for me 
Then Jesus really tried for me

Profound? meaningless? I’m not sure. According to comments, the song’s a criticism of  George W Bush and the Iraq war. If so, did Jesus really need to come into it?

Someone said to me once that they thought the reason people who claim they couldn’t care less or don’t believe in God take his name in vain is that they realise on a deep subconscious level, that there’s huge power in God’s name, and that “For J…. sake” implies “for the sake of the highest thing I can think of”, even if that’s not what you think you really believe. I’m not sure it’s right, but it’s an interesting thought. And although I’m not sure I agree with it, I’m not sure I can come up with a better answer as to why an atheist, who might be expected to have no reason to make reference to God in any context, would blaspheme…

So what’s Robbie about here? He probably says it’s got nothing to do with God. And yet he can’t quite stay clear of the topic somehow, can he? No big deal. Except that if God’s so irrelevant, why does our talk so often keep coming back round to him?

Homophobia, religion and a radical alternative

BBC News is debating an increase in homophobic violence on Britain’s streets. The story includes a comment by Michael Cashman MEP.

Cashman played one of TV’s first gay characters when he appeared as Colin in EastEnders in 1986. He’s quoted as saying that homophobia is being reinforced by faith schools:

“Within faith schools we are still getting a message of anaesthetised hatred – ‘we don’t hate these people but they’re not equal’. If that is said enough, it softens the brains of young people and that’s so dangerous.”

Religion makes the news for all the wrong reasons: sectarian violence; hatred; war; in-fighting about gender roles; arguments about the “correct” biblical view of sexuality. You name it, religion seems to have had an unhelpful influence on it.

If you’re reading this thinking “religion’s bad and wrong”, then: Shock! Horror! – I’m very tempted to agree. You can take your dead end Sunday mornings, doing your duty by turning up to a draughty old building while your heart deadens within you, and you can – well, you can do whatever you like with them. But… (there had to be a but, didn’t there?) I don’t believe that’s what  the christian faith is about.

So what is it about? Forget the rules. Forget the religion. My faith is grounded in a relationship with a person. A person who’s an example of how to live right. A role model who offers me a way into “a rich and satisfying life.” Someone who knows me – who really knows me – and who chooses to love me anyway. Someone who has the authority – and chooses to use it –  to forgive me my biggest mistakes. Someone who keeps on giving me second chances. Someone who frees me to get up, brush myself down, and try to do better next time.

The person in Jesus.

Christians get a lot of stuff wrong, and unfortunately having a faith doesn’t prevent that. I’d say, unscientifically, that Christians mess up at least as much as (and possibly more than) other people. But the stuff-ups are our doing. They represent what’s wrong with us, not something wrong with Jesus. They’re the reason we need Jesus in the first place.

And what does this Jesus guy have to say about homophobia? Easy. He tells me it’s simple: “Love others as well as you love yourself.”

Does this sound compatible with homophobia? No.

Does it sound compatible with loving and accepting people for who they are? Yes.

Does that mean everyone (me or anyone else) always gets it right? No.  But as I’ve said, our stuff-ups are our doing, something wrong with us, not something wrong with Jesus.

The idea that “anaesthetised hatred” might be taught to our young people in the name of faith schooling is both frightening and contrary to Jesus’ way. Hatred, anaesthetised or otherwise, must very clearly be off the educational menu. But are faith schools really to be singled out for any failures here?I’m not sure. OFSTED recently published its report on faith based schools, considering whether the Regulations governing their operation are fit for purpose. The report comments on how schools nurture citizenship and community involvement in their students. According to the report, faith schools seem to be succeeding in culturally relevant education of their students:

“The provision made by all the schools visited to develop their pupils’ spiritual, moral,social and cultural understanding was at least good [and schools desired to promote] their pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and to live successfully in modern Britain.”

It seems to me that the presence or otherwise of homophobic violence on our streets is far wider than one of the teaching in faith schools. We need to look wider. How do we as a country, a society, a local community and as individuals behave towards people who are “other”? And how do we teach our children to approach “otherness”? Other faiths, other nationalities, other ethnicities, other political views, other sexual orientations… Maybe our terribly trendy liberalism (“you can do what you like; I can do what I like; just don’t threaten my space and I’ll stay out of yours”) isn’t working.

Jesus once told a story about who we should consider to be our neighbours, called the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus scandalised his listeners by casting a Samaritan man, a social outcast, as hero. The Samaritan disregarded cultural norms to help a fellow traveller (who probably wouldn’t normally have accepted) while religious leaders and pillars of the community preferred to steer clear.

I think the message is simple. We need to engage, not to disengage, with things that challenge us. When I next come across something or someone that’s different to my little world, my challenge for myself is to answer question: “This is my neighbour. How can I love this person better?”. I invite you to join me.

Cool thing.

Now here’s a great idea.

At Faith Journeys some folks are ingathering information about people’s experience of the Christian faith – what’s influenced them (positively or negatively) both as children and as adults, and what turned them onto (or off) all things faith-related.

I love hearing other people’s stories. It never ceases to amaze me how different people are, and how diverse our different perceptions of God are.

The plan is to collect loads of people’s experiences and stories and share them (with permission of course).

I hope it might help us see what the contemporary experience of Christianity looks like, and how church in different forms “works” or doesn’t.

I’ve just joined up. The site’s in its infancy, so it’s more about giving than receiving for now, but I’m really looking forward to seeing what they come up with. Why not have a look..?