Only a few more weeks till classes our done for my first quarter here at Fuller. My time here has been such a gift, blessings of education and perspective, community and loving relationships, and God's hand appearing in outright ways to guide and bless us and those we care for. My most enjoyable class, christian ethics, is coming to a close and I wanted to share a theological thought our professor Dr. Lee has emphasized over and over. Trinity.
Trinity brings up some strange reactions and thoughts. Seems like a very abstract concept, 3-in-1, with perhaps no practical purpose or relevance to normal everyday people. Not many sermons are based on the Trinity and its implications, at least ones I've heard. Yet, what I've learned about this ancient theological belief is changing the way I see all of life. The idea behind trinity is that God, three distinct person in one essence, are and have been in loving relationships with one another before time began. These relationships are reciprocating, loving, focusing on the others desire. The closest thing on earth we have to compare is marriage; two becoming one, choosing to lay down one's time, energy, 'life' for the other in love. Genesis 1 alludes to this community God, "Let us make man in OUR image". This relational focused God has always been loving, always been in a dance of give and take, and out of that eternal love birthed creation into being to share in their love. What does this mean? We were created for relationships- God, self, others... to put it simply in MLK's words. This is transforming my way of thinking about the purpose of life.
With that short introduction into the giant concept of trinity, I want to share a few of Martin Luther King Jr.'s ideas. I knew almost nothing about this prophet of human rights before this class. My professor, Dr. Lee, has written a book on King's theology and spiritual passion that directed his movement. King's overarching goal of the non-violent movement was the pursuing of the "beloved community", made up of all races under the love of God and seeing the image of God in one another. This was King's "Dream", and it is trinity incarnate. I find it invigorating that such a powerful movement with fueled not only by love, but for the goal of a world community of love for one another. King saw all life as interrelated. If your neighbor robbed, you are hurt as well. King said that, "the universe is structured that if I am not caring for my neighbor, it will not run rightly." As Desmund Tutu declares, "God has a dream".
I thought it strange and interesting that an Asian American would write a book on MLK. But it illustrates both that we are far from this beloved community, that I (a white man) think it strange for Lee to write on this culture and struggle not his own. We are separated, segregated, and alienated from one another by our own mistrust, bad experiences, and we need God to reconcile us to one another as well as himself. Lee's book also illustrates the strings of love being sown together between black and asian cultures, at least in discussion and empathy.
I could write a good bit about this; Father, Son, and Spirit in loving relationship to one other wants us to do the same. The goal of life is changing for me. Actually, everything in life will be changing for me! Tal is pregnant! we saw the sonogram of the little belly bean on tuesday. He(she) moved around for us and kicked his little legs! What a miracle- we have no idea whats going on in there! Knit him/her together! Our beloved community is growing :) we are both excited and nervous a bit about the pregnancy. Your prayers are loved for our lil raspberry. September 23rd is our due date.
One last comment on Trinity and the need for community in our lives. Think of your day-2-day life. What brings you the most energy? What fills you with life and refreshment?
Isn't it relationships? Investing love into them? That personal connection that moves you and the other into mutual life giving interaction. A word, a compliment. A deed, someone cleaned the lent collector in the dryer for you. A genuine smile. Being genuine is so important.
Think about the most life draining things of your day... is it a relationship?
The universe is interrelated. Life or death can be breathed into us by another.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Theocracy!?
One month we've been in California, second week of Fuller classes. We talked a lot about finances before we came out here and even more now that were here. I could have gotten the same degree on paper in Ga for 1/3 of the cost... but it would only be the same on paper. The Fuller classes have been so refreshing, eye opening, and simply wonderful- I'm so glad we chose Fuller.
I had an interview yesterday for a potential job working with Autistic children and their families to develop "Floortime". Its a technique that uses natural play time with developing communication and connection- using play to learn! I don't know much of the technique yet but I am so excited to have the opportunity to counsel even before my degree!
Here's a short clip on Floortime with its founder Dr. Stanley Greenspan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrXGh9bT0Sw
Right now I am in a Christian Ethics class, in which we are study where did our general moral standards come from, the mindsets of modernism and postmodernism and their effect on our society's morality today. I had always heard of modern and postmodern but never really understood their mindsets- now I realize that I've been influenced by both! I won't go into their details, but I do want to highlight on a point that I've been questioning for awhile. Theocracy.
Ever heard, "We need to get back to the morals that made this christian nation great!" or "Its all gone down hill since they took prayer out of schools," or even "Homosexuals should not be allowed to marry in this country!" I've heard these phrases a lot coming from the right, the church, and people in general. I have always thought, what role should christians play in government that governs all people, not just christians? "Jesus for President" by Shane Claiborne first struck a chord in me by emphasizing that we don't put our trust in Red or Blue, but in our Trinity God to save us. We are under a new party, Christ.
In Christian Ethics, we're studying a book "Choosing the Good" by Dennis Hollinger, that speaks about how some christian groups are trying to form a Theocracy, a government controlled, in some aspect, by a religion. For a reference point Iraq and Iran are theocracies of Islam, completely controlled and directed by the faith. Hollinger points out that this mode of government is unfair to other religions/sects and has a history of corruption. Catholic indulgences, Henry the XIII and his church of England... his 7ish (cant remember #) beheaded wives. Forcing others to convert or die by military force like the missionaries to North and South America (not all missionaries). There is considerable evidence in our history that a religiously bias government is just that, a bias government. If one religion, whichever it may be, is favored in a government other religions are the outsiders and their right be heard can be comprised.
"There is a different and better way... a commitment to truth and pluralism that need not contradict". (pg.252) Pluralism here meaning the mixing of many different cultures and beliefs so common in our global society. This approach would mean Christians advocating for their voices to be heard in the pubic area, which is now so often dominated by the 'secular', there is no ear to hear the concerns and opinions of people of faith. But it would also mean Christians advocating for the rights of all other religions to be heard. We don't necessarily have to believe everything they do to seek their right to be heard along side us. It is our "cherishing of human rights and freedoms, which come from an understanding that all people are created in the image of God" that motivates Me to this position.
This is just one point Hollinger makes about how and why Christians can and should interact with the public area differently. Not seeking to force our morals legally onto another... that does not cultivate a relationship with the loving God. That is giving disciplinary power to the police to ticket you for 'taking the Lord's name in vain' or another one of the Ten Commandments. If you're interested in more, I'd love to send you some more info via email:
andrew.phillips08@gmail.com
May our Lord's love and peace be in your lives. New adventures are on the horizon.
I had an interview yesterday for a potential job working with Autistic children and their families to develop "Floortime". Its a technique that uses natural play time with developing communication and connection- using play to learn! I don't know much of the technique yet but I am so excited to have the opportunity to counsel even before my degree!
Here's a short clip on Floortime with its founder Dr. Stanley Greenspan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrXGh9bT0Sw
Right now I am in a Christian Ethics class, in which we are study where did our general moral standards come from, the mindsets of modernism and postmodernism and their effect on our society's morality today. I had always heard of modern and postmodern but never really understood their mindsets- now I realize that I've been influenced by both! I won't go into their details, but I do want to highlight on a point that I've been questioning for awhile. Theocracy.
Ever heard, "We need to get back to the morals that made this christian nation great!" or "Its all gone down hill since they took prayer out of schools," or even "Homosexuals should not be allowed to marry in this country!" I've heard these phrases a lot coming from the right, the church, and people in general. I have always thought, what role should christians play in government that governs all people, not just christians? "Jesus for President" by Shane Claiborne first struck a chord in me by emphasizing that we don't put our trust in Red or Blue, but in our Trinity God to save us. We are under a new party, Christ.
In Christian Ethics, we're studying a book "Choosing the Good" by Dennis Hollinger, that speaks about how some christian groups are trying to form a Theocracy, a government controlled, in some aspect, by a religion. For a reference point Iraq and Iran are theocracies of Islam, completely controlled and directed by the faith. Hollinger points out that this mode of government is unfair to other religions/sects and has a history of corruption. Catholic indulgences, Henry the XIII and his church of England... his 7ish (cant remember #) beheaded wives. Forcing others to convert or die by military force like the missionaries to North and South America (not all missionaries). There is considerable evidence in our history that a religiously bias government is just that, a bias government. If one religion, whichever it may be, is favored in a government other religions are the outsiders and their right be heard can be comprised.
"There is a different and better way... a commitment to truth and pluralism that need not contradict". (pg.252) Pluralism here meaning the mixing of many different cultures and beliefs so common in our global society. This approach would mean Christians advocating for their voices to be heard in the pubic area, which is now so often dominated by the 'secular', there is no ear to hear the concerns and opinions of people of faith. But it would also mean Christians advocating for the rights of all other religions to be heard. We don't necessarily have to believe everything they do to seek their right to be heard along side us. It is our "cherishing of human rights and freedoms, which come from an understanding that all people are created in the image of God" that motivates Me to this position.
This is just one point Hollinger makes about how and why Christians can and should interact with the public area differently. Not seeking to force our morals legally onto another... that does not cultivate a relationship with the loving God. That is giving disciplinary power to the police to ticket you for 'taking the Lord's name in vain' or another one of the Ten Commandments. If you're interested in more, I'd love to send you some more info via email:
andrew.phillips08@gmail.com
May our Lord's love and peace be in your lives. New adventures are on the horizon.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Aflame
My mind is aflame with thoughts of how to live life, possibilities of the future and present, and what we need to do now. We have been here in California for 3 weeks now, and the transition has not been easy for either of us. We miss our friends. We miss the familiarity of old sites. We miss the consideration of another. But I am not writing this BLOG to vent, I am writing it to express the thought paths developing inside.
Questions are what brought us here to Fuller. Sam Keen, I picked up his book "Hymns to an Unknown God" at my aunt's house in Pinos Altos, NM. He is a writer, philosopher, and at one time editor for Psychology today for 20 years. I popped it open and read a part from the middle- i like to do that to get a taste of a book- and I have been taken with Keen, his writing style and insights about the human journey. His urge is for us to experience the spirit of life/God/ourselves in everyday life- not merely in the halls of a church. Calling for the awakening that "everything is spiritual" (thank you rob bell), Keen retells stories of his and others past to stimulate our spirits (our inner lives) to come to life again from the numbing busyness and over-stimulation that accompanies our culture. He speaks of the treasure of silence, which I am a believer in. But the point that struck me most was about our bodies.
"Glory in the Lowest" is Keen's clever word play about getting back in touch with our senses. In many mainstream religions there has always been a separation from the carnal and the spiritual- one the highest good, the other a entangling evil, or a temporary tent at best. From Buddhism's practice of the body and its desires as the causation of suffering with relief being the dis-attachment of all things, to Christianity's outlook of the flesh, like gravity, pulling us constantly toward sin and temptation. I had always felt this contradiction within from my spirit and body- viewing my flesh bad, spirit good. Keen explains that our body/mind/spirit are all connected, and he invites us to find glory in our lowly senses- touch, taste, sight, sound, smell. These most basic attributes to all human kind are such gifts, such a thing to be celebrated and are yet held cautiously at arm's length. Practicing of enjoyment of the senses inspires and brings life to the spirit. It connects us to the physical life and reality around us.
To save you friend from my long ramblings of these thoughts I'll try to summarize. Keen's insights about our "glory in the lowest" inspired and freed me to genuinely enjoy life! I have sensed a barrier in myself between my desires and my duties, my spirit and flesh, dissolve and be able to guilelessly and effortlessly enjoy the moment. Yet, the enjoyment and acceptance of the body is just one peak on an inward mountain range. Questions have emerged in me from this book that would have scared me years ago. I am a little scared to write this as I don't know what my readers/friends will think, but I want to write my thoughts- if only to tell someone.
In my attempts to live a christian life I have felt a burden, a continual nagging that I am not doing enough, doing it right, praying enough, etc. After confessing this to a dear friend he suggested that I take the next day and do whatever I felt like doing. Heresy? Sounded like it, but the soul crushing guilt I knew could not be from a Lord of Love. During my time at the Monastery in Conyers Ga, I discovered a great guilt that accompanied missing a devotion, not praying 'enough' (an hour a day in my mind). The picture was of God as a giant whining baby, emotionally unstable and prone to tantrums if I missed my agreed upon schedule. I knew this could not be God either and was freed of my quiet time guilt. These steps along my journey are what have led me to believe that the inward journey will lead us to truth- self reflection and silence. My newest mark of freedom comes in thinking about the will of God differently. Instead of constantly asking God what i should do, I have been listening to my own heart, my own desires and following them unashamedly. Enjoying the time playing a video-game, laughing at a goofy look with Shantal, resting in the peace that comes from your dog snuggled up against your leg- all glories of life inspired by love. At first my thought is that perhaps God's will is ambivalent to what we do. There is no right and wrong in choices- freedom is ours for the taking! But thanks to my recent exploration into Quakerism and their emphasis on the individuals faith journey, I see that there is a great 'good' will, a transcendent will inspiring people.
It is very hard to put it into words- but I feel free to be my true-self (Merton), and letting my true-self explore what it wants, and in the process revealing myself to myself. Part of that freedom is the relaxation in my prespective of God's expectations of me. As Brother Hugh said to me at the Monastery, "Relax- you always grow more when you're relaxed".
Questions are what brought us here to Fuller. Sam Keen, I picked up his book "Hymns to an Unknown God" at my aunt's house in Pinos Altos, NM. He is a writer, philosopher, and at one time editor for Psychology today for 20 years. I popped it open and read a part from the middle- i like to do that to get a taste of a book- and I have been taken with Keen, his writing style and insights about the human journey. His urge is for us to experience the spirit of life/God/ourselves in everyday life- not merely in the halls of a church. Calling for the awakening that "everything is spiritual" (thank you rob bell), Keen retells stories of his and others past to stimulate our spirits (our inner lives) to come to life again from the numbing busyness and over-stimulation that accompanies our culture. He speaks of the treasure of silence, which I am a believer in. But the point that struck me most was about our bodies.
"Glory in the Lowest" is Keen's clever word play about getting back in touch with our senses. In many mainstream religions there has always been a separation from the carnal and the spiritual- one the highest good, the other a entangling evil, or a temporary tent at best. From Buddhism's practice of the body and its desires as the causation of suffering with relief being the dis-attachment of all things, to Christianity's outlook of the flesh, like gravity, pulling us constantly toward sin and temptation. I had always felt this contradiction within from my spirit and body- viewing my flesh bad, spirit good. Keen explains that our body/mind/spirit are all connected, and he invites us to find glory in our lowly senses- touch, taste, sight, sound, smell. These most basic attributes to all human kind are such gifts, such a thing to be celebrated and are yet held cautiously at arm's length. Practicing of enjoyment of the senses inspires and brings life to the spirit. It connects us to the physical life and reality around us.
To save you friend from my long ramblings of these thoughts I'll try to summarize. Keen's insights about our "glory in the lowest" inspired and freed me to genuinely enjoy life! I have sensed a barrier in myself between my desires and my duties, my spirit and flesh, dissolve and be able to guilelessly and effortlessly enjoy the moment. Yet, the enjoyment and acceptance of the body is just one peak on an inward mountain range. Questions have emerged in me from this book that would have scared me years ago. I am a little scared to write this as I don't know what my readers/friends will think, but I want to write my thoughts- if only to tell someone.
In my attempts to live a christian life I have felt a burden, a continual nagging that I am not doing enough, doing it right, praying enough, etc. After confessing this to a dear friend he suggested that I take the next day and do whatever I felt like doing. Heresy? Sounded like it, but the soul crushing guilt I knew could not be from a Lord of Love. During my time at the Monastery in Conyers Ga, I discovered a great guilt that accompanied missing a devotion, not praying 'enough' (an hour a day in my mind). The picture was of God as a giant whining baby, emotionally unstable and prone to tantrums if I missed my agreed upon schedule. I knew this could not be God either and was freed of my quiet time guilt. These steps along my journey are what have led me to believe that the inward journey will lead us to truth- self reflection and silence. My newest mark of freedom comes in thinking about the will of God differently. Instead of constantly asking God what i should do, I have been listening to my own heart, my own desires and following them unashamedly. Enjoying the time playing a video-game, laughing at a goofy look with Shantal, resting in the peace that comes from your dog snuggled up against your leg- all glories of life inspired by love. At first my thought is that perhaps God's will is ambivalent to what we do. There is no right and wrong in choices- freedom is ours for the taking! But thanks to my recent exploration into Quakerism and their emphasis on the individuals faith journey, I see that there is a great 'good' will, a transcendent will inspiring people.
It is very hard to put it into words- but I feel free to be my true-self (Merton), and letting my true-self explore what it wants, and in the process revealing myself to myself. Part of that freedom is the relaxation in my prespective of God's expectations of me. As Brother Hugh said to me at the Monastery, "Relax- you always grow more when you're relaxed".
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