Hacking Christianity

Trust in the Slow Work of God

Glass is one of the slowest forms of liquid (h/t)

If I had to name a theological assurance that I put my trust into each and every day, it would be "Trust in the Slow Work of God." Now, I usually understood it to be an amalgamation of Psalm affirmations (Psalm 37:7-9 comes to mind), but I just found out it is actually a poem by a Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, though he takes a slightly different angle than I understand it. I'm sure you already knew that, but it was a gaping hole in my reading!

Here's his poem for yours (and my) benefit (h/t Steve Bogner):
===================================

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We would like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
And yet, it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability -
and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually - let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don't try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time,
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming in you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.

You bring your own fire to Hell

Kester Brewin posted recently on a little-known Hindu tale of one of their gods who travels to hell. While certainly not in the Christian canon, it's got an interesting final line that I'm still musing on. Enjoy:

One day Lal Shabaz Qalander was wandering in the desert with his friend Sheikh Baha ud-Din Zakariya. It was winter, and bitterly cold and as the evening came they decided to build a fire to keep warm while they camped. They gathered some wood and built a pyre, but then realised that they had no way to ignite it. So Baha ud-Din suggested that Lal Shabaz turn himself into a falcon, fly down and bring some fire from hell.

Off he flew, and hours passed. Eventually the bird-god soared back to Baha ud-Din, and fluttered to his side, empty-handed. Cold and bewildered Baha ud-Din asked him why he had not brought fire back with him. “There is no fire in hell,” he reported, changing back into his usual form. “Everyone who goes there from this world brings their own.”

Thoughts/reflections? Remind you of any Christian mysticism or writings?

There is no such thing as not worshipping

Novelist David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide two years ago, gave a commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005. It has this amazing nugget at the tail-end that I find powerful (h/t Andrew Sullivan):

In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.

And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship--be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles--is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.

If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.

Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they're evil or sinful, it's that they're unconscious. They are default settings.

They're the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that's what you're doing.

And the so-called real world will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the so-called real world of men and money and power hums merrily along in a pool of fear and anger and frustration and craving and worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom all to be lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the centre of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it.

But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving.... The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day."

Wow.

Thoughts?

Great Depression, Part Deux? [quote]

We had a study last night on the history of the Christian Church when this quote came up. This was written in 1985 by Justo Gonzalez in The Story of Christianity: Volume Two - The Reformation to the Present Day about the Great Depression in the 1930. I have bolded the interesting sections...remember this was writtin in 1985.

On October 24, 1929, panic gripped the New York Stock Exchange. With short periods of slight recovery, the market continued dropping until the middle of 1930. By then, most of the western world was in the middle of a great economic depression. One-fourth of the labor force in the United States was unemployed. Britain and other nations had social security systems and unemployment insurance. In the United States, fear of socialism had prevented such measures; therefore, the unemployed found themselves entirely on their own, or forced to seek charity from relatives, friends, or churches. Soup kitchens and breadlines became common sights in all major cities and many smaller towns. Runs on banks, bankruptcies, and foreclosures reached a record high.

At first, the nation faced the Great Depression with the optimism that had characterized earlier decades. President Hoover and his cabinet continued denying the existence of a depression for months after the market had crashed. When they finally admitted that there was a depression, they insisted that the American economy was sufficiently sound to rebound by itself, and that the free workings of the marketplace were the best way to ensure an economic recovery. Although the president himself was a compassionate man who suffered with the plight of the unemployed, there were around him those who rejoiced in the hope that the Depression would break the labor unions. When finally the government intervened to prevent further bankruptcies in industry and commerce, comedian Will Rogers quipped that money was being given to those at the top hoping that it would “trickle down to the needy.’

Gonzalez, 1985, 376

Still don't think there are parallels to today? Foreclosures at record highs? Fears of socialism? An entire school's union fired? Bailouts at the top hoping to trickle down to the bottom? Wow.

This isn't a partisan political discussion...but it is an interesting parallel that the Church has to decide how to respond. How do we offer hope in the midst of similar despair? How do we not repeat the mistakes of the past and seek new relevance today?

Thoughts?

It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us

Weird convergence of random quotes that all seem to be talking about the same thing.

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson, co-leader of the USA Department of Peace movement
(quote often wrongly attributed to Nelson Mandela)

"And this is undoubtedly true, that there is a repentance and a faith, which are, more especially, necessary at the beginning: a repentance, which is a conviction of our utter sinfulness, and guiltiness, and helplessness; and which precedes our receiving that kingdom of God, which, our Lord observes, is within us; and a faith, whereby we receive that kingdom, even righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

John Wesley "The New Birth" sermon

Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) imperial rule is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) imperial rule is inside you and outside you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty."

Gospel of Thomas, 3

Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.’

Luke 17:20-21, NRSV

thoughts? reflections?

God is a Hacker, Not an Engineer

Ran across a quote that sounded interesting and lets me geek out a bit; thought I would share.

"Contrary to the ultra-Darwinist view, reverse engineering doesn't always work in biology for the simple reason that God is not an engineer; God's a hacker."

Francis Crick, Co-discoverer of DNS

I think the original reference is the chaotic mutations and random genetic transformations of organic beings make for a big difficulty to start with a frog and end up with complete fish genetics. However, it becomes exponentially more difficult with rapidly growing and complex organs like the human brain as the brain changes daily from utero to death. Reverse-engineering the human brain and creating a robotic or synthetic one that replicates human brains (the Singularity) and passes scrutiny as a human being (the Turing Test) is nigh impossible.* In this sense, because of the human brain, we may never become God-like creators of our own image.

However, there's a question of theology in the quote as well. As mentioned at a Slashdot discussion on the above quote, if God is a hacker then we would expect the "code" to be clean and foolproof. After all, hacking into a system written by someone smarter than you is exponentially more difficult; and if God was the engineer, then finite humans are sunk trying to completely understand God's creation.

However, our DNA is practically a binary system, with four pairs as the basis for its complexity. Our own DNA has crap DNA strands that mean nothing other than evolutionary history (the Appendix, anyone?). Damaged brains teach us that brains rewrite themselves on the fly, not from some systematic reboot. So we don't have a highly complex brain that is perfectly written with neat engineer code; rather, we have a haphazard hacked system patched on the fly that can fail at any moment and it is a wonder that all the neurons continue firing.

If God is a hacker, then there's hope for humanity. There's hope because all of us are damaged systems just trying to make sense of the world around us, one day at a time. We will never find a complete reboot and will never find a clean slate; we will never find a religious system that we completely agree with or that is faultless; we will never be completely born again (wiped?) and will have to deal with our human histories and failings. But God is a hacker and can patch us, update us, bring us to new heights unimaginable if we allow God in past our firewalls and our protections. Indeed, God can offer us salvation beyond our own construction, can insert new code for life eternal.

If God is a hacker, then hack us into new creations with fresh stirrings of our radical human potential and incredible dependency on God for all things new.**

* Yes, I just watched Battlestar Galactica for the first time. So Cylons that look like humans until you burn their bodies is a neat commentary on what life would be like post-Singularity.

**Ugh, sometimes I hate it that ridiculous nerdy analogies like that flow freely from my brain, and yet I'm serving the Church in rural farmland. Ah well, that's why I blog, eh?

::EDIT:: And the followup quote by a fellow researcher expounds on the above quote.

“My colleague Francis Crick used to say that God is a hacker, not an engineer,” Dr. Ramachandran said. “You can do reverse engineering, but you can’t do reverse hacking.”

V.S. Ramachandran, "phantom limb syndrome" researcher

John Wesley Quote for Breakfast

Found on another Methoblog (Richard Hall) today, a quote from John Wesley on the cycles of temptation that christian systems must face.

“Does it not seem (and yet this cannot be) that Christianity, true scriptural Christianity, has a tendency, in process of time, to undermine and destroy itself? For wherever true Christianity spreads, it must cause diligence and frugality, which, in the natural course of things, must beget riches! and riches naturally beget pride, love of the world, and every temper that is destructive of Christianity. Now, if there be no way to prevent this, Christianity is inconsistent with itself, and, of consequence, cannot stand, cannot continue long among any people; since, wherever it generally prevails, it saps its own foundation.”

Causes of the Inefficacy of Christianity, John Wesley, 1789

To me, this is justification for hacking Christianity. When Christianity becomes inconsistent, when the system is faulty, then it is up to the edge to call the center back to accountability to the God who calls us to right relationships. Be it prosperity-gospel suburban churches or poor urban churches, there's always ways to be called back to Christ.

I'm not sure that I'm completely with Mr. Wesley...humans are faulty and this is not always preventable by any ordinary means. But, like Wesley, I believe in a God who forgives. Whenever Christianity loses its way and dilutes the Jesus story in the waters of capitalism, sexism, and violence, then we can ask forgiveness and find our way back to our foundations. If you can forgive your church and yourself, then you can hack Christianity too.

And along the way, we've got to remove the structures and the traditions which put us down that road in the first place. And that's what we're doing here at HX.net.

(edit...I accidentally published instead of scheduled this post. so it went out this evening instead of for Breakfast. But oh well, maybe you like pancakes at night like I do!)

Non-political quote for Breakfast

Here's a quote that I would like to be seen in a HackingChristianity view, not in the political view it represents. This is a challenge, but the point being made is beyond partisanship, even though it is pointed at a particular party.

Ready? This is Oliver Willis commenting on the lack of racial diversity at the Republican National Convention.

If your message is targeted to one monoculture, and your noise machine largely run by that monoculture, you have no way of knowing how out of touch you are. Most Republican pols and conservatives simply have no true gauge for when they’re speaking in an exclusionary manner...The Republicans, even more than in the past, have decided to get their monochromatic base motivated to the exclusion of everyone else.

This speaks directly of the echo-chamber that we talk about here. When our news media is customized to reflect our monoculture, when our neighborhoods are chosen to reflect our monoculture, and when our gatherings speak only to those who share our culture, then how will we know that the world is changing? And more dangerously, if by hearing the same culture reflected back at us, we may become more radical and thus more hostile to the world around us.

For us to be relevant in an ever-changing world, it's time to move out of our comfort zones and into areas where we don't agree with everyone. Because if not, we may end up looking like a homogenous Christian society that has burned every bridge around us and just wants to be left alone.

Quotes for Breakfast: Recovering Christians

Quote of the day is from The Emerging Christian Way (2006), a compilation of progressive Christian theologians and authors. I found one that screamed HX to me.

Recovering Christians outnumber practicing Christians in the world today.

Matthew Fox, "A Postdenominational Priest in a Postdenominational Era" found in The Emerging Christian Way, 114.

There walk among us persons whom the form of Christianity they have received is broken, unable to support the reality in which they find themselves. The old images and orthodox theologies don't speak to them. Detractors may say "there's more Christians today than ever before" but are they practicing? And by practice, I don't mean going through the motions and actions, but actually integrating discipleship to Christ into their daily life and putting their whole trust in his grace?

It is to these people who attend Church every sunday, who do good works for the poor, but find their intellectual and spiritual appropriation of the Good News to be stunted and unwieldy that HX is good for. We talk about different off-kilter ways of seeing the Good News that may be helpful.

Why not invite a friend, one of those recovering Christians, to read us today?

Quotes for Breakfast

Quote

From Beliefnet:

Christianity ... is always in need of re-simplifying, going back to its origins, ridding itself of the excessive superstructure it has acquired through history.

- José Comblin, Catholic theologian in Brazil

Reflection

In my kitchen there are six LAYERS of wallpaper. When it gets muggy, you can see the walls sag a bit as the weight of all the layers pull at each other. In some parts of the house, you can see the original wallpaper, just scratches here and there. To expose the original wallpaper (or even the paint), we'd have to tear the pieces off slowly and steadily.

In a simple phrase from Fr. Comblin, that encapsulates one mission of this website.

That's what the writings on Wikipedia are all about: removing the layers of bureaucracy to expose Christian opportunities and lay empowerment.
That's what the writings on starfish churches are all about: removing the layers of the hierarchy to expose Christian community
That what Hacking Christianity is all about: peeling back the layers and removing the wallpaper that covers up the truth and life of the Christian faith.

And if we have to tear down the walls to get at the heart of the Christian faith...we will.

The Overheard Gospel

There's a book called "Overheard in New York" which details overheard everyday conversations. Most of it is salty language, but there's some gems in it. From the website:

20-something tall black bellhop: I challenge you, right now, to a salsa dance-off.
70-year-old short Latino bellhop: Go get a radio.

Father to little daughter: You are the most beautiful girl in this photo... and I'm not biased. (daughter smiles)
Father: Do you know what "biased" means?
Daughter (rolling her eyes): Yes, it means that you like both boys and girls.

Little tourist boy: Mommy! Look, that lady is a Nazi!
Frazzled tourist mom: What? Oh... Honey, that nice lady is hailing a cab, not Hitler.

The voyeuristic pleasure we get from these conversations is not only their hilarity, but the fact that they were situational, meant to flitter away like bubbles in the park. The participants never expected anyone to write them down and immortalize them on the Internets.

This started me thinking on the overheard Gospel. Often at coffeeshops (where I used to write my seminary papers), my ears would perk up whenever I heard a theological conversation. I listened to marital counseling, anti-mormon tirades, and agnostic ponderings. Occasionally I joined in. I wouldn't have written down the conversations, and the discussants never intended to either.

Until the internet came. C. Scott Andreas expounds:

Unlike conversations over coffee that pass into the air, dialogue in the blogosphere can be searched and referenced by others in the future.

"A Networked E-cclesia" in Wikiklesia: Volume One

The ripple effect of our words and our proclamation of the Gospel is much wider than before. What is said locally on the streets of New York becomes a global-selling book. What we say on one blog can be referenced by another blog on the other side of the globe. Indeed, before a person is told of the Good News of Christ...chances are that she has overheard the Gospel already!

The lesson here? We must act in Christlike ways at all times. In all our actions, we are to speak the truth in appropriate ways. When I was struggling with this blog with a pastor colleague, my colleague said to me "Whenever I post, I make certain that I would be comfortable saying this publicly to anyone." And it is good advice: because ANYONE can READ THE BLOG!

While we laugh when a risque photo causes a supermodel to lose her crown, or when John McCain hates bloggers, or over the conversations of New Yorkers...we must remember that the Overheard Gospel is just as immortalized on the internets. Google indexes everything. Even your blog posts. I read my old ones from 6 years ago and am aghast at how I worded things...I was really mean!

There's the quote "You may be the only Bible the person you meet today ever reads."
I think there's an internet-age addendum: "You may be the only Bible the person you don't meet today ever reads."

So in all things, allow peaceful language and powerful encouragement to fall from your fingers onto the screen. A random google search may bring someone to them in a time of need, and what you say may forever impact them. What possibility in such few words!

Thoughts? How has the much longer lasting ripples of the internet affected the way you do ministry or talk about God/politics/hamsters?

Quote: Virtual Church

The convergence of the local and virtual church is destabilizing, but need not be feared. [The internet] has no more power to destroy the church than Caeser...Indeed, the church does not disappear in her virtual incarnations but takes on a new form that compliments the physical counterpart.

C. Scott Andreas, "A Networked E-cclesia"
in Wikiklesia Volume One

Following up on our lively discussion on "The Incarnation in a Virtual World," I found this very approrpiate.