we make the road by walking ......Advent 2 Magnificent Magnificat

MAGNIFICANT MAGNIFICAT: 

encountering an angel, Zachariah is struck dumb, as Elizabeth bears within he a new prophetic voice - John the Baptist - after centuries of silence 'a voice crying in the wilderness 'prepare the way of the Lord' Mary too encounters the angel and realising the impossible can happen, responds" 'be it to me according to your word' - impossible possibilities: possible impossibilities' Everything is turned on its head.. in the upside down kingdom... the weaker feminine takes the lead, the proud are silenced and the exalted are humbled and the humble are exulted. Hungry are filled with good things and the rich are sent away empty.....

my favourite quote this week (p85/86) :

That's what it means to be alive in the adventure of Jesus
We present ourselves
our bodies
our stories
our futures
our possibilities
even our limitations
'Here I am' we say with Mary
'Let it be with me according to your will'

we make the road by walking.... Advent 1

in holy::ground we are using Brian McLaren's Book as the source of our reflections during ADVENT from 30/Nov to 24/Dec.  using various resources from Brian McLaren's book 'We make the road by walking ...... You can join us in two main ways ONLINE and SUPPER conversations every Monday in Advent Details on holy::ground facebook group. You can also continue with Creative Art Journaling

Brian McLaren introduces his book here  - life is a journey and faith is an adventure and we make the road by walking....  

Brian McLaren singing his song 'we make the road by walking' 

the kindle edition of the Retreat book is available for £4.68



I tried a little creative journaling:  

After killing the white on the page with a paint wash I looked to see what I could see on the pages: 'As I looked the ancient of days took his seat. his clothing was white as snow & the hair of his head like pure wool & streams of fire came from him. the court sat .... and books were opened' (from Daniel) My ancient of days looks ever so slightly bored....

Stanley Spencer: Christ in the Wilderness (pt 2)

This is the 2nd blog about a series of Paintings by Stanley Spencer, 1891-1959, which are very appropriate for Lent. As I mentioned I  only just discovered them in a book at Offa House Diocesan Retreat Centre.   

They are powerful images of Christ's humanity in his (Lenten) 40 days in the Wilderness.   The text is taken from a brochure produced by the Art Gallery of Western Australia which houses all the painting. Only 8 paintings were ever completed, although here were apparently 16 sketches, all owned by the AGWA.  But Stanley's intention was to create a grid of 40 paintings, one for each day in the wilderness.......

I particularly like these 4 images as they are all interactions with the natural world and show a fascination with, even adoration of creation. 

The foxes have holes 1939 

‘ And Jesus saith unto him, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests; 

but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.’ Matthew 8:20 

The strong structure of the work is demonstrated by the composition in which the triangle formed by the foxes is interlocked with the triangle of the figure which opposes it. Christ is seen living in complete harmony with nature.

Christ in the wilderness: the hen

‘...how often would I have gathered my children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings...’ .Matthew 23:37
a relaxed Christ encircles and gives shelter to the Hen as she succours and shelters her chicks. 

The scorpion 1939 

‘Behold, I give unto you the power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: 

and nothing shall by any means hurt you.’ Luke 10:19 

The undulating surface of the figure relates to the hills seen behind, Christ is made one with the geology. 

Spencer marvelled at the empathy between such dangerous creatures as the scorpion and the power of love.

Consider the lilies 1939 

‘And why take ye thought of raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; 

they toil not neither do they spin; And yet I say unto you , 

that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.’ Matthew 6:28-29 

The bulky form of Christ which fills the canvas, is centrally placed amongst wildflowers, which are found in Cookham, Spencer’s home town.

  *********

Stanley Spencer (1891-1959)

A significant and eccentric British artist whose altering circumstances and condition are reflected in his artworks. His strong sense of place during his early years in Cookham and the sense of disorientation during World War II are both demonstrated in his very personal vision of Christ in the wilderness series. These works, which were painted between 1939 and 1954, may appear deceptively simple but on closer observation, they reveal a classical order where shapes and colours achieve a harmony. Spencer’s communication of his religious beliefs often over- rode the accuracy of his highly personal depiction of Christ.

Stanley Spencer: Christ in the Wilderness Pt 1

The series of Paintings by Stanley Spencer  1891-1959 are very appropriate for Lent. I have only just discovered them in a book at Offa House Diocesan Retreat Centre !   I also came across a blog with the images and I have unashamedly taken a lot of these thoughts from there.  But I will deal with them in 2 blogs  of 4 images each.

They are powerful images of Christ's humanity in his (Lenten) 40 days in the Wilderness.   The text is taken from a leaflet produced by the Art Gallery of Western Australia which houses all the paintings.

Driven by the Spirit  into the wilderness (1942)  

And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.’ Mark 1:12 

In 1916, Spencer served with the Field Ambulances in Macedonia.This experience had a profound effect on the artist, the memories of war infiltrated his spirit - the massive figure strides through a bleak and desolate land with the promise of resurrection in the figure of Christ.

Rising from sleep in the morning  (1940)  

‘I will arise and go to my Father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before thee.’ Luke 15:18

In this work Christ appears like a flower opening, offering itself for pollination in the light of the new day. The circular composition of the figure is continued in the rocky lining of the pit in which Christ kneels.

He Departed to the mountain to pray (1939)

‘And when he had sent them away he departed into a mountain to pray.’ Mark 6:46 

Look at the simple but monumental composition where the enlarged arms and hands encourage the focus on the praying figure which fills the picture plane, pushing out the edges. Notice the similarity of the treatment of the robes and the altar which adds to the unity of the composition.

The Eagles   (1943) 

‘For wheresover the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.’ Matthew 24:28 

There is a definite bitter note in The Eagles where Christ looks away while the scavenging birds peck at the carcases. In the background a broken branch completes the pessimistic atmosphere. It also reflects the artist’s over-riding acceptance and respect for all natural life.

There is something very engaging about the images, Christ's humanity and homeliness, his largess and the way his dominates and fills the square canvas. The attention to detail, the sense of movement, the variety of postures. I think they are wonderful and hope you enjoy them too ...

"Cast your net on the other side"

Cast your Net on the Other Side 

My painting 'Cast your Net on the other side' is based on one by Daniel Bonnell from a book of his paintings and meditations, called The Road Home: a Journey in Art and Music  (with Garth Hewitt)

I painted my version during the  'Casting the Net' Conference in Lahore. It was run by DAWN Pakistan, The Drug and Aids Workers Network, which I helped to found in the 1990s.    It was wonderful to engage again with people running drug programmes in Pakistan (see the poster designed by Aamir)

DAWN Conference poster

It was  a great conference with about 30 participants and lots happening over just 2 days.  It was particularly good to see projects that had been running for decades, alongside new emerging drug programmes. It a sign of life....

As part of the programme we looked at 4 fishing/boat stories, which are all part of    
DiscipleSHIP

1. CALL to DiscipleSHIP   (forming)

Matthew 4:17-22; Mark 1:14-20     

2. COST of DiscipleSHIP   (storming) 

Matthew 8:23-27;  Mark 4:35-41   

3. CATCH  from DiscipleSHIP  (norming)   

Luke 5:1-11  

4.   (re) COMMISIONED to DiscipleSHIP   (performing + mourning) 

John 21:1-13   

Study Questions:  these framed the discussions

A. Read and engage with the story. What struck you? (maybe relate to your own experience)

B. What are some discipleship principles that come out in the passage. List (and report back) 

Cast Your Net Again - Daniel Bonnell 

The work in Pakistan is going on.  They too are learning to cast the net on the other side. .... leading to all sorts of new experiments. 
You can hear more from Aamir about some of the surprising results in a CMS Audio-Mission Podcast:  Focus on Pakistan

Wrestling with Angels

'Wrestling with Angels' is the title of a book by Rowan Williams,  subtitled 'Conversations in Modern Theology' (SCM 2007  ed Mike Higton). The picture is based on one I found on the Internet, which I painted and used for an essay I wrote on 'Faith Seeking Understanding' in Summer 2006.   But the painting for me has come to symbolise theological struggle. ......

The story is related in the Genesis narative:

Then Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. (Gen 32:24-30)

So much theology can be sterile abstraction. ‘unfruitful, abstract theology that gets lost in a labyrinth of academic trivialities’  Karl Barth paraphrasing AMOS  ‘ I hate, I despise your lectures and seminars, your sermons, addresses and Bible Studies…When you display your hermeneutic, dogmatic, ethical and pastoral bits of wisdom before one another and before me, I have no pleasure in them… Take away from me your …thick books and ,,, your dissertations…your theological magazines, monthlies and quarterlies.’ (Barth ‘Evangelical Theology’ 120 in  Migliore, Daniel L. Faith seeking Understanding : An introduction to Christian Theology  2^nd edition Erdmanns 2004 p6) 
  

Anselm coined a phare, a slogan: ‘fides quarens intellectum’  ‘faith seeking understanding’,

FAITH  

‘I pray, O God, to know thee, to love thee, that I may rejoice in thee’  Anselm

Faith is itself an engagement with the Divine Other.  Faith is engaging with the living God  - entering the ‘mystery of God.’  Theology is not about solving issues and discovering truth. It is about discovering God. Gabriel Marcel suggests  ‘unlike a problem which can be solved, is a mystery which is ‘inexhaustible’  Migliore/ p3   (Eph 1:19)

SEEKING

Christian faith prompts enquiry, searches for deeper understanding, dares to raise questions’  (Miglore  p2)

‘Searching the Scriptures’  is a key part of the seeking after God (Jn 5:39).  Perhaps our greatest struggle is with the text of Scripture itself and understanding in what way it is the ‘word of God’. The two extremes of liberal rationalism, which seems to leave little room for divine inspiration and conservative evangelical ‘Biblicism’, (McGrath  p 177 explores the Old Princeton School and the origin of concept of absolute Biblical infallibility) which appears to leave no room for human fallibility. The struggle with understanding the relationship between divine inspiration and the human fallibility of Scripture is as complex as seeking to understand the divinity and humanity of the Son of God!

 UNDERSTANDING

‘Christian faith asks questions, seeks understanding both because God is always greater than our ideas of God and because the public world that faith inhabits confronts it with challenges and contradictions that cannot be ignored’ (Migliore pg 4)

The idea that somehow ‘truth’ can be ‘possessed’ seems almost an anathema. Faith must be  always seeking, always searching, always desiring. The ultimate goal is God. (Ps 42:1)

So is theology rationally ‘thinking’ about faith?   Or is it more ‘faith’ doing ‘the thinking’? The dominant question in the New Testament  is still  ‘what must I do to be saved’, rather than ‘what must I know.’ It is not information about God but ‘the life-giving and salvation-bringing self-disclosure of God’ (McGrath 201) Revelation does not abolish the mystery of God, but is its starting point. Thinking is but one part of the outworking of this mystery. ‘faith sings, confesses, rejoices, suffers, prays, and acts’ (Migliore 7)  Faith is relational as well as rational. Experience is the starting point. The outworking, practical application, and relevance of the Gospel - the Good News of Jesus Christ - is in the transformation of human lives (including mine). 

FAITH SEEKING UNDERSTANDING

The dominant image I am left with is of WRESTLING, particularly wrestling with words. Jacob wrestling with the ‘man’ becomes a metaphor of theological struggle – desperately seeking after God  - wrestling - and afterwards trying to understand the meaning of the encounter  ‘you have striven with God and men and have prevailed’

I particularly like the final picture because it is overlaid with words and part of our struggle is with words and ideas, trying to find language to describe the indescribable.  And the apparent theological impossibility of being succinct!

It is a struggle with others (‘God and man’) over meaning, but ultimately a struggle alone (Gen32v24).  It is a ‘laming-naming’ experience in that the ‘battle’ results in both ‘bruising or brokenness’ (Gen32v25), as well as the ‘blessing’ of a new identity (Gen32v28).  Any theological encounter should have a similarly profound effect on each of us. 

  

Decentered Interconnectedness

My picture ‘Decentred Interconnectedness’  is based on ‘Academic with an Open Book’ - a picture developed by Gert Swart and Zak Benjamin  - see below -  on the front cover of 'Renewing Biblical Interpretation' (Ed Criag Bartholomew). 


'Decentred Interconnectedness'   has the central image of a person - the student/ thinker with one hand on a open book and the other by the bottom of a spiral staircase.  He is surrounded by words : 

• 'Thinking' and 'Biblical' in blue above the window  - the quest for an intelligent open evenglicalism ; 
• 'Father, Son, Spirit' in yellow as light from the window -  a Trinitarian revelation, emenating from the Sun/son - illuminating all knowledge and mediated by the cross of the window.
• 'Knowledge, hermeneutic, light, truth' to the right of the spiral staircase - are all part of the struggle and goal of theology.   
• The words at his feet 'Decentred Interconnectedness' were the title of a course at Redcliffe and represent the interconnected, networked, post-modern world of today which is no longer centred geographically on the West or philosophically on a single meta narrative.   
• The writing on the overall is arabesque (it reminded my of the orange jumpsuits worn by prisoners in Guantanamo Bay Dentention centre)  The arabic/urdu style of writing was a representation of my engagement with Islam and Inter-faith dialogue - one of my (many) areas of interest ...... and further study is the opportunity to re-examine a host of such issues..... 

Rembrant's 'Philosopher in meditation' (1632)

..in the Rembrant there is a distict feeling of Yin and Yang - the tail of one half starting from the top of the stairs to the pool of lighincorporating the window and the philosophers head. The tail of the other half starts from the light at the feet of the philosopher, and goes up the stairs to a 'pool of darkness', completing the Yin-Yang motif, In Chinese Philosophy Yin and Yan are opposing principles omplementing each other, but in the Rembrant the tension between them in focused i the person of the philosopher with his 'light' head and 'dark' lower body'

   

The Rembrant is full of contrasts that express the tensions in the painting between: 

• light and darkness 
• the known seen lower stairs and the mysterious forbidding unseen upper stairs 
• ascent and descent  along the stairway (to heaven or to forbidden knowledge?)  
• the open book and the closed, meditative philosopher 
• The male philiosopher sitting in the illuminated light of the sun radiating through the window, the hidden, excluded woman working (cooking?) in the dim light of a fire hearth - outside the circle,  on the margins...    

There is also a circularity, mandala, a striving for wholeness. The excluded woman stoking the fire is significant - outside fo the circle in 17rth century Europe. The philosopher's book is open but the philosopher seems closed adn diosconnected fromt he book, the world outside and whatever lies at the top of the staircase! The philosopher is at the centre of the unresolved tensions in the context of a light-darkness struggle for wholeness'   

‘Academic with an Open Book’ -  Gert Swart & Zak Benjamin

'in the Swart-Benjamin reworking the content has been compressed into a square that creates a feeling of stability. Within the square there is a n obvious circular feeling whic speaks of resolution and completness. Bith the square and the circularity speak of whleess. The fugure of the academic has been flattened and opened up to create a sense of urgency and hope. The ethos of the 'Academic with an Open Book' is thus radically different from the Rembrant' 

Thus, in a variety of ways, 'Academic with an Open Book'  represents ‘the possibilities and challenges of academics working with the Bible as Scripture. The reworking alerts us to the potential and significance of an open Book – the open Book mediates resolution and potential wholeness into our brokenness. But that very possibility calls for urgent re-examination of a host of issues…’ (Bartholomew et al., 2000 p xxi) 

Or going back to my picture  A new 'decentred, interconnected' world  is literally at the student/academic's feet!  

Cameron Highlands - Hospitali-Tea

We visited the Cameron Highlands in the Malaysian Peninsular. It is a well known Hill Station where people can escape the heat of the valleys. The picture is a drawing I did of the Boh Tea Estate. So restful, peaceful with various greens and patterns on the hills, like dollops of paint on a impressionist canvas - very heavily cultivated and fruitful.

It is a very British area - for example there are over 4000 land rovers - more land rovers per capita than anywhere else other than a British Army base. These are constant reminders, along with driving on the left and English plug system, all vestiges of the Colonial past.

This was after all a Hill station, where those who could afford it went to escape the heat of the Plains. The rest were left to sweat it out...

The tea plantations, strawberry fields and Butterfly farms are all part of the scene. A Little England - with the Old Smoke House maybe epitomising this quintessential Englishness. We had a Cream Tea in the Rose Garden, wondering for a moment just where we were. Real hospitali-tea!

We stayed at the OMF mission bungalow, which was like going back 20 years to another time and place. Wonderful hospitality,with 3 good meals a day and large bedroom with polished furniture. All set in a beautiful garden with a well mown lawn and cultivated orchids.

It was a great place to read and relax as well as a base for a jungle trek and great mountain views. And of course visits to the Tea Plantations and Strawberry Farms.

My Brother used to go to school in the Cameron Highlands - Slim School, named after the British General who fought the Japanese. So part of the idea was to find where he went. We lived in Penang but in the 3 years we stayed there in the 1960s, I never once visited Cameron Highlands. I was making up for it now....

We managed to find the school, now an Army Camp - 'Kem Slim' - now home of 'Kompeni Bravo, Batalion 165 Risik Tentera Darat' but were not allowed to go beyond the Camp Gate

We also looked around the Town of Tanah Rata, helped by an elderly local restaurant owner, who used to cut hair for the British soldiers garrisoned there. He told me about some of the buildings that had been around in the 1960s:

The Catholic S.K Convent School - now Heritage Hotel. Lutheran Bungalow and the Methodist centre that had taken over the old ‘Chechoo’ mission school.

Rev Simon Soh, a young vicar in training based at the All Souls Anglican Church, (Gereja Anglican), a converted Army Nissan Hut. It was situated just in front of and below the old Slim School. The diocese had plans to upgrade the Church and also build a retreat centre ont he land.

I went to his Bible study group later in the week . a dozen people in a nice apartment, who met as a regular House group. On this occasion they were studying the prophet 'Amos'

It was an interesting passage about 'destroying the summer houses as well as the winter houses' in the Mountains of Samaria, as the 'Cows of Bashan' sit and say 'bring us a drink'. It almost seemed relevant - particularly in the heydays of the Raj.

Now things have changed - the area is no longer British but Malaysian , though as I said vestiges of the past linger. It's as if the Malaysian Chinese have come back from Exile and 'reclaimed the land' ....

“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills. I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God. (Amos 9:13-15)

Maybe not vineyards but Tea plantations, and definately fruit gardens of strawberries. And it certainly looked like they settled well in the land the Lord had given them.........

The undefended Leader

The painting is another copy of Sieger Koeder's, the catholic priest-painter. As you can tell I like his pictures. This time it is Jesus washing the feet of his disciple. The ultimate example of Servant leadership. I particularly like the idea of Jesus face reflected in the water of the bowl he is using. The story has inpsired many to go and do likewise....

The Undefended Life

I have been reading Simon Walkers book: ‘The Undefended Life: Recovering God’s Freedom to Live Beyond Fear’ (2011) whilst on holiday. Leant to me by a colleague, so I needed to finish it before I get back. I have ordered the trilogy from Amazon but they did not arrive on time. I’ll read them later: ‘Leading Out of Who You Are’ (2007); ‘Leading with Nothing to Lose’ (2007) and ‘Leading with Everything to Give’ (2009)

Simon Walker has developed the Personal ecology profile, based on his brief introduction to the theory of `Human Ecology’ (2009)

The Undefended Life book I’m reading, deals with the theology behind his undefended leader trilogy. He draws on people like Jurgen Moltmann: ‘The Crucified God’ (1974) and ‘Trinity and Kingdom’ (1981) and Paul Fiddes: ‘Creative suffering of God’ (1988) and ‘Participating in God’ (2000)

I like the 4 characteristics of the undefended life he has developed (p 101)

(i) ability to live life as Gift;

“Love is what we are born with, fear is what we learned here” (Anon)

(ii) living in the present moment;

Wherever you are, be all there (Jim Elliott)

(iii) relinquishing control but taking responsibility;

Maturity is the freedom to live an undefended life (Melanie Kline)

(iv) taking risks

‘If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark’ (St John of the cross)

You can follow more through the web presences

www.theleadershipcommunity.org

www.undefended.org.uk

I found myself agreeing strongly with lots of what he has written, so I quote a great chunk of one particular passage on leadership (page 100). It captures some very helpful insights into the type of servant leadership Jesus epitomised when he washed his disciples feet:

Leadership itself is an act of followership. There is no such thing as leadership in the sense of executive agency and decision-making that we often take it to mean. The leader is not in the business of taking decisions about the things that happen. Rather she should be in the business of responding to the leading of God’s Spirit.

The only kind of leadership possible is described in John 5:19, where the Son describes his following of the movements of the divine Father. The chief quality of the leader, then, should not be the capacity to make decisions or be visionary, but rather to listen and be attentive.

It is startling that we often seek to train our leaders to be better communicators (by which we mean ‘speakers’) believing that leadership is some act of persuasion. In fact, we should be looking for individuals who have cultivated a stillness of spirit such that they can attend to the movements of God. We should look for leaders who are sensitive to the tone of the room, to the unconscious voices in the discussion. We should be elevating women and men who have an awareness of the spiritual dimension to life, that runs in parallel to this world.

I am not in the slightest bit interested in following men and women who can depict some grand vision, or who have a confidence about ‘the way we should be doing things’. I want to follow and learn from the men and women who struggle with the pain in the world and who are generous, kind, self-effacing, seeking to learn, fragile, patient, still and free, those who have known failure and not been crushed. I want to follow the one who can laugh at him- or herself and who does not try to achieve mighty things.

As someone once said: ‘The immature man seeks to die heroically for a cause; the mature seeks to live humbly for one’

************************

As an alternative to the WWJD wrist-band (what would Jesus do), I have often thought it should read DWYSTFD – which sounds like a place in Wales! ‘Doing what you see the Father doing’, which is, after all, just what Jesus did:

The son can only do what he sees the father doing because whatever the Father does the son does also. For the Father loves the son and shows him all that he does (John 5:19)

Love Wins: 'between heaven and hell'

I told you I like the story...... This is another version of the same story of the prodigal's return. Based on a painting by Sieger Keoder, the catholic priest-artist.

The father embraces his wayward son and the older brother looks on from around the corner. Almost like he is a spying from a distance.

The father and younger son are lost in the moment of their reconciliation. The older brother is immobilised in his jealousy.

One is in heaven; the other is in hell ......

Rob Bell elaborates on this in his book: 'Love Wins'. The English version has a different subtitle: 'at the heart of life's big questions'. The US edition is subtitled ' Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived' - a video outlines the questions behind the book and the questions behind the questions.

The idea he pursues is that it is possible to be in heaven or hell whilst occupying the same space and time.

I'll just pick out some quotes to give you a flavour, but to get the whole you will need to read it yourself.......

Now most images and understandings people have of heaven and hell are conceived in terms of separation. Heaven is 'up' there, hell is 'down' there. Two different places far apart from each other. One over there and other over there.

This makes what Jesus does in his story about the man with two sons particularly compelling. Jesus puts the older brother right there at the party, but refusing to trust the father's version of the story. Refusing to join in the celebration.

Hell is being at the party. That's what makes it so hellish. Its not an image of separation, but one of integration. In this story, heaven and hell are within each other, intertwined. interwoven, bumping up against each other' (169-170)

Hell is our refusal to trust God's retelling of the story (170)

The older brother's failure to trust, we learn is rooted in his distorted view of God. There is a problem with his 'God' (173)

The younger brother believes he is cut off, estranged, and no longer deserves to be his father's son, because of all the terrible things he's done. His badness is his problem, he thinks (185)

Now the older brother believes that the reason he deserves to be a son is because of all the good he's done, all the rules he's obeyed, all of the days he's 'slaved' for his father. His goodness is to his credit, he thinks. (186)

Neither son understands that the father's love .... cannot be earned and it cannot be taken away. It just is. It's a party, a celebration, an occasion without beginning and without end. It goes on, well into the night, and into the next day, and the next, and the next. Without any finish in sight. (187)

The older brother is in hell

The younger in heaven

You can see it in the picture. ....

Both are invited to the party.....

The father has taken care of everything. It's all there, ready, waiting.

It's always been there, ready, waiting.. (188)

Love Wins - The Prodigals' return

I've been reading Rob Bell's 'Love Wins' - a very easy read. My son had been reading it and his enthusiasm was contagious. Described as 'a Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived'. Have a look at the introductory video on Rob Bell's website to get some of the questions behind the book.

It advocates a more inclusive position on the whole question of Salvation, and particularly looks at sticky issues of heaven and hell, propagating what has been called a 'wider hope'. It has caused quite a stir in evangelical circles, especially across the Atlantic. The Evangelical Alliance have a response by Derek Tidball, which is starting a conversation.......

At the heart of the book is the story of the Prodigal son. One of my favourite stories. More of that later ....

I have been compelled by this story - we used it when I was in Karachi working with drug addicts. Everyone seemed to find their place in the narrative. We were heavily influenced by Kenneth Bailey's 'The Cross and the Prodigal' looking at the story afresh 'through Middle Eastern Eyes' which seemed to help in a Pakistani context.

Henry Nouwen also took me deeper in the Return of the Prodigal Son, meditations based on Rembrandt's painting, which I also visited at the Hermitage in St Petersburg ( I wrote a blog post on it in April 2001)

So I had to have a go at painting my own 'impressionist' version of part of the Rembrandt, concentrating on the detail of Father's embrace of the returned younger son with older brother looking on, rather judgementally, from the shadows.

Back to Rob Bell's book. He has a chapter: 'The good news is better than that' (Ch 7) in which he describes three stories within the one story.....

The younger son who as he heads home in shame after squandering all his money, is convinced he's 'no longer worthy' to be called his father's son. That's the story he's telling, that's the one he's believing. Its stunning then when he gets home and his father demands that the best robe be put on him and a ring placed on his finger and sandals on his feet. Robes and rings and sandals are signs of being a son. Although he's decided he can't be a son anymore. his father tells a different story. One about return and reconciliation and redemption. One about being a son again. (165)

There are two versions of the same story The son's and the father's. And the younger son has to choose which one to believe, which one to trust and to live in. His own version of events or his father's.

Same it turns out for the older brother. He too has his own version of his story. He tells his father 'All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours (he cant even say his brother's name) who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes come you kill the fattened calf for him!' So much in so few words. One sense he has been saving it for years and now out it comes, with venom. (166)

The father isn't rattled or provoked. He simply responds 'My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours..... But we have to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found' (167/165)

Its the same issue of which story to believe. His own story of slavery and his father's meanness and cheapness and how unfair it all is. Or his father's redefinition of the narrative. The father tells a different story. about sonship not slavery, about the abundance of resources not their scarcity, and a redefinition of 'fairness' which is replaced by grace and generosity. People get what they don't deserve. Parties are thrown for younger brothers who squander their inheritance' (168)

The difference between the two stories is , after all, the difference between heaven.....and hell (169)

to be continued.....