the autobiography of theology.

A few days ago I walked into my roommate's room to drop his mail on his bed. As I turned to leave, my eye caught a Frederick Buechner book, The Sacred Journey (Some will remember my deep love of Buechner's Telling the Truth: the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale. See my yet unfinished series of quotes from that book: Telling the Truth. Tragedy. Comedy.). Never to turn my back on a work by Buechner, I opened to the introduction and began to read:

About ten years ago I gave a set of lectures at Harvard in which I made the observation that all theology, like all fiction, is at its heart autobiography, and that what a theologian is doing essentially is examining so honestly as he can the rough-and-tumble of his own experience with its ups and downs, its mysteries and loose ends, and expressing in logical, abstract terms the truths about human life and about God that he believes he has found implicit there....It seemed to me then, and seems to me still, that if God speaks to us at all in this world, if God speaks anywhere, it is into our personal lives that he speaks. Someone we love dies, say. Some unforeseen act of kindness or cruelty touches the heart or makes the blood run cold. We fail a friend, or a friend fails us, and we are appalled at the capacity we all of us have for estranging the very people in our lives we need the most. Or maybe nothing extraordinary happens at all - just one day following another, helter-skelter, in the manner of days. We sleep and dream. We wake. We work. We remember and forget. We have fun and are depressed. And into the thick of it, or out of the thick of it, at moments even the most humdrum of our days, God speaks.

For some reason, I've been thinking about theology lately. What it is. Its purpose. Maybe someday formally studying it.

Theology as autobiography?

Yeah, I think I agree. If all of life is woven together and integrated to form one thing, then theology is most certainly autobiographical. It has to be, for how else do we interact with the world around us except through our lives and capacity to experience. And yet, it is not merely the autobiography of a handful of individuals, but us all, the whole of humanity. For as much as our individual lives affect our theology, so do our collective experiences.

And thus we have a beautiful tapestry of theology woven from the ages for us to engage and wrestle, argue and refute, accept and embrace, ever drawing us closer to the one called I AM.

tragic.

My friend Tyler put it best: Rock Chalk Anyway!!

irrigating deserts

For every one pupil who needs to be guarded from a weak excess of sensibility there are three who need to be awakened from the slumber of cold vulgarity. The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts. The right deference against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments. By starving sensibility of our pupils we only make them easier prey to the propagandist when he comes. For famished nature will be avenged and a hard heart is no infallible protection against a soft head.

~ C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

giraffe.

My sister took this picture at a wonderful place called the Arbuckle Wilderness... in Texas. How cool are giraffes? COOL!

thankful.

!HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Thanksgiving is great. Turkey & Green Bean Casserole. Football (anyone excited for the KU/MU game... I AM!). Family. A break from work. And, of course, a time for everyone to give their 'I'm thankful for' shout-outs.

Thanksgiving always sneaks up on me. One minute I'm avoiding dressing up for Halloween and the next I'm getting emails from my Mom that I have to make a dish for T-Day (GBC, of course!) and being barraged with the 'what are you thankful for?' question. I'm never fully prepared, so I just throw out what everyone does: family, friends, blah, blah, blah.

I am deeply thankful for my family. And, I'm deeply thankful for my friends. But I thought I would dive a little deeper and give my #6 - 15 thankfulness list...

#6. The work of N.T. Wright. No surprises here. He stretches my thoughtfulness in a deeply refreshing way. His picture of faith and specifically Christianity is coherent and rich. Whenever I read him, I have two resounding thoughts: yesss, I agree, and I want to be like this.

#7. My iPod FM transmitter. This magical white box plugs my iPod into my cigarette lighter and suddenly my iPod plays on my car radio. Doesn't get any better.

#8. Snow Patrol's Eyes Open.

#9. Rome, Italy and my summer there. Billy, Kelly, Will, Caleb, Cole & Wes, I hope Thanksgiving in Trestevere is beautiful and a great celebration! We miss you!

#10. My new job. It's a bit scary to be a grown up now, but it's time. Who knew being an engineer could be such fun!

#11. Walking downtown Lawrence. I didnt realize how much I would enjoy walking Mass St. Late night. Mid-morning. Cold. Hot. Alone. With another. With a whole group. No matter the circumstances, I love it!

#12. Bubble Tea. I believe I finally took the plunge after David P. raved about it (I shouldn't have been tricked... what doesn't David rave about!?!). Delicious. My favorite is the coconut blended bubble tea from Blue Koi in Mid-Town. Feel free to stop by and pick some up for me!

#13. Blogging. Rome made me do it, but I find it a really fun release. I don't blog near as much as I desire, but what I get works for me!

#14. Shows on nbc.com. I'm not sure why NBC waited this long, but seriously... the Office, Chuck, 30 Rock. Love it!

#15. Tazo Green Chai Tea. Legit.

Anyone want to share a few items that are a little lower on their Thankful list?

comedy.

And finally the Gospel itself as comedy - the coming together of Mutt and Jeff, the Captain and the Kids, the Wizard of Oz and the Scarecrow: the coming together of God in his unending greatness and glory and man in his unending littleness, prepared for the worst but rarely for the best, prepared for the possible but rarely for the impossible. The good news breaks into a world where the news has been so bad for so long that when it is good nobody hears it much except for a few. And who are the few that hear it? They are the ones who labor and are heavy-laden like everybody else but who, unlike everybody else, know that they labor and are heavy-laden. They are the last people you might expect to hear it, themselves the bad jokes and stooges and scarecrows of the world, the tax collectors and whores and misfits. They are the poor people, the broken people, the ones who in terms of the world's wisdom are children and madmen and fools. They have cut themselves shaving. Rich or poor, successes or failures as the world counts it, they are the ones who are willing to believe in miracles because they know it will take a miracle to fill the empty place inside them where grace and peace belong with grace and peace. Old Sarah with her China teeth knows it will take a miracle to fill the empty place inside her where she waits for a baby that will never come, so when the angel appears and tells her a baby is coming she laughs and Abraham laughs with her because, having used up all their tears, they have nothing but laughter left. Because although what the angel says may be too good to be true, who knows? Maybe the truth of it is that it's too good not to be true?

~ Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth: the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale

really good. really weird.

Regina Spektor. Really good music. Really weird music videos. Ive been listening to her Samson the last few weeks.

shouting your thanks.

My favorite dish, without a doubt or any consideration time necessary, is Green Bean Casserole. I love it, and, hopefully, always will. The quickest way to my heart is GBC.

For quite a few years (I won't specify how many), I thought this was a Susan Ripple specialty. She tended to bring it to extended family gatherings and Thanksgiving, so what's a boy/young man to think? I once even complimented my aunt that she made my Mom's famous dish almost as good as Mom...

Apparently the GBC recipe is on the back of every container of French's French Fried Onions, and is a staple of Thanksgiving meals across the country. Who knew?

So, this year, as with every year, I am thankful for green bean casserole. What dish makes Thanksgiving come alive for you?

more wisdom from N.T.

"...the way to Christian growth is often to allow oneself to be puzzled and startled by new apparent complexity."

~ Bishop N.T. Wright

the many moments.

I woke up last Friday thinking about the often fine line between celebration & mourning, happiness & sadness, how one event can so quickly transform our demeanor and emotions from positive to negative or negative to positive. A simple 'yes' or word of acceptance can bring forth such joy and warmth, whereas a well-placed 'no' can bring the world screeching to a halt.

Isn't it interesting how we often place such significance on a single moment, when realistically it isn't one moment that matters, but many moments. It is the combination of situations (as opposed to one isolated situation) that culminates in an opportunity being presented or denied.

I think the same is true of change, or possibly better said: transformation. I've heard my friend Rustin speak of transformation in terms of 'trading up your vices.' I used to steal Lexus' but now I only steal Toyota's! Though ridiculous examples can be used, I think this is an important principle. Transformation isn't so much about getting lucky and performing rightly in the moment, but about slowly becoming the sort of person who does right things naturally.

As Dallas Willard says in his Renovation of the Heart:

Truly becoming one who wills above all to act with the kingdom of God and to have his kind of goodness (Matthew 6:33) will not happen overnight. But upon a path of clear intention and decisions, with appropriate spiritual disciplines and accompanying grace to illumine and correct us when we fail, it is not as far away as many would suppose.

is it bad...

that despite how much you like your new job and enjoy the fact that you've entered the working world finally getting a real job, that you're most excited about being located a mere 5 minute drive from Habitat... the coolest shoe store on the planet?

Just wondering.

i hope this song will guide you home...

I've been listening to the Garden State Soundtrack on repeat the last few days. Particularly, Iron & Wine's cover of the Postal Service's Such Great Heights. Enjoy.

tragedy.

This is, of course, where Jesus starts, and his word of tragedy is "Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden" and then stops there, stops there, because "I will give you rest" is the word of comedy and comes later. All ye who labor and are heavy laden - Jesus speaks his word as tragedian, and the word floats free in the New Testament with no special event to moor it to and no special listener pictured as listening to it because it is addressed to anybody who will listen, and there is no special event to which it does not speak. It floats loose so that it can find its mooring anywhere. When he says, "Take up your cross and follow me," I think that he is saying the same thing because before it means take up some special mission or some special sacrifice or responsibility, "take up your cross" means simply take up the burden of your own life because for the time being anyway, maybe that is burden enough. Take it up in the sense of touch it and taste it and listen to it, look at yourself and your own life, and smell the smell of your mortality and nakedness. All of you. Who are the poor naked wretches? Who are the ones that labor and are heavy laden? All ye, Jesus says - that is the tragic word to us, and his preachers must speak it after him if they are to be true to his truth.

~ Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth: the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale

cubans & strawberry italian sodas...

Tonight, I got an unexpected call from two friends who happened to be in Lawrence for the evening, Sarah & Sara. They did the same thing to me about a month ago as well. A pleasant surprise!

After hanging out at the Lawrence Drop-in Center serving dinner, we hung outside Henry's on 8th, a coffee shop. I smoked my (Cuban) cigar that I brought home from Nassau and drank a strawberry Italian soda. A perfect combination (despite Sarah's jokes). Loved the time girls. I expect many more impromptu evenings!

tragedy. comedy. fairy tale.

Recently, I've been thinking about one of my favorite books, Telling the Truth: the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale by Frederick Buechner. I was introduced to this book by Sarah, who is the sort of person that when she tells you to check something out, you do. She said it was a must read. It is.

Anyways, I thought I would share the love by throwing out a quote per chapter (don't worry there's only four chapters). This may take me six months to complete, but I'm cool with it if you are!

A particular truth can be stated in words - that life is better than death and love than hate, that there is a god or is not, that light travels faster than sound and cancer can sometimes be cured if you discover it in time. But truth itself is another matter, the truth that Pilate asked for, tired and bored and depressed by his long day. Truth itself cannot be stated. Truth simply is, and is what is, the good with the bad, the joy with the despair, the presence and absence of God, the swollen eye, the bird pecking the cobbles for crumbs. Before it is a word, the Gospel that is truth is silence, a pregnant silence in its ninth month, and in answer to Pilate's question, Jesus keeps silent, even with his hands tied behind him manages somehow to hold silence out like a terrible gift.

how to 'sell' your book...

Started reading N.T. Wright's the Challenge of Jesus yesterday. This is what I'm confronted with in the preface:

I have three concerns throughout the present work. The first is for historical integrity in talking about Jesus. Many Christians have been, frankly, sloppy in their thinking and talking about Jesus, and hence, sadly, in their praying and in their practice of discipleship. We cannot assume that by saying the word Jesus, still less the word Christ, we are automatically in touch with the real Jesus who walked and talked in first-century Palestine, the Jesus who, according to the letter to the Hebrews, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Nor will it do to suggest that because we have the Gospels in our New Testaments, we know all we need to about Jesus. As the material presented here will show, traditions have often radically misunderstood the picture of Jesus in those Gospels, and only by hard, historical work can we move toward a fuller comprehension of what the Gospels themselves were trying to say.

And that was point one!

As someone who has chosen to be a learner of Jesus, after reading those words, how can I not read this book? Or possibly the question is... how can you not read this book?

i've discovered...

that if I don't continually have a fresh book to read, I end up filling my time with online videos (nbc.com has currently sucked me in... 30 Rock, the Office, and my new favorite, Chuck).

So, this evening after work, I went to my locally-owned Christian bookstore (and coffee shop and art gallery) to pick up N.T.'s Paul for Everyone. I had to order it, so instead grabbed his the Challenge of Jesus. I'm sure I'll be letting yall know how it is in the next couple of days.

romans...

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Romans 8:14-17

Or, as the Message puts it:

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike, "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us - an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

For a few years, Paul's letter to the Romans has been an intimidating book for me. So often, it's presented as entirely an academic book, a letter which really isn't accessible to anyone but the scholars and theologians, and its existence is to prove or disprove points of systematic theology. I'm neither a scholar nor a theologian, and many of the conclusions I hear from Romans I'm not comfortable with in light of the entirety of God's Story. So do I just skip it completely? Mark... Luke... John... Acts... 1 Corinthians... 2 Corinthians...

It's time for me to have a little more exposure to this letter I've pretty well avoided. I read through most of it in October. Then, at Soularize, both N.T. Wright and Richard Rohr commented they felt Romans 8 was the most important chapter of the Bible (Notice my use of important rather than favorite. I've always found it funny when people talk about their favorite book or verse of the Bible; we speak of it almost like we discuss our favorite song or movie... Psalm 23. Fix You by Coldplay. Black Hawk Down. oh...).

To help me in the endeavor, I'm going to pick up Bishop Tom's Paul for Everyone.

one week ago...

this is what I did all day:




Today it's 54 degrees, windy, and I'm contemplating whether I should bare the cold to go for a run.

worship...

Flipping through one of my favorite books, the Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas Willard, I came across a CD cover from Waterdeep's You are so Good to Me. The cover was given to me by a good friend, Sarah, in a particularly difficult season of life. Even today, the words bring fresh perspective and hope. May they do the same for you:

There are seasons of life in which we wake up each morning with the fulfilled dreams of victory, love, satisfaction, and resolution ringing in our ears. The morning air rushes in with the promise that anything can happen, God is nearby, and we are really loved. Worship is, at these times, a gift - a way of saying thank you. Thank you, God because whether I was aware of it or not, whether I sought you through this experience or not, I see you in it now, and I am so grateful for Your kindness toward me.

There are other seasons of life, however, whether we're comfortable with admitting it or not, in which it feels like we're at the bottom of a well - deep, dark, and muddy. In our worst moments, we can no longer see the mouth of the well, and we sometimes wonder if there even is one. Worship, at these moments in particular, becomes a rope. Even if we have no strength to climb it, our cold and lonely fingers wrapped around its braid become a symbol that we are still connected to something, someone, in the world above - the world with skies, trees, rivers, and kind people whom we miss terribly.

And then there are seasons in which we feel that perhaps nothing is terribly wrong, and nothing is terribly right. We are somewhere on the plains, in the middle of the country, looking for miles with no trees to break our view, no valleys, no mountains. We are well air-conditioned, well fed, well attended by people who neither agree with us too passionately, nor disagree with us too strongly. We are happy, we guess, but we don't think we remember how happiness feels, or whether it is what we thought it was. Worship is, at these times, a bell. It rings to remind us that life, while it may seem vapid and featureless, is truly a tremendous affair. It is birth and death, suffering and resurrection. The clear sound of that bell on the winds tells us that the lull of comfort does not mean that God is far off or irrelevant. He is always near and always in love, always holy, and always coming... He is coming. He will finish things here, and begin a new kind of kingdom - a world without end. He will reign over his subjects who have been changed to be like Him, full of love, peace, and joy forever and ever. May this King be praised. Amen

Don Chaffer / 08.16.00 / Wichita, KS

covenant with them...

"As for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the Lord: "My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring," says the Lord, "from now and forever."

Isaiah 59:21

little input, big output...

I'm on the last pages of Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Gladwell also wrote Blink: the Power of Thinking without Thinking. It will be on my Amazon Wish List... as soon as I make it!). I've been amazed at how profound yet accessible this book has been. Here's how the back cover describes the Tipping Point:

The Tipping Point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product or a drop in the crime rate.

This book is a must read for thinkers and leaders, anyone who is working to bring about change in the world.