John Lennon, peace, and the Incarnation

Posted on December 14, 2008 by me

It seems that every time I turn on the radio this season, they’re playing Lennon’s Happy Christmas (War is Over), and ever time I hear it I think to myself, “John Lennon was an idiot.”  In reality, of course, he wasn’t, except for his letting Yoko think for him.  It’s actually not a bad song; I think it’s “war is over, if you want it” chant in the background that gets on my nerves.  It’s all so, well, 70’s. On the other hand, Christmas is about peace on Earth, good will t’ward men; but can this be reduced to “war is over if you want it?”

What Christmas is really about is something far more real than the mere absence of war. Yes, it’s about the Incarnation – God becoming man, and indwelling his creation. But, it’s even more than that; to look at Christmas as a mere anniversary or commemoration of something this happened long ago is to do Christmas – and us – a discredit.  Christmas is a reminder of an ongoing incarnation; it tells us that even deism isn’t enough. God is not “watching from a distance,” nor is He merely an occasional visitor; Christmas marks the beginning of an ongoing presence of God among us.

Consider this: the Incarnation was not a temporary act. While Jesus was only bodily present on Earth for about 33 years, Jesus did not stop being the “God-man” after the Ascension.  He didn’t leave his body in the tomb; it was resurrected, and it ascended with the rest of him. We look for Jesus’ bodily return, not some spiritualized version. When God became man, He made an eternal commitment; or rather, He demonstrated an eternal commitment that He had already made. Don’t be tricked by some kind of Platonic dualism that has us believe that Christmas is mere history; God indwells His creation, He indwells us, and He is present. With the birth of Christ, Heaven and Earth are joined together, eternally.

“Peace on Earth” is no trite holiday saying, and it’s not just talking about the absence of war.  The absence of war would be nice, but it wouldn’t be enough. As Jesus told his disciples, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. ” (John 14:27)  The peace of Christmas is also not just a spiritual, internal peace. That, too, would understate the Incarnational reality of the peace of Christmas.  The peace that Christmas represents, the peace that passes all understanding, is only possible where Heaven has invaded, and been joined to, Earth.

Part of the worship at Lutheran and Episcopalian services is the “passing of the peace.” More than just having the pastor declare a blessing of “peace be with you,” it is the congregation that blesses each other with peace; this practice reminds us that peace is not only ours to receive, but we have the obligation to “pass the peace.”  It’s not just a good feeling, it is an incarnational act.

At Christmas time, singing, “War is over, if you want it” is to miss the point, to come up short of the real meaning of Christmas. What we should be singing is, “Peace is yours, if you want it,” recognizing the depth of what that really means.

Peace.

Posted in Theological Musings | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Are modernism and Christianity incompatible?

Posted on December 12, 2008 by me

John Loftus claims that modernity is the Achilles’ Heel of Christianity, something I’ve discussed before, and addressed again in my “teacup” analogy.  Could he be right?

Of course, Loftus believes that modernism (the operative Western worldview which is based on rationalism, a belief in progress, and which depends heavily on the scientific method) is good. He would believe this, because he is as modern as can be, and this is what modernism teaches. It is all very circular: Modernism presumes that progress is inherently good. We as a species know more today than we did yesterday (but not as much as tomorrow).  Evolution is progressive, not regressive. Every day, in every way, we get better and better. It’s all a load of hooey, but even though you realize this, if you take time to really think through what you believe about a great many things, you will find that you, too, think this way. It’s in the water, it’s in the air – every day of our lives we eat and breathe modernism. Even what is being passed around as postmodernism is 90% basic modernism.  As Loftus once pointed out to me, even I’m modern.

However, I am aware of it.

I don’t think that everything about modernism is bad; for example, reason and logic are good, in its place. The scientific method, as a tool, is also good. However, what modernism did was to shrink the worldview around these elements, and added a belief in the inevitability of progress and a disdain for anything pre-modern, other than as an object of study. Progress says that the worldview enlarged; however, in reality, by dismissing everything it didn’t want to deal with, in actuality the worldview shrunk. (See the aforementioned Teacup Analogy).

As I have expressed in my Teacup Analogy, it is my current hypothesis that if you try to shrink Christianity to fit within the constraints of modernism, you’re in trouble, because in order to do so, the terms of modernism require you to not just shrink Christianity, but rather to chop off the corners of Christianity to fit within modernism’s round hole (sorry for switching metaphors). The problem, as I see it, is that modernism is an inadequate and defective worldview, and in order to address Christianity completely within modernism as Loftus does is to render Christianity inadequate and defective as well.

I am not sure, however, that the great apologists would agree with me.  I would be very interested to hear what someone like William Lane Craig (who I would tend to place at the top of that list) would say about my hypothesis.  Loftus, in the post I linked to above, has challenged Craig (and any other Christian apologist) to debate him on the issue of Christianity vs Modernism, which I think would be very interesting. Are Christianity and modernism incompatible, or can a complete Christianity survive entirely within the confince of modernism?

Posted in Epistemology, Faith, Science & Doubt, Philosophy, Theological Musings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A great Advent sermon

Posted on December 9, 2008 by me

This past Sunday I visited an Episcopal church, the first time for this particular church.  For those of you who aren’t of the liturgical persuasion, when you go to an Episcopal, Lutheran, Catholic or Orthodox church, you go for the liturgy, not for the sermon.  The sermon – which is usually and refreshingly quite brief by Evangelical standards – is somewhat of a bonus, especially if it’s good, although it is still is important in the whole worship context.  I was very pleased on Sunday to leave the worship service impressed with not only the liturgy (standard Book of Common Prayer)  and the quality of the music (which was incredible), but also with the quality of the sermon. It was almost like listening to N.T. Wright, without the British accent.

In the sermon, we were reminded and encouraged that John the Baptist, whose assignment was to announce the advent, as it were, of the public ministry of the Messiah, operated in the wilderness.  He was neither a TV personality nor a street-corner prophet; he was, if you will, an oracle, and people had to go out to the wilderness to find him. In other words, he was inconvenient. And, if you believe at all that the medium is the message, and I think it does, it tells us that the Gospel is inconvenient. It’s not necessarily easy to find, and many of us have to walk a difficult road to access it. As is confirmed again and again in the Bible, God is revealed in the wilderness, in the desert, in exile, in prison; he is revealed in all kinds of very inconvenient places. The Good News is that in the midst of our trials – which I can relate to at the moment, as I’m currently out of a job and fairly stressed – God is revealed. The Advent season celebrates, among other things, the trials and tribulations of a pregnant woman forced to travel as her due date arrives. It’s all so inconvenient, but God will be revealed.

We were also reminded that Advent, the celebration of the incarnation and the revelation of the Christ, is also the advent of the New Creation. With the incarnation, God entering Creation in a new and very personal way, the New Creation was initiated. Advent is the celebration of creation and re-creation, it is the season of hope and new life. God has become incarnate, and is about to be revealed. Christmas is more than just a birthday, where we stand around the manger and think, “isn’t he cute?” Christmas is the acknowledgment that God has set the wheels in motion; the New Creation is underway, and we are a part of it.

These are some of my thoughts, loosely based on Sunday’s sermon. I know there were good points made that I’ve forgotten; this is one sermon where I wished I had taken notes. However, I’ve grasped the essence of the message, and I thnk it will have a lingering impact on my understanding and appreciation for Advent.

Posted in NT Wright, Theological Musings | 1 Comment

And the Word became flesh …

Posted on December 7, 2008 by me

The Incarnation – the Word become flesh, God become man, the Heavenly become Earthly – is without a doubt the one theological aspect which has gripped me over the years.  Just think, the Creator of Heaven and Earth entering Creation, entering created Time itself, without causing the nuclear meltdown of the whole universe, it really incomprehensible.  And not only that;  that God throughout history has chosen to reveal Himself through the more common elements of his creation.  God born in a stable (imagine the smell… and it wasn’t cinnamon or incense); baptism in dirty rivers; God nailed naked to a tree; partaking of the divine through wine and broken bread.  That nothing in Creation, no matter how lowly or crude, is unfit for the presence of God to fill, convert and use – this is amazing. This is the Incarnation. This is why I love Advent – the prime time of the Christian calendar in which to focus on this inexplicable reality.

For more thoughts on the Incarnation, I will direct you to an article by NT Wright in Christianity Today, What is this word?

Posted in Theological Musings | Tagged , , | 2 Comments