Recently I heard a sermon by Samir Selmanovic on the emergent podcast titled “finding God in the other”. I really seemed to resonate so strongly with this podcast. I wasn’t sure whether to write a review or write out the whole podcast verbatim. Instead I’m just writing out my thoughts from the podcast which includes some quotes, a few of my own thoughts and bits in between. To work out what’s original thought an what I’ve borrowed you’ll have to listen to the podcast.
I've often felt Xns think that non Xns tend to struggle with church and Xns and not Xy itself. The idea is that if we could cut through all the churchy stuff (if we could have a churchless faith perhaps) then maybe we could have this pure Xy. When we see so many problems with “church” it’s not hard to think this way. But much of what I tend to write about in this blog is not “church” but Xy or theology. Perhaps the problem that people have with Xy is not church and Xns but Xy itself.
Samir Selmanovic describes Xy as a God or Christ management system. Something humans have created to manage God and keep control of God. At the start of the sermon he asks a series of great questions, some of which I have listed below…
• Is Jesus more than Xy? Or, is Jesus something that Xy has to submit to and serve?
• Has Jesus death and resurrection emptied everywhere else of grace and deposited it into just one religion, Xy?
• How can we have a genuine conversation about Jesus with non Xns if we believe they cannot know anything about Jesus apart from us?
• How can we (xns) talk to non-Xns if we believe God withholds a genuine experience of the divine from everyone but us?
All great questions.
For me the statement that really nails the problem with Xy is this. "Xy has problem with credibility because it doesn’t know how to exist for the sake of something greater than itself"
In the same way that Xns are scared of extreme Muslim fundamentalists who can’t see that God might be bigger than their understanding of Islam non Xns are scared by Xns for the same reason. Just because (usually) Xns are not involved in violent activities if we do not believe that God is larger than Xy then the Xn God can not to be trusted. It means Xns are saying “we possess God”. Samir Selmanovic puts it like this, "People are rightly afraid of any religion that will not accept it’s place at the feet of the mystery or will not kneel down at the mystery of God with others". It is our duty to humbly submit to the mystery of the divine. Anything less is arrogance.
We can still speak of Christ. But we need to acknowledge that Xy is a living breathing movement of God. It is both glorious and broken. There will never be and has never been pure Xy, not even in the first centuary, where Peter and Paul argued about whether you could be uncircumcised and Xn.
I think the beauty of the Gospel would shine through much more if Xy, the interpretation of the gospel, took a back seat. If you have ever had anyone tell you the definitive meaning of your favourite movie or song you’ll know how much this just ruins the movie or song. This is so often what Xy does to the gospel.
Perhaps not only would the gospel shine but Xns might shine too. When we see ourselves as the only ones with access to God we will never seriously entertain the idea that a non Xn could teach us something new about God. If we are not open to God apart from through the God management system known as Xy then we are not humble and we won't trusted.
Jesus is a peculiar God to follow. He died for something greater than himself, there was something more important than himself. God emptied himself through Christ for the world. If we believe that God is only with Xy then God has emptied himself to the world through Christ and Xy has emptied the world of God.
In Acts 17 Paul sees God (an unknown God) in a pagan religion. This is an invitation to dialogue. Paul even finds God in their own tradition. “Your poet’s say…” much the same way that we might find God a U2 song or Matrix film. But would we quote from Hindu text or some other tradition because we found God in that?
At the end of the sermon, Samir Selmanovic asks the simple question- "would rather be in another religion and accept Jesus in substance or be a Xn and accept Jesus only in name?" Another great question. I can imagine many people giving a "yes, but..." response.
In John 1:9 Jesus is the light to everyone, there is non salvation outside of Christ but there is salvation outside of Xy. Imagine a Xy where non Xns who are saved (eg Matt 25) is not an annoying anomaly. Not an appendix to a statement of belief but is at the center. What are we afraid to lose? I suspect we are afraid to loose the control which comes with any God management system.
Any way enough of my rambling listen to the podcast here.
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I've often felt Xns think that non Xns tend to struggle with church and Xns and not Xy itself. The idea is that if we could cut through all the churchy stuff (if we could have a churchless faith perhaps) then maybe we could have this pure Xy. When we see so many problems with “church” it’s not hard to think this way. But much of what I tend to write about in this blog is not “church” but Xy or theology. Perhaps the problem that people have with Xy is not church and Xns but Xy itself.
Samir Selmanovic describes Xy as a God or Christ management system. Something humans have created to manage God and keep control of God. At the start of the sermon he asks a series of great questions, some of which I have listed below…
• Is Jesus more than Xy? Or, is Jesus something that Xy has to submit to and serve?
• Has Jesus death and resurrection emptied everywhere else of grace and deposited it into just one religion, Xy?
• How can we have a genuine conversation about Jesus with non Xns if we believe they cannot know anything about Jesus apart from us?
• How can we (xns) talk to non-Xns if we believe God withholds a genuine experience of the divine from everyone but us?
All great questions.
For me the statement that really nails the problem with Xy is this. "Xy has problem with credibility because it doesn’t know how to exist for the sake of something greater than itself"
In the same way that Xns are scared of extreme Muslim fundamentalists who can’t see that God might be bigger than their understanding of Islam non Xns are scared by Xns for the same reason. Just because (usually) Xns are not involved in violent activities if we do not believe that God is larger than Xy then the Xn God can not to be trusted. It means Xns are saying “we possess God”. Samir Selmanovic puts it like this, "People are rightly afraid of any religion that will not accept it’s place at the feet of the mystery or will not kneel down at the mystery of God with others". It is our duty to humbly submit to the mystery of the divine. Anything less is arrogance.
We can still speak of Christ. But we need to acknowledge that Xy is a living breathing movement of God. It is both glorious and broken. There will never be and has never been pure Xy, not even in the first centuary, where Peter and Paul argued about whether you could be uncircumcised and Xn.
I think the beauty of the Gospel would shine through much more if Xy, the interpretation of the gospel, took a back seat. If you have ever had anyone tell you the definitive meaning of your favourite movie or song you’ll know how much this just ruins the movie or song. This is so often what Xy does to the gospel.
Perhaps not only would the gospel shine but Xns might shine too. When we see ourselves as the only ones with access to God we will never seriously entertain the idea that a non Xn could teach us something new about God. If we are not open to God apart from through the God management system known as Xy then we are not humble and we won't trusted.
Jesus is a peculiar God to follow. He died for something greater than himself, there was something more important than himself. God emptied himself through Christ for the world. If we believe that God is only with Xy then God has emptied himself to the world through Christ and Xy has emptied the world of God.
In Acts 17 Paul sees God (an unknown God) in a pagan religion. This is an invitation to dialogue. Paul even finds God in their own tradition. “Your poet’s say…” much the same way that we might find God a U2 song or Matrix film. But would we quote from Hindu text or some other tradition because we found God in that?
At the end of the sermon, Samir Selmanovic asks the simple question- "would rather be in another religion and accept Jesus in substance or be a Xn and accept Jesus only in name?" Another great question. I can imagine many people giving a "yes, but..." response.
In John 1:9 Jesus is the light to everyone, there is non salvation outside of Christ but there is salvation outside of Xy. Imagine a Xy where non Xns who are saved (eg Matt 25) is not an annoying anomaly. Not an appendix to a statement of belief but is at the center. What are we afraid to lose? I suspect we are afraid to loose the control which comes with any God management system.
Any way enough of my rambling listen to the podcast here.
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