Surprised by Hope

I just finished reading, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, by NT Wright. Wright is a New Testament theologian and currently serves as the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England.

What I appreciate about his writing is his ability to “get into the shoes” of first century Christians to gain fresh perspectives concerning the Christian faith. He apprehends complex theological issues, makes them understandable for the reader, then shows its relevance and application for Christians today. Often times this “new perspective” results in a paradigm shift that opens new opportunities and ways of thinking.

I used to think it really doesn’t matter what you believe concerning heaven. Whatever heaven may be like, I’m sure its good, but the important thing is how you live your life now so that you can “get to heaven.” After reading NT Wright’s book I understand more concretely how our view of heaven and the resurrection has direct consequences on how we live our lives and make choices today.

Reading this book revolutionized my view on two levels:

Firstly, the fact that Jesus has entered into our world, died, and was resurrected means that God’s new creation has already begun in this world. What we do on earth really matters for eternity, not to “get to heaven,” but to co-labor with God to bring about God’s new Kingdom. Whenever I promote forgiveness, pray for my enemies, or reach out to a stranger I participate in bringing God’s kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” The world isn’t going to be “burned up” but it is going to be completely and gloriously renewed and I am invited to participate in this renewal process.

“Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord’s prayer means.”

The second point is similar in the idea that ALL of Gods creation is good. There is no “bad” part of creation. Bad comes when I worship the created instead of the creator. The fact that I am created or human does not make me evil, bad or sinful. But when I decide to worship elements of this world instead of the creator, this is evil, bad and sinful; I only participate in my own dehumanization and contribute to the corruption of the world as it is. But when I honor God as creator, I affirm my own humanity and God’s good creation. I am free to be wonderfully and fully human and to enjoy God as he has created me. These thoughts have helped me to become less judgmental and more accepting of others.

“How will God’s new creation come? and then, How will we humans contribute to the renewal of creation and to the fresh projects that the creator God will launch in his new world? The choice before humans would then be framed differently: are you going to worship the creator God and discover thereby what it means to become fully and gloriously human, reflecting his powerful, healing, transformative love into the world? Or are you going to worship the world as it is, boosting your corruptible humanness by gaining power or pleasure from forces within the world but merely contributing thereby to your own dehumanization and the further corruption of the world itself?”

This book is rich with new perspectives concerning heaven, the resurrection, and the mission of the Church. It has given me fresh hope, understanding and excitement concerning how I live my life today as a Christian in the 21st century.

Think, Act, Befriend

“All meaningful knowledge is for the sake of action, and all meaningful action for the sake of friendship.” John Macmurray, The Self as Agent

Who Am I?

I’ve enjoyed reading Joel Green’s Body, Soul, and Human Life.  While I can’t say I fully understand or agree with everything I’ve read, it has been very helpful in connecting the dots of several concepts, particularly, how we are to think about ourselves.  Green makes the case that we shouldn’t see ourselves in a Cartesian way (i.e. René Descartes of “I think, therefore I am” fame), meaning that our true self is mind or spirit quite apart from our bodies.  Rather, Green says that human identity is threefold: physicality, relationality, and narrativity.  This has important implications for community, which I’d like to explore briefly.

Physicality
Our bodies are not something we have but part of who we are.  The Scriptures talk about bodily resurrection, not a disembodied spiritual existence, so even in the after life, the body will matter.  What does this mean for us?  Among other things, it means that what I do with my body is important.  It means my gender matters and is part of who I am.  It means that this life and creation are good, to be cared for and treasured, and not to be seen as alien and sinful.  It means that caring for people’s physical needs cannot be separated from caring for their “spiritual needs.”  As Green says, “Angst among Christians in recent decades over how to prioritize ministries of ‘evangelism’ and ’social witness’ is simply wrongheaded, therefore, since the gospel, the ‘evangel’ of ‘evangelism’ cannot but concern itself with human need in all its aspects.”

Relationality
Individualism is the plague of our time and is fully at play in the Church.  Cartesian thinking makes us believe that our identity, our true self, is a personal possession of an inner reality.  It’s me and Jesus and all I need is some good instruction to be a better me. The truth is that we are a inextricably part of a web of relationships.  We are part of a community and our identity is tied into that network of people.  Green points out that our brains are actually shaped by our relationships, so in a very tangible sense, our relationships shape who we are.  There are no loners, and to try to be one is to fight against reality.  This is why cherishing, developing, and enjoying our relationships must be our prime task in life.  Quoting Green, “…we are shaped in our character and limited in our choices by the company we keep.”

Narrativity
The stories by which we make sense of our lives play a part in forming who we are.  Our life is less like the running of a machine and more like the performance of a drama.   Our history matters.  Our direction matters. We need to know, like Jesus, where we come from and where we’re going (John 13:3-4).  Our story and the overarching story we identify with sculpts us profoundly.  Narrative disrupting experiences, like divorce, hurt us because whole chapters of our lives become off-limits.  We can’t escape our history (so true especially today in a Facebook world).  This is a further reason to continue in our relationships and work through difficulties.  Additionally, we need to actively recall and rehearse the overarching narrative of God that we are a part of.  Liturgy, regular scripture reading, and flowing in the rhythm of the Christian calendar are ways to do this.

This understanding of our nature impacts and supports the vision of Christian community.  We are not marbles in a bucket, but cells in a body.  Green would say, “…who we are, our personhood, is inextricably bound up in our physicality, and so is inextricably tied to the cosmos God has created, and in the sum of our life experiences and relationships.”  Christian community fits well in this view of humanity.

Where are you being formed?

“For 1 Peter, then, human life is life on the potter’s wheel, so to speak - being shaped one way or the other, by the ancestral ways expressed in taken-for-granted social conventions, or by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and the formative influence of the people of God. Humans act out of their formation, so the primary questions must be, Formed according to what pattern?  Formed within what community?” Joel B. Green Body, Soul, and Human Life

God’s Good - Scarcely Imagined

“Like those who live with life-long disease, humans easily adjust their lives to account for their maladies. The human family can scarcely imagine what the freedom to chose God’s ‘good’ would be, so much has humanity adapted itself to estrangement and alienation.” Joel B. Green, Body, Soul, and Human Life