The God Who Was Sorry

For me one of the most fascinating parts of the bible is when God repents of making humanity in the story of Noah (Genesis 6:6). Fast forward to Jesus and you've got Jesus being the Passover lamb. The Passover lamb is the object that takes the blame. Put the two together and you've got a God who is sorry and takes the blame for sin.

If we were to ask Is God responsible for the mess we find ourselves in? Before we can even ask the question or try make a judgement about what proportion (if any) we want to blame god. God has already said sorry for the mess and taken the blame. That's powerful. Particularly in an age when no one wants to admit they are sorry or take any portion of blame for fear of the consequences. Rather they would wait for a court or other higher power to prove their guilt.

Starting An Unintentional Community

Last year I got to meet with someone doing a church plant in my area. He's a paid worker leading a small group of people from the same church that's moved into the area to do a church plant. An intentional community of sorts. I always get excited about this kind of thing so I organised to meet with him and hear what they were doing. After being asked a few questions about how evangelical I was I got the feeling that I was not the kind of person they are looking for to be part of their community. Although I expressed interest to meet with other people who are part of the plant, I was told just to look at their infrequently updated website.

The conversation felt very much like my initial church surfing in the area. The underlying message from each church was always the same. "this is the way we do things here... Join in and do it our way or don't"

It's frustrating but nothing out of the ordinary. Turn up to a liberal church and tell them you believe in 7 day creation, or turn up to a conservative church and tell them you think the first 11 chapters of genesis are myth and you'll get the same awkward treatment. It's because you're the kind of person that they never intended to have in their community.

As Xn communities we're comfortable with people who believe the same as us and we're comfortable with people who might journey with us until they end up believing the same as us. Basically church is open to anyone on the line between unbelief and belief just like us. It's the way that we as church communities keep control of what we believe. For as much as Xns talk about going on a journey with people we always want that person to end up believing the same things we do and usually learning those beliefs from us or in the same way we did. If you've found yourself believing something other than what the orthodox for that church is they don't know what to do with you. Apart from maybe hope you go away.

This is perhaps one of the reasons I get so irritated when I sense someone trying to sniff out if I'm evangelical or liberal. They want to know if I fit on their line between unbelief and what they believe. If I fit we can work together if not then we'll usually talk platitudes about all believing the same gospel but then work completely independently of each other.

I'd like to propose an unintentional community? One where a group of Xns with wildly diverse beliefs and ideas work, live and play together.

Jesus Death And Resurrection: Exodus 2.0

At the edge of the river a tribe asks where are we going? The answer is "in to the dessert", in to certain death. In to a place where they would barely have the resources to survive long enough to work out what to do next let alone live there. Taking justice into their own hands they ran away in to the dessert, in to death, at least this way they would die of their own causing and not at the hand of a tyrant. The miracle of the exodus is that they survived. set free into a new world.

This Easter as I look into the cross a place more certain to kill even than the desert. I cannot help but think of that first exodus. Jesus walks straight into death at the hands of unjust political and religious systems. But like the first exodus survives and paves the way for a new way of living. a New way of living where it is ok to pursue a life of justice and righteousness above all else because the unjust even those with the power to kill will not triumph. Even if we die death will not be the end.

Where Was God At Easter?

Having pondered about the inadequateness of the penal substitution metaphor for some time. Every so often I'll come across yet another part of the bible where the penal substitution metaphor justice doesn't cut it. This Easter was no different. The question I wondered was who was God with at the crucifixion Jesus or the Romans. If you believe in the trinity then god is with Jesus on the cross, if you believe in penal substitution then god is with the Romans sending Jesus to die on the cross. Penal substitution can be a helpful metaphor but only when it is a metaphor among many and not the only metaphor.