Carcass anyone?

There is a photo in the latest National Geographic of a woman buying the carcass of a Nile perch from a local fisherman. The caption reads: “Emblematic of First World exploitation of Africa’s resources, only the carcasses of Nile perch are affordable sources of protein for some Tanzanians living around Lake Victoria. Perch fillets are stripped in 35 lakeside processing plants and shipped north, mainly to Europe but also to Israel. With years of overfishing, perch stocks have fallen drastically, imperilling the livelihoods of more than 100,000 fisherman and depriving local people of food.”

Easter

Read Luke 24:1-11 

Yvette asked me recently, “Do you think I exaggerate?” 

This is one of those questions that men dread. Like, “Do I look fat in this?” Damned if you do, damned if you don’t… There really is no answer. 

I must admit that in the back of my male mind was this little voice saying, “Don’t all women exaggerate?” 

I’m in good company. Even the Gospels report the women have different stories on their return from the tomb. Luke says, “suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.” The earlier version recorded in Mark recounts that the women saw, “a young man dressed in a white robe.” Matthew says they saw an “angel of the Lord.” John says that Mary was met by “two angels in white,” and then by Jesus.  

No wonder the men found the women’s “words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” The story gets more and more fabulous! 

I love the fact that the Gospels don’t try and harmonize themselves as so many Christians have tried. Truth is an elusive thing that changes clothing every day. We meet it serendipitously when we turn a corner surprised to find it wearing the guise of the one person in the world we thought least likely to speak sense. 

I grew up in a culture that taught me to treat all information with skepticism. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” And this is a useful skill for it prevents gullibility. But it can only go so far. There is a limit to its usefulness. There are some things that can only been seen by those who believe… 

Women see a world men can only perceive with effort. So too: children and the poor. Those who wage war do not know the world that is seen by those who receive the “peace of empire”. 

Because of the peculiar world seen by those on the receiving end of other peoples’ exercise of power, there is also a peculiar hope that springs from such people, a hope perhaps born from a position of having nothing to lose… 

It’s the kind of hope that “moves mountains” – Faith. The kind of hope that believes a man can defeat death. The kind of hope that believes all people belong to each other. The kind of hope that believes we can love our enemies. The kind of hope that gets women risking their lives talking to men in public. The kind of hope that allows truth to speak for itself in the moment. 

Sarah tells of a Franciscan blessing which speaks to this hope: “May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.” 

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.

Thank You

I’ve been very quiet recently. The run up to Easter was a stressful time and generally I don’t look forward to this time of year. This year I received a great deal of love and support and was reminded of what is most important about this time: that friends carry one another’s burdens. I am thankful for all the wonderful people in my life, and am grateful for all the gifts of grace given these past few weeks. Yvette carried the heaviest burden as she had to compensate for me not being around much. Thank you Vettie. Thank you friends.

Job Interview Continued

What if I ask myself the same questions I asked in the previous post? This seems appropriate as an exercise for Lent.

"What will your strategy be?"

I tend to approach daily life reactively. This makes life very busy. I seldom take the time to ponder the underlying, often hidden dynamics that create the problems and opportunities I am responding to. This is no strategy at all. It is merely survival.

I remember an interview with Bishop Tutu in which he was asked how he managed such a busy life. He responded that he spends two hour a day praying.

Those who understand spiritual maturity speak of one of the primary benefits of such introspection and examination being that one can respond spontaneously and authentically to daily events in ways that encourage what is important rather than merely reacting to the urgent.

If I presume to complain about the state of the nation, perhaps I should start with the state of me soul. Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”?

“What is your hope / vision?”

Where is my hope? What does my budget say about my hope? My hope I guess is in Sanlam. I am insured to the hilt. I have often wondered about Western culture’s obsession with pension funds. Arguably it is the young looking after the old, but personally it feels like trusting an impersonal institution for my care rather than my own children or community…

“Whom (what) do you trust?”

Do I trust Jesus? Yikes, what a question! The oke’s already in heaven, so the one running the risks is me. Truth is, there is no cavalry when the shit hits the fan. So it’s a tall order. Do I really want to follow this man?

Yes. At the end of the day, I can think of nothing more meaningful than the cause of Jesus’ adventure. I am alive because Jesus has shown me how to be alive.

Nice Net Nibbles

This is a selection of stuff I've found interesting from the net from the last three months. Can't remember who sent it all to me.

These happy pots are cleverly created from the reflection of the adjacent burners, a piece of pasta and a bottle top. (Link)

Damn! This kid is funny...

Last year was the 10th memorium of Carl Sagan. He is one of my heroes and you can read what people have to say about his memory here.

You can download free documentaries from this site. Some of them are really good.

Another really clever design idea. Great toy.

This is a clip from an Attenborough documentary which I've seen a few times in the last few months. It's obviously getting people freaked out.

If you like maps and you have a social conscience, then this site is going to keep you locked in for a long time. It's fascinating.

This one is funny for a while and then disconcerting. Find out where Santa is...

David Bayne has been visiting SHADE and told me about the black ring he wears on his finger. It's worth reading David's blog to hear the story.

I found this video amazing. It expanded my ideas about what constituted thinking, personality, personhood.

This is a practical joke I'd love to try. Somebody's car has been covered in post-it notes!

Here is an interview with Richard Dawkins about his recent book, "The God Delusion." I think he makes some valuable points. This is why I tend to agree more with Dawkins scientific "fundamentalism" more than with religious fundamentalism. I found this quote from Dawkins particularly meaningful. Dawkins wants this to be read at his funeral:

"We are going to die and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they're never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place, but who will, in fact, never see the light of day, outnumber the sand grains of Sahara. ...In the face of these stupefying odds, it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. Here's another respect in which we are lucky. The universe is older than a hundred million centuries. Within a comparable time, the sun will swell to a red giant and engulf the earth. Every century of hundreds of millions has been in its time, or will be when its time comes, the present century. The present moves from the past to the future like a tiny spotlight inching its way along a gigantic ruler of time. Everything behind the spotlight is in darkness, the darkness of the dead past. Everything ahead of the spotlight is in the darkness of the unknown future. The odds of your century being the one in the spotlight are the same as the odds that a penny, tossed down at random, will land on a particular ant crawling somewhere on the road from New York to San Francisco. You are lucky to be alive and so am I."

And on a similar vein, Peter published a valuable contribution on his blog.

Job Interview

Read Luke 4:1-13

Some have compared the temptation of Jesus to a job-interview. These would be fascinating questions to ask in a job interview. I extrapolate some questions we might ask of our leaders now that we have heard the “State of the Nation” address and the budget speech.

What will your strategy be?

Firstly, Jesus is tempted to turn stone into bread. Jesus responds that people live on more than bread – they need the Word of God (cf. Matthew’s version of the story). I presume that Jesus refers to the prophets that came before him, whose consistent refrain was for Israel to care for the “widow, the orphan and the stranger.” These were the most vulnerable in society then as they are even today. A society is measured by how well it cares for such people.

The people who applauded the recent speeches in Parliament, including some of the rebuttals by the opposition party and other parties, were largely powerful and wealthy. The poor and disenfranchised were not applauding…

Jesus is tempted to meet people’s immediate needs as a way of gaining their favour. Instead he spends his time, not only responding as best he can to their immediate distress, but also examining the systems that cause ordinary people’s distress. There was nothing in the President or Mr. Manuel’s addresses that left me confident we are addressing the causes of our nation’s distress.

What is your hope / vision?

Secondly, Jesus is tempted to embrace Satan’s power and give his allegiance to the expediency of the devil. Jesus responds that such worship is for God alone. Only God deserves our ultimate allegiance.

Where one’s hope is can be seen immediately when one examines one’s budget. South Africa’s hope is in Big Business. We believe that creating a climate that benefits the largest companies is where our hope lies. Not in small businesses, not in the vast majority of the people of this country – the wretched of the earth - but in those companies whose Apartheid complicity - not to mention inhuman African operations - has yet to be interrogated. We are investing in “economic growth” (read “Trickle Down Economics – ala Thatcher / Reagan) and “black economic empowerment” (read “buddy economic empowerment”) rather than genuine social capital.

Jesus is tempted to follow political expediency and instead follows the dangerous path of compassion. I shudder to think that our leaders know nothing of the truth of people’s suffering.

Whom (or what) do you trust?

Thirdly, Jesus is tempted to play dice with God; availing himself to the truth of Scripture. But instead, Jesus points out how Scripture itself is contradictory.

For the past 13 years our government has implemented economic policies consistent with the rules of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Adherence to these policies is required of all countries that receive loans from these institutions. Most of the countries that have received such loans are from the so-called developing world. These policies have consistently led to the impoverishment of the vast majority of these country’s people. South Africa has no loans with the IMF or the World Bank that require adherence to these policies. South Africa implements them because they are policies laid down by the economic bible of globalisation.

Jesus is tempted to seek the security of religious fundamentalism yet casts himself instead in faith upon the mercy of a Living God who goes with him to the glory and agony of a cross. I recall the words of my friend, Alan Storey, “I do not follow the Bible, I read the Bible, that I may follow Jesus.”

Our leaders have retreated in fear from the risk of trusting the people who elected them. They have placed the trust in people who have never lived without clean water and electricity, lived in fear of state police or worked 16 hour days. What these “experts” know about the “real” world leaves me at a loss for words…

From Sojourners

Diana Butler Bass: Giving Up Lent for Lent
A few years ago, I stopped struggling with my bad attitude toward Lent. I gave up Lent for Lent. I skipped Ash Wednesday, made no promises to God, and instituted no rigorous prayer schedule. I wanted to enjoy one March with no onerous spiritual obligations. An odd thing happened, however, during my Lenten non-observance. I began to understand and experience Lent in new and deeper ways. When freed from expectations and requirements, sermons and scriptures spoke to my soul. By the end of Lent, I found myself willingly attending extra services, including two Good Friday liturgies. On Easter Sunday, the resurrection broke over me with unexpected power – with love joyfully overcoming the intense introspection that built during my non-Lenten weeks.

Love's True Form

Luke 9:28 - 36

Thinking about transfiguration I came across several transformations this week in the papers: Zebulon Dread, the Observatory-based cultural terrorist famed for his publication “Voetsek!” has become a Hare Krishna, trading in his dreadlocks for the shaven countenance of a pilgrim. This coming week hundreds of good looking guys will become fantastic, peacock Queens as Cape Town hosts the 7th annual Pride festival. In the near future Cape Town International may become La Guma International. Then I think of the changes that have happened in South Africa since 1994. We are accustomed to change in SA.

Like all these changes, the transfiguration generated a mixed response from the disciples: awe, fear, worship. Such an event demands attention, demands a response. The editorial page of most papers attests to South Africans’ response to changes in the last 13 years, but Jesus’ disciples keep silent. Strange.

Another strange thing about Jesus transfiguration is that it happens in the middle of the story. This is the kind of thing Hollywood would put at the end of the story – a dramatic, dazzling transformation of the hero of the story.

But the glory and climax of Jesus' story is still to come. Jesus' story upsets our ideas about how a story should be told. Like Peter and the other disciples we will be shocked at the awesome terror of Christ’s Cross: Christ’s true glory.

Sarah compares the transfiguration to two movies: “Beauty and the Beast” and “Shrek”. In “Beauty and the Beast” there is a transfiguration as we would expect to find it: the ugly hero of the story is transformed into a handsome prince. In Shrek, Princess Fiona is cursed and becomes an ogre every evening at sunset. In her transfiguration she is transformed into “loves true form” but this is an ogre, not a princess! Fiona’s transfiguration subverts our understanding of beauty but is entirely appropriate since Shrek, an ogre, loves her.

Jesus’ transfiguration is similar in that it too subverts our understanding of glory.

In this painting of the Transfiguration by Raphael, one can see some of the subversion intended by Luke. Jesus, Moses and Elijah are painted in typically heavenly fashion, but one’s eye is immediately drawn to the crowd below. A woman points to a crowd of people needing healing and attention. The nine remaining disciples seem reluctant to respond. One even seems to suggest that attention should be focussed on what is happening on the mountain.

In the telling of the story, Jesus too rushes back down the mountain to attend to the real business at hand.

The Transfiguration story has all the attributes one would expect in ancient literature when the protagonist is being held up as something special. Apart from the fantastic demonstration of light and wonder, there are the specific clues to Jesus’ authority within the Jewish tradition: Moses and Elijah.

But the story appears in the wider story like wayward punctuation. It is almost as if Luke is saying: “Here are the required heavenly rubber stamps, now let’s get on with the business of healing and transformation...”

The embrace of humanity is far more important to the Divine than the glory of heaven. Those who call themselves by his name would do well to adopt the same kind of worship.

Turn up the volume of your life

When I was little our bathroom had the usual clutter that accumulates around most people’s baths, but there was one piece of bathroom detritus that fascinated me. It was a rock that floated. Mom and Dad called it “pumice”. I later learned that pumice is formed in the bowels of a volcano when rock is liquid and bubbles are trapped in the hardening liquid, like the fizz in a cola. It is the bubbles in the hardened rock, which allows pumice to float. The bubbles also give pumice a sandpapery texture just rough enough for smoothing calluses. I spent most of my childhood barefoot and my hands and feet often became cracked as calluses became too big. So the pumice was a useful item in my bath time.

Look at the calluses on your hand. What stories do they tell? What do they say about the work you do? Manual labour tends to make the calluses at the base of each finger quite prominent. Guitar players will have calluses on the ends of their left hand fingers from pressing the strings on the fret. If you wash your hands using a rock to knead the cloth, the heel of your hand will be callused. And if you wear a ring it will create a callus where it rests on your finger – something the astute will notice when being picked up in a bar by the ring-less…

Calluses are useful to protect our bodies from the daily grind we subject them to. Sometimes, however, a callus can become too hard, too big, it cracks and become infected.

Read Isaiah 6:9-10

Isaiah is instructed to harden people’s hearts so they will not repent; a strange message.

Steve Cook points out that the hardening of people’s hearts is a form of emotional callus. A callus on the hand is useful and so we don’t notice it until it becomes a problem when the hardening becomes so hard that it no longer flexes with the surrounding skin. It is then that we notice the problem and deal with it. Similarly, an emotional callus is useful up to a point in protecting us from some of the traumas we face, but it becomes a problem when the callus is no longer able to flex, to mould to the circumstances of our lives. At this point it cracks and can become infected – perhaps with cynicism or bitterness.

Isaiah must push the people to the point where their emotional callousness becomes a problem they are forced to deal with.

Listen to these words from Paul Brand in “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”:

“A troubling phenomenon recurs among young Christians reared in solid homes and sound churches. After living their early years as outstanding examples of Christian faith, many become spiritual dropouts. Did they fail because they concentrated on the exterior, visible Christian life? Did they learn to mimic certain behaviors, nuances of words, and emotional responses? Crayfish-like, did they develop a hard exterior that resembled everyone else’s and conclude such was the kingdom of God, while inside they were weak and vulnerable?

... An outside shell can seem attractive, trustworthy, and protective. It certainly has advantages over a dead, useless skeleton or over no skeleton at all. But God desires for us a more advanced skeleton that serves as it stays hidden.” (thanks to SojoNet for the quote).

Part of the reason we become emotionally callused is survival. It’s a coping mechanism: one that works but it has diminishing returns as the callus grows.

To switch metaphors: yesterday in our biker’s circle we talked about feelings and how important they are. Like the lights on the motorbike dashboard feelings are signs that alert one to needs within one’s system. Putting duct-tape over the oil light isn’t going to make the oil problem go away, yet this is exactly what we tend to do with our feelings – we ignore and bury them and the need becomes a problem. Emotions are signs that there is something in the system that needs attention.

Read Luke 5:1-11

We often think of Peter and his fellow fishers as living an idyllic country life. As Sarah Dylan Breuer points out, though, it was anything but… Apart from the obvious dangers of the Sea of Galilee which apparently is tempestuous for its size, the fishers of Peter’s day were caught in a debt trap, having to pay taxes over an above their usual overheads. There was also the cost of fishing rights on the Sea. At the end of each day, there was seldom anything left for their families. With no insurance, the daily worry of injury or accident must have worn away at their lives.

When Jesus asks them to cast their nets on the other side and their nets come up busting with fish, their world changed forever. They no longer were consumed by the daily question, “Will I catch enough?” but from then on their lives were determined by the question “Can I find enough people to help me haul in this generous catch?”

The emotional callus of daily worry is transformed into an emotional openness to new possibilities and people.

This is the promise of spiritual maturity that the Good News offers: a transformative experience that liberates me from the narrow confines of my daily grind so that I can see people as people again, not just instruments, clients, allies, enemies, providers, takers and so on. I can be transformed from callousness to compassion. My heart becomes soft again so that, like a child, I am sensitive to so much more of the world around me.

This doesn’t mean that the spiritual journey is one of instant and perpetual joy. On the contrary, Peter embarks on an emotional roller-coaster ride with Jesus all the way to Jerusalem. As one reads that story, one cannot but be amazed at the volume of the emotions Peter experiences. It is an intense experience – the highs are mountainous (remember the transfiguration?) and the lows are hellish (remember his denial of Jesus?).

Let me switch metaphors again: when we were talking about feelings yesterday William pointed out that out feelings are like a Hi-fi system without a graphic equalizer. The graphic equalizer allows one to manipulate the volume of specific frequencies so that, for instance, one can make the music have more base or treble. But in the emotional system, there is only a single volume control. Turn down the volume when one is angry or sad, and one finds that affection and ebullience are muted too.

The spiritual journey tunes us in to our feelings so that we know our needs more acutely. Similarly we can tune in to the needs of others because we become more sensitive. We become more compassionate.

The discipline of the spiritual life is to spend time with emotions, to discover the underlying needs. This is especially true of the darker emotions. Spiritual maturity is characterised by an ability to know oneself and so be in control of oneself. Feelings become the wind that blows through a flute each with a distinct note that together creates music – to borrow a Buddhist metaphor!

Discovering the energy of our personal emotional systems also tunes us to the possibilities in the world. Instead of being overwhelmed by the massive problems the world faces our creative energies are released to find innovative strategies of dealing with these problems. We can move from the cynical, “There just isn’t enough to fill this bottomless pit” to the insightful, “Poverty is stupid in a world that has enough but will not share.” (Bono paraphrased)

Jesus is calling you to the bounty and wealth of your own inner life and the gift of vulnerability to others. Discover the joy that comes when you spend time with your own feelings – especially the dark ones. Discover the connection that comes when you open yourself up to those around you and trust them with your feelings. Discover the power of God’s generosity in your own life and the world.

May your heart grow soft and supple.

Great news: weird is good

I received a piece of email humour this week about the difference between men and women:
Friendship between women: A woman didn’t come home one night. She told her husband that she had slept over at her friend’s house. Her husband called her 10 best friends. None of them knew what he was talking about.
Friendship between men: A man didn’t come home one night. He told his wife that he had slept over at a friend’s house. His wife called his 10 best friends. 8 of them confirmed that he had slept over. 2 said he was still there.

This week I had a motorbike accident and the news spread pretty quickly. The support from friends was very affirming. I know that I am loved.

My women friends called: are you ok? Wonderful! What did the doctor say? Uh-huh, what’s the diagnosis? And the prognosis? So what actually happened? Does it hurt? How are you feeling? It must have been awful! What will you do? How long will it be sore? Are you taking medication? Can I bring you something? Can I do anything?

My men friends called: are you ok? Uh-huh… how’s the bike? Ouch!

When I first started working at Central Methodist Mission I did a bit of preaching at the other 5 churches that form part of the Table Bay Circuit. On a Sunday there isn’t much transport and I didn’t have a car, so I would often arrive on roller blades at preaching appointments. When I was accepted as a candidate for the ministry, a member of the congregation insisted on getting a photo of me in clerical gear – full gown and collar – riding down Church Street on my roller blades.

Over the years I have been blessed with the acceptance of people who have accepted my idiosyncrasies with grace. But I’ve also been dismayed that so many people’s individuality is not accepted in the church. By and large, ministers get away with more than lay people and this saddens me even more. It is very difficult to be an eccentric in the church, particularly if you are not clergy.

Naomi Klein, in her book No Logo, points out that the important gains made by the identity politics of the 90’s had the unfortunate side effect of diminishing the importance of uniqueness, of individuality. Fighting for racial and gender equality has been a critical movement of the last few decades but there is a danger of subsuming the important differences between people under the banner of equality.

For instance, we often talk of “unity despite our differences” but if genuine, just unity is to be achieved it is differences that hold the key. Let’s see why…

First a bit of background: humans have evolved as the most successful species on the planet at the moment. One of the skills we have honed to perfection is that of co-operation. While many animals co-operate, humans have made it a cornerstone of their success. A mechanism that is very important to co-operating organisms, particularly humans, is the ability to conform.
If an individual arrives in a new environment which is unfamiliar the best way to learn how to survive is to copy the behaviours of the majority of individuals already in that environment. The degree of accuracy in copying these behaviours determines the newcomer’s ability to adapt quickly and efficiently. Sometimes this means that superfluous behaviours are copied indiscriminately together with the adaptive behaviours.

For instance, a hunter from the highlands comes down to the coast. There is not much game to be had near the sea but the hunter can learn to fish from the fisher folk who live at the sea already. To gain access to their knowledge, it is in the interests of the hunter to quickly assimilate into the culture of the fisher folk and so many behaviours will be learned which have little or no immediate survival value apart from allowing the hunter to gain access to the valuable fishing skills of his new people. Depending on how stringent the culture of the fisher folk is and how assertive the hunter is, there is also a danger that important information carried by the hunter may be lost as the hunter becomes a fisher.

By and large, over the broad expanse of evolutionary history, the benefits of conformity have outweighed the problems. Until now that is.

Humanity’s extraordinary adaptive power has created for the first time a being that threatens the whole biosphere and we can longer rely on the randomness of evolution to determine our survival. While there is a strong likelihood that humanity’s extinction will not necessarily result in the earth’s destruction, there are too many possible scenarios in which our extinction will have cataclysmic results for all other species and the biosphere as a whole. Be that as it may, our survival is important – at least to us – and that survival cannot happen without the planet

Hence Jesus calls us to a new creation. We are the first creatures that have the chance to consciously affect natural selection. We have become what God has longed for: a being able to make decisions equivalent to God’s own; a being able to choose to love.

If we love the world we live in, indeed, if we love ourselves, we have to start choosing behaviours that are good for us and our world. We can longer conform to standards that once worked. Those behaviours have resulted in overpopulation, expended resources and death. What is needed more than ever is the eccentric – an individual prepared to break the mould.

Read Luke 4:14-21

Jesus goes home for a visit and pops in at the church he grew up in. I imagine him remembering his days in “Sunday School” and “Confirmation Class” – the way Rabbi Z’s beard used to bounce when he got excited about some Talmudic obscurity. He is invited to preach. The congregation want to see what all the fuss is about. They’ve heard about young Jesus’ controversial sermons in other parts of Galilee.

Jesus reads from Isaiah. What many modern readers miss in this quote is the fact that Jesus has deliberately edited Isaiah. Instead of carrying on into verse 2 from Isaiah 61, Jesus skips back to Isaiah 42:7 and inserts those words. He is quite careful in this selection because it still fits with the rhythm of Hebrew poetry in the text. Jesus’ deliberate change means that the words of “God’s vengeance” are taken out and instead he reads about the recovery of sight for the blind.
Jesus deliberately chooses to ignore hundred’s of years of theology about the vengeance of God.
Ever since Jesus, the church has tried to resurrect that vengeance.

Whereas, Jesus’ mission statement is all about grace visited on those whom his society regarded as beyond the pale, the church has consistently created filters through which only those who conform to its standards of acceptability may enter.

Jesus deliberately chooses those unable and even unwilling to conform. The church chooses those whose conformity is most nearly perfect.

If humanity is to survive Jesus’ project of a new creation is critical. A key component of that project will be the management, celebration and encouragement of people’s differences.
Further on in the story of Luke 4 we read how the people in the Synagogue took offence at Jesus’ sermon. The gist of his sermon was that the “Chosen Nation of Israel” was not so “chosen” after all. Jesus was effectively saying: “You think you’ll get into heaven because you come to church? Think again…”

Jesus’ “Good News” was bad news for this congregation. They had their insurance policies all signed and up to date but their investment was misplaced. The good news is not some ecclesiastical maze through which one may gain access to heaven. The good news is that this world can change for the good and the ones who will change it are those who don’t fit in: the poor, the oppressed, the prisoners, the wretched, the downcast, the persecuted, the children, the little ones, the disabled, the computer illiterate, the weird, the incompetent, the ignorant, the dykes, spics, niggers, hobos, the ingrate, the stupid, the fashion unconscious, the bullied, the failed, the forgotten, the god-forsaken, the last and least of these.

Dassie and Bosvark klap it again

The reference to a bike accident in my previous blog refers:

No animals were harmed in the incident but it was a close call: I couldn’t breath properly when the other driver got out his car and he wasn’t around when I got myself together again.

As to the nature of the accident: I was traveling at about 70km/h around a blind bend past Oudekraal. The silver bakkie parked on the left was doing a u-turn across the road. As I came around the corner he was placed perfectly across my lane. No hope.

I broke my pinkie. The bike’s damage was R20 000 – mostly cosmetic however.

Now begins the frustrating process of reconstruction. Yuk.

Magnificent Freedom

Read Luke 1:39-55

I have in my hand a very scary document: the Freedom Charter. It was read for the first time on 26 June 1955 in Kliptown at the Congress of the People. Members of the SA Communist Party wrote it: Z.K. Matthews and Rusty Bernstein the most well known amongst others. It was adopted by all four organisations at the Congress: the ANC, the SA Congress of Democrats, the SA Indian Congress and the Coloured People’s Congress. Nelson Mandela was there and had to escape disguised as a milkman when police broke up the meeting. This dangerous document formed the basis of our Constitution, the most radical Constitution in the world at the moment. 50 years later, the Freedom Charter’s ideals of democracy and a commitment to a South Africa owned by all its peoples, of all races and creeds, still speaks to a world beset by powerful elites who rule with impunity but whose power is slipping.

I hold in my other hand an even more dangerous document. While the Freedom Charter has been speaking for 50 years and inspired our Constitution, this document has been speaking for nearly 2000 years and, arguably, inspired some of the values voiced in the Freedom Charter. This is the Bible. Powerful people have tried to corrupt its message, to water it down so that its call to freedom will not be heard. They have banned it, they have mistranslated it, they have put it in museums, they have funded whole universities to divert people from its meaning with clever interpretations, and they have killed those who took it seriously. But, despite all this, people all over the world have read it and claimed for themselves and their neighbours the right to be free.

Back before India won its independence, it was under British rule. Bishop William Temple of the Anglican Church warned his missionaries to India not to read the Magnificat – or Mary’s song - in public. He feared that it would be so inflammatory that it might start a revolution!

There once was a time when established theology in South Africa seriously advocated the separation of black and white as well as the subjugation of darker races on the basis of the separation of Noah’s descendents. The separation of Noah’s sons after the flood had receded seemed to indicate a natural separation of people. It was obvious that the tasks assigned to the sons should be applied for time immemorial, namely that the sons of Ham shall suffer the “curse of Canaan” to be servants of servants. Today we find this interpretation laughable if not criminal.

But the Bible’s call to freedom today is in danger not from any government, but from it’s own avid reader: the vast majority of Christians who read this collection of documents read it as a personal love letter from God to themselves. As such it is about as much use to human freedom as a Reader’s Digest collection of recipes or gardening DIY.

From this radical document, Christians are inspired to proclaim the “Good News”. But few actually know what that good news is. For most it is simply that “God loves you”. This is true, but the full ramifications of what God’s love actually means is seldom taken into consideration.

The word “evangelism” comes from the Greek word “euangelion” which means literally “good news”. In common usage at the time that the New Testament books were written, euangelion was most often used to announce a new Emperor.

The early church’s command to preach the “good news” to all nations was tantamount to treason. It was a declaration of independence; of freedom. It was that world’s Freedom Charter. If we preach anything less today, we sully the blood of those who gave their lives for the cause of human freedom. As Christians we are not afraid of blood – it is our staple spiritual diet and for good reason. The blood of Christ flowed for freedom’s sake; the blood of his martyrs covers the world; and if we are not prepared to give at least our own lives for freedom, then we have no place in the “good news” of Jesus Christ.

That good news is... Listen! Listen world! Listen to a 14 year old girl braving a dangerous journey alone and pregnant so that she can rejoice with her older relative in the babies of their wombs; babies who will proclaim dangerous freedom:

‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

Good News indeed!

Dassie Hiking List

President Katie has requested that the Minister of Sport and Recreation make special effort to increase the opportunities for her subjects to enjoy the beautiful mountain in her back yard. With this directive in mind, I've set up an email list which will inform people of when and where the next hiking opportunity will be available. You can subscribe to the Dassie Hiking List by sending an email to gregandrewsATshadeDOTorgDOTza

Life is a lemon

Read Luke 3:7-18

When I was a child I was a fan of a TV programme called “Senor Onion” developed by the South African playwright, Janice Honeyman. I looked forward to the adventures of Senor Onion and the other fruit and vegetables as they went about their veggie business in fear of the kitchen chef who occasionally came to harvest them with his big knife. One character particularly was my favourite: Mr Lemon. He had a signature song: “I’m a lemon, I’m a lemon, and I smell just like a flower. But when you taste me, oh, when you taste me, I taste so very sour!” (sung to the tune of My Darling Clementine).

Like a lemon, the apparently sweet smell of religiosity can sometimes be confused for genuine change when in fact it is but a sour attitude. I want to explore personal change, or repentance in the light of John’s message and am indebted to Sarah Dylan Breuer once again for her insights on John.

In John Steinbeck’s novel “The Wayward Bus” we meet a sombre group of drifters travelling on a bus. The bus driver whose life has become a rut, deliberately engineers a minor accident to create some excitement for himself. While the passengers await help they take refuge in a cave. As they enter the cave they pass a piece of graffiti scrawled on cliff adjacent to the cave. It reads “repent” but no one notices. Through their interactions with each other and the conflicts and connections that occur, many of the characters come to resolve that they will change their lives once they return to civilisation. But as the novel proceeds, it seems more and more likely that they will remain caught up in their old lives, unable or unwilling to break free from old habits. One is left wondering at the end, if indeed, any of them will really did change.

Psychologists have long puzzled over what makes for a personal change. One thing that they are certain about is that fear does not work in the long-term. So, for instance, advertisements that scare one about the dangers of speeding or of smoking might work but only in the short term; they do not provide the wherewithal for sustainable change.

Psychologists are also finding that the best kind of personal change is one based on a change of one’s personal ideas about oneself. Role models are therefore important in helping us change for we create for ourselves a personal image of self based on what we see in our role models. When we choose role models that model unhealthy behaviour, we are more likely to adopt that unhealthy behaviour and similarly, if their behaviour is healthy we will adopt healthy behaviour. Most of this happens at an unconscious level.

Because it is mostly unconscious, acquired behaviours are often those, which are visible to the observer but invisible to the actor. In other words, kids will do as their parents do, not as their parents say!

An example of the importance of role models is in the struggle against HIV where role models are the number one reason why young people engage in risk behaviour despite knowing intellectually that such behaviour is dangerous. Too much effort and resources are being expended in creating awareness without enough attention to the role models that young people emulate.

There is a great deal of hand wringing going on about the materialism of western culture. Young people are bombarded by consumerism and seem largely to have capitulated (as have all generations for that matter). In the church we are anxious because young people are inclined to follow Schumacher in a Ferrari rather than Jesus on a donkey. But it should come as no surprise that this has happened.

While this generation may ostentatiously demonstrate wealth as a value, a previous generation were no less covetous of wealth, even if it was “only” the new kitchen or family sedan the next-door neighbours have bought.

The question remains, how can Christians inspire radical change in society and individuals with anything near the effectiveness of John and Jesus?

Let’s take a closer look.

Firstly, John’s message was surprising and radical for a number of reasons, one of which was who it was directed at. Unlike his contemporaries who used Baptism as a means of entry into the Jewish faith, John believed that even Jews needed to be baptised - needed to repent. This is why he was not popular with the religious establishment. For John, Baptism was a mark of ongoing personal commitment to the values espoused by the prophets that preceded him.

Who you are and to which social category you belong makes no difference in the Gospel scheme. John declares that even stones can become Abraham’s descendents. We do well to remember that John’s call to repentance was not aimed at “non-believers” but at the heart of belief itself.

Today, as with John’s day, belief is seen as the destination. Once one has converted to the faith, been Baptised or Confirmed, one has arrived. In fact, this is the beginning of the journey, not the destination; it is a commitment to live constantly in dialogue with the values of the prophets so that slowly one may grow to maturity in faith.

If we want to change the world, we can begin with ourselves. When did we stop studying Jesus’ strange ways? At what point did we think we knew the answers? When did we become comfortable? Journeying with Jesus should become increasingly uncomfortable as we discover more and more in our lives that does not measure up to his model.

Secondly, it is worth remembering that Jesus and John did not agree on everything. Remember when John sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the one they were expecting or if they are to wait for another? Obviously there was enough that Jesus was doing for them to think he was the one, but some aspects of Jesus’ behaviour that had them wondering if he really was the one. One of those things was undoubtedly that Jesus had not brought the fire of judgement John predicts. John expected Jesus to gather up all those who had given themselves to God, but he also expected Jesus to destroy those who chose to ignore the call to repentance. But Jesus did nothing of the sort. Instead he says to John, “Blessed is the one who takes no offence at me.” He challenges John to adopt a more gracious attitude.

It is interesting that history tells of many movements that continued John’s strong line of judgement against the wicked long after Jesus and John. It may be that not all of John’s disciples, perhaps not even John, could accept this call to grace.

As psychologists will tell you, you cannot scare people into heaven with pictures of hell. John’s message of repentance is critical for a generation of church people who see themselves as having arrived. But John’s message of the fearful consequences is not going to convince anyone – at least not in the long term.

However, Jesus’ practice of grace in his teaching and friendships does change the world. If those who see themselves as having arrived would repent of a judgemental attitude and begin again the hard process of growing in the stature of the Divine, the world might actually have some hope that there will be people to lead them into heaven instead of yawning when they are prodded by fearful fire and brimstone.

Christians are called to lead people into heaven, not scare people away from hell. If we want the world to change, the best way is to offer the model example of that change. I hope this Christmas we will engage again with Jesus, even if that engagement challenges us deeply. The world needs people who are learning how to follow Jesus.

For a great hymn about lemons check out Brenton’s song “Lemons” to the tune NOEL:

Jesus and Scientific Reasoning

Mike Anderson is someone I met a long time ago and have always enjoyed his occasional articles. If you enjoy games, his most recent article will be particularly enjoyable. You may even want to write to Mike and get on his list. I only have a PDF version so have sent it to the dassie subscription list. If you like the excerpt below, send me an email and I'll forward the PDF (64k).

"Our children awoke one Sunday to discover their shoes on the ceiling instead of under their beds, rice instead of their favourite cereal pouring out of the box and all the dining-room chairs were upside-down! They were a little surprised at first, but quickly laughed over their parent's shenanigans. We were trying to help them appreciate something so very ordinary and ubiquitous that it is easy to miss how extremely wonderful it is. This something is the remarkable consistency of the world. There is a Chinese proverb that goes, "If you want to know about water, do not ask a fish." The world's consistency to us is like water to a fish."

Reading Levels

Mom forwarded this to me. It's a bookshelf with notches carved into it. Each notch accommodates a specific religious text. You can read more about this functional piece of art here.

Hope is a blanket

Our dear friends Harry and Lerato lost their unborn child last week. At the funeral service on Saturday, Themba spoke about the Zulu expression, "akulahlwa mbeleko ngakufelwa" which refers to the blanket wrapped around a newborn baby, the Mbeleko. Roughly translated the expression means, "Do not throw away the receiving blanket." It expresses the hope that soon another child will come to fill the blanket.

I can think of no better metaphor for the meaning of Advent. As I read the disastrous tale of Jesus' early years: fleeing a genocidal despot, hiding in Egypt, not to mention his eventual execution; it strikes me that this is a season to recall all the past year's hurts and consider the hope that the Christ child brought to the world despite his own struggles and still brings today despite our own. No matter what has happened to you over the last year, I hope you will not throw away the Mbeleko but allow it to remain open for the Child born for you this Christmas.

The Backhand

When Jesus said turn the other cheek, he had in mind something very different from being a "doormat". You can read Walter Wink's exegesis about that.

I recently came across a friend in a very strange place. Bradley Bordis helped to set up the "Not In My Name" movement which mobilises Jewish people around the world against Zionism. For this he has been publicly branded on this site. (Go down the list to "Bordis, Bradley") Of course Bradley was outraged when this happened, but I can't help thinking that, coming from where it does, it is sort of a backhanded compliment to be openly vilified for doing the right thing.

I'm trying to keep this in mind especially with recent criticism about some of the ideas I've published here and stands that I'm taking. It is tough to respond respectfully - non-violently - sometimes.

Name-dropping

Read Luke 3:1-6

Luke begins his story about John with a whole bunch of name-dropping. In fact, throughout his Gospel, there is a great deal of name-dropping going on. John the Baptist’s ministry happened at the time of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, his brother Philip Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene and during the high priesthood of Annas and his successor Caiaphas; all very important people indeed. What’s up with all the name-dropping?

We all know people who are name-droppers. They use the important names of people they know to bolster their own confidence. We associate name-dropping with poor self-esteem.

In Luke’s case, though, there is a very different reason for all this name-dropping. Once he has paraded the dignitaries he goes on to tell us from whence the Word of God comes… not from any of these luminaries. No, the Word of God comes from scruffy, smelly old John.

“Halford Luccock once noted that Nero was sure that the most important happenings in Rome were the words he said, the laws he enacted, and the things he did. As a matter of fact, the biggest events in Rome at the time were some prayer meetings which were being held secretly in the catacombs. The Medici, he observes, must have seemed the key figures in Renaissance Europe, with their palaces, art galleries, and political power. Yet they are overshadowed by "a little boy playing about on the docks of Genoa," who would eventually open the seaway to the Americans – Christopher Columbus.
So it was in John the Baptiser’s time. One can easily imagine the pomp and circumstance with which Herod trampled about as tetrarch of Galilee. Wherever he went, people scraped and bowed. They waited for a disdaining nod and dreamed of some act of preferment from his hand. Herod was, indeed, a big man in Galilee in the first century. Today, all his pomp is simply pompous, and all his circumstance only circumstantial. But John the Baptiser! - a great human being.”

(J. Ellsworth Kalas, ‘The Hinge of History,’ Sermons on the Gospel Readings, Cycle C, CSS Publishing Company, 2003)

Luke is also portraying the luminaries in the background of this story because of the importance this story has to the current events of the day: contrast, for instance, this list of dignitaries and the power that they represent with the freedom songs of Mary and Zechariah. Luke is clear that the arrival of Jesus in our world speaks a clear message of warning to power.

In today’s world of televangelism it’s hard to see how John’s message of repentance had any political significance. We know about his criticism of Herod for which he lost his head, but that seems to be all there is and even that seems to have been about Herod’s moral character rather than matters of politics or justice. But John got into trouble not because he preached forgiveness, per se, but because he threatened the power of the Temple establishment that made a living from granting forgiveness through expensive sacrifices. A lucrative industry had grown up around the Temple which exploited people’s need for relationship with God. John’s message of repentance and personal re-commitment to God undermined this system.

To understand John and his relationship with the powers of the day we need to briefly trace the history that precedes John. In the time between Malachi in the Old Testament and Jesus, a very significant period of Israel’s history took place. A Jewish family led a revolt which came to be called the Maccabean Revolt against Roman occupation. The revolt installed the Hasmonean dynasty of priest-kings. But no sooner had the new rulers taken power than they began to betray the hope placed in them by so many people in Palestine. They executed their enemies and operated in contravention of Jewish practice and law. They were not legitimate priests of kings being neither of the line of David or of Zadok. A disillusioned group of people created a series of desert communes. This religious sect came to be called the Essenes. This is the sect that created the Dead Sea Scrolls. They believed in a retreat from the world into a strict piety practiced in virtual isolation in the hopes that God would respond to their holiness and rescue them from the impending destruction of the world.

John was probably an Essene at some stage though he departed from their pessimistic world-view and rejection of the world.

Power and especially the abuse of power were a staple diet for the people of Palestine then as today. John was born into this situation and his message of repentance is one linked to social transformation. Like his Essene background John sees the world’s powers as essentially corrupt but unlike the Essenes he engages with people in the hope that he can call people away from allegiance to such corrupt power.

Jesus, in his turn was a disciple of John but went even further, taking his engagement with the world beyond the wilderness into the streets and homes of the people he met on his epic journey through Palestine.

Sarah asks an interesting question: Do we believe God/Jesus is powerful? We’ve all been raised to affirm that God is “omnipotent” but we behave rather differently. For instance, she points out the question often asked by those who are worrying about getting cremated after they die: “How will God put me back together again come Resurrection?” Or look at the way we pray: with great fervour and anguish we strive to find the correct words in the hope that just the right prayer may move God to action. Some people go so far as to blame a person’s poor faith for God’s failing to act on their behalf.

The Essenes were like that, thinking that if they could get the holiness formula right, then God would come and liberate them from the world. Ironically, the Essenes understood power in much the same way as the world they were trying to escape.

Please the local tax-collector, and he’ll throw a rebate your way. Please the village elder, and he’ll grease your next job application. Please the Roman consul, and you’ll have a get-out-of-jail-free card. Please God and your place in eternity is secure.

This is power based on how the world understands power. If you know the right people, if you can please the right people, then the world is your oyster. We bolster our own power by association with those who already have power. We court power.

Jesus believed in love and the power of love to transform. It’s a simple idea, which flies in the face of our usual power mongering. It is power that we can rejoice in, that is comforting at the same time as it is challenging.

Jesus takes John’s theology a step further and engages people where they are at. He met with people in their homes, conversed and joked with them in their own language. Jesus befriended people who society had relegated to the outskirts. His love sought them out and his love transformed them. It is Jesus (God) who makes the move, who acts decisively. There is no human standard that must be attained first, no human action that is a pre-requisite to Divine action. God’s power is not limited by human ideas of good and bad.

“I don't believe in perfection; I believe in redemption. I believe that God's power to redeem is such that no human misstep or even deliberate human wickedness can have the final word.”

Sarah Dylan Breuer

Lord, I believe a rest remains
To all Thy people known,
A rest where pure enjoyment reigns,
And Thou art loved alone.

A rest where all our soul’s desire
Is fixed on things above;
Where fear, and sin, and grief expire,
Cast out by perfect love.

O that I now the rest might know,
Believe, and enter in!
Now, Savior, now the the power bestow,
And let me cease from sin.

Remove this hardness from my heart,
This unbelief remove:
To me the rest of faith impart,
The Sabbath of Thy love.

Charles Wesley 1740

F art

I am a complete philistine when it comes to appreciating art but sometimes I come across something that intrigues me. There was once a series of sculptures at the National Gallery in town that were compelling and shocking: bodies of children but the heads of fantastic beasts... and I remember the occasional painting in a gallery that made my heart skip a beat. Mostly I enjoy art that pokes fun at the world. I especially enjoy art that explores deep and meaningful things while still being funny.

Here's a mural which explores a whole range of taboos e.g. God = female; God's creative wind from the wrong end; women farting. Lovely. Read more about it here. Divine Gas indeed!


And there is nothing quite so good as Calvin and Hobbes. Mom sent me a link to all of Calvin's snowman works. This one speaks to the point of this blog:

And then there is the interesting relationship between art and function. Here is a company that creates cameras that look like guns. I don't think they're trying to make a point, just cornering a niche in the market, but I can't help feeling that this is an inadvertent comment on their part and isn't that what art is?