Countdown Day 13
Today's quote:
If Genesis sets the stage for the biblical narrative, this much is unmistakably clear: God’s unfolding drama is not a narrative shaped by the six lines in the Greco-Roman scheme of perfection, fall, condemnation, salvation, and heavenly perfection or eternal perdition. It has a different story line entirely. (54)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
"Now and then gifted people emerge who see the situation from a higher and more helpful level. Brian McLaren is one of those seers." (Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs and The Naked Now)
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Countdown Day 14
It's hard to believe that two weeks from today, the new book will be released. From where I sit today, in the Holy Land with all the unholy things happening here, it's clear that a new kind of Christianity is desperately needed ... as are a new kind of Judaism, a new kind of Islam, etc. The kinds of religion that are now dominant in our world are perfectly designed to give us the results we are now getting - in terms of personal transformation, ecological care, peacemaking, and justice for the poor and marginalized. God has better options for us all. Today's quote:
[In Genesis,] God is faithful to Joseph, and through Joseph God is gracious to Egypt, and through Joseph God is even gracious to Joseph’s wicked, Cain-like brothers. Joseph is blessed not to the exclusion of anyone, but for the blessing of everyone. Blessing triumphs. Goodness triumphs. God triumphs. And in the end, God provides something better than the “knowledge of good and evil” offered by the serpent: just as God had brought light from darkness and order from chaos and life from barrenness, God now creates a good outcome from the evil intentions of Joseph’s brothers. Through Joseph’s willingness to forgive and forego revenge, God creatively overcomes evil with good. (54)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
"Brian's writing is brave and honest, vulnerable and courageous, disturbing and unsettling, reassuring and hopeful. Every now and then you come across a book you've been waiting for. A New Kind of Christianity is that book." (Steve Chalke, MBE, founder of Oasis Global, UN Special Advisor on Human Trafficking)
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Dead Sea, Nazareth, Capernaum region, Jerusalem
What an amazing journey we've had so far. We went from several very intense days immersed in the issues of the occupation of Palestine, the security of Israel, and the benefits of one-state and two-state solutions (we've now met Palestinians who favor each option) ... to two delightful days tracing Jesus' footsteps (with a side trip to the Dead Sea, complete with floating, mud, and lots of laughs).
Today I fell in love with the Capernaum area. I felt like I got to know Jesus a little better by getting a feel for his neighborhood. To look across the Sea of Galilee and know that Jesus looked out over the same landscape ... to stand at a likely site of Peter's home and realize what a beautiful view he had ... to see a school of fish in the shallows and imagine the disciples hearing, "Hey, boys, try a cast on the other side" ... to watch a storm blow quickly in, and quickly out, and remember Sea of Galilee "storm stories" from Jesus' day ... to watch flocks of birds and see flowers in the field near where the Sermon on the Mount was given ... to pause with our little band of pilgrims for prayers, the eucharist, songs by David Wilcox and Nance Petit ... It's been an absolute joy.
And I haven't even mentioned the food.
Gradually, I can feel these first two segments of our journey coming together. Slowly, the current quest for peace, justice, and reconciliation can be seen in light of the parallel quest in Jesus' day, and each quest enriches the understanding of the other. More on this in the days and weeks ahead, I'm sure.
Tonight we're in Jerusalem, and tomorrow we meet with a whole array of people working for justice and peace - Jews, Christians, Muslims. Many things have become more clear since our arrival, and some things have grown more complicated for us, but one thing is absolutely certain: the picture we're given through the media in the US is grossly distorted. If you've never been in both Israel and Palestine, I hope you will start questioning what you think you know about the situation here. I've been an avid reader on the subject for quite a while, but being here now, I see how many of my most basic assumptions were skewed from a lifetime of half-truths, unfair and imbalanced news, well-planned propaganda, and misinformation.
I'm so thankful for this opportunity, and look forward to ways to take action based on what I've learned and will learn in the next few days.
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Countdown Day 15
We have been so thoroughly trained – can I say brainwashed – to read Genesis through Greco-Roman bifocals, and as a result Theos is so deeply embedded and enthroned in our minds, that it is agonizingly difficult for us to recapture the wild, dynamic, story-unleashing goodness of Elohim, a goodness that differs so starkly, so radically, from the domesticated, static, controlled perfection of Theos. (48)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
"Very rarely a book appears that houses the power to change a generation. A New Kind of Christianity is nothing less than one of those moments."' (-Peter Rollins, Ikon)
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Countdown Day 16
The story begins with something better than the perfect realm of Plato: the good world of Genesis. Biblical goodness, it turns out, is far better than Greco-Roman perfection…. It glows, whirls, swirls, vibrates, pulses, and dances with change and fertility. (47)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
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