Faith's Times

We have reduced time to the point that it has lost most of its meaning. Ironically, in this attempt to simplify time it seems that our ability to make, find and keep time is more complicated than ever. In fact, one way to prove this point is to remember how much you wondered if you really had time to read this little article before you started reading it. If you are still struggling with that question I offer you one bit of encouragement: by the end of this entry you will see that there is always more time!

Did you know that there are several different types of time? I will mention three. First, there is what we call cosmic time. This is nature's time, and refers to the movements, rotations and rhythms of the universe. The changing of seasons, the rising and setting of the sun, the coming and going of various storms, these are all subject to cosmic time. Humanity, even with all of our science, measures these movements with imprecision. Nonetheless, there are enough patterns in nature's rhythms as to have a certain amount of predictability. Even Jesus acknowledged this, and thought it ironic that some could discern only this one type of time, "You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?" (Luke 12:56).

Second, there is chronos time, from which we get the word chronology. This is historical time, and refers to calendars, timelines and the plotting of past events. Much of humanity's striving is centered around chronos. In any given culture things like work hours, holidays, family time, religious time and personal time become somewhat standardized by the society at large. By its very nature society is continually trying to get the very most out of its chronos. For many people chronos is life and life is chronos. When chronos ends life ends.

Third, there is kairos time. Philosophers call this existential time, mystics call it God's time. The discernment of this type of time is the concern of the disciple of Christ. To the chronological believer life is precarious, often disturbed by a God who is unpredictable, with a tendency to be late if He ever shows up at all. However, to the kairotic believer life is full of surprises as God breaks in with new things at unexpected times!

Chronological time is temporal and will one day pass away. Kairotic time is eternal and will one day pervade creation in all of its fullness. Though we now only know kairotic time in part, as though looking through a dark glass dimly, there are still things in which we can be certain. For example, we know that the time is already fulfilled for the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven (Mark 1:15), that Christ died for us, the ungodly, at just the right time (Romans 5:6), and that even now, when God's time has not yet fully come, our time is always opportune (John 7:6). If you live with the idea that there are only 24 hours in a day then you will undoubtedly find yourself with too little time. However, if you are trusting your life to an eternal God who breaks into temporality at just the right times, you will know that there is always more time!

Faith's Seasons

My roots run deep in my faith tradition, and I would not prefer to be a part of any other movement than the one I am in now. However, if there is one disservice done to me by my denomination it is that it has avoided liturgy at such an extreme that I was never given any sense of the Christian calendar. I have recently been doing an informal (and very unscientific) poll of young people from my faith tradition. So far I have not been able to find one young person who can tell me what begins the Christian calendar. When I tell them that the season of advent marks the beginning of the Christian year they can neither tell me when that is nor what the word advent means. If you gathered every follower of Christ from the last 2000 years together in one place, we (those who do not follow the rhythm of the Christian year) would be such a shocking minority that some would wonder if they could consider us Christian at all.

There is a point to following this rhythm of the Christian year, and a point that the year begins with advent. There are few concepts more foundational to what it means to be Christian than the concept of advent. Advent simply means "coming." It refers to the sacred time when Christ came, continues to come and will soon come again! When Christ comes it is a cosmic event that takes place in chronos time. He comes from the eternal reality beyond our temporary existence. Thus, it is foremost a kairotic event that ushers in the presence of God. That is why the New Testament begins (see Matthew 1:23) and ends (see Revelation 21:3) with the same simple message of Christ's coming.

There are three dimensions of Christ's coming in kairos time. First, there is the incarnation of Christ, "but when the fulness of time came, God sent His son, born of a woman, born under law" (Galatians 4:4). Second, there is the parousia, sometimes called the second-coming of Christ, when Jesus will fully restore the Kingdom of God at "the appointed time" (Acts 1:6-7). Third, there are the personal comings of the Lord that Scripture refers to as "times of refreshing...from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19).

When Jesus comes He always reveals, and in this sense His coming is always apocalyptic (the English word apocalypse comes from the Greek word that means "to reveal"). Jesus said, "nothing is hidden, except to be revealed" (Mark 4:22). It is so much a part of Christ's nature to reveal that one of the only things He seemed almost unable to do was to keep Himself hidden (see Mark 1:44-45). The response He receives when revealing depends on the nature of the one who is receiving the revelation. Religious people are often offended at Christ's coming "And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard Him speak" (Luke 4:28). Demons are filled with fear, "have you come here to torment us before the time?" (Matthew 8:29). The wise are filled with awe and wonder, "the Magi saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshipped Him" (Matthew 2:11). His followers are transformed on the journey, "were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road?" (Luke 24:32).

So, what time is it now? What is the season? Half of the world is in spring and the other half is in fall. However, Christians in every part of the world are preparing for one of the most exciting times of the year, advent. It is that time of year when we remember and anticipate Christ's comings, and celebrate the in-breaking events of God's presence that sustain us between the two. It is in this season that we are to forget about the ways that life has slipped into the mundane predictability that leaves us with little hope for substantive change and victorious transformation. "Do not ponder the things of the past; behold I will do something new" (Isaiah 43:18-19). Yes, advent is upon us, and as a Christian you are expected to be expeting the unexpected! Does not your heart burn within you as He speaks to us?

How Many Languages Do You Speak?

A minister once told me a story knowing that I had worked on a whitewater river for ten years as a raft guide. He told about his efforts on a rafting trip to connect with one or more of the guides. He tried everything he knew to do, asked many questions, sparked a variety of conversation topics, but there always remained some unspoken separation between the two. He was very perplexed by this, and in his telling the story to me finally concluded with this: "It was as if we speak two completely different languages."

Paul once said, "I suppose there are a great variety of languages in the world, and no kind is without meaning. If I then do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to the one who speaks it a barbarian, and the one who speaks it will be a barbarian to me" (I Corinthians 14:10-11). A language is simply a systematic form of communicating. We tend to think the lines between "languages" are very clear and rigid, but this is simply not true, as my minister friend has already testified. The truth is that languages reflect more than literal "translations" of meaning. Otherwise we would never need to learn Czech while living in Prague, we could simply carry around an English/Czech dictionary. But as Emily can testify from staying four days in a Czech hospital, it's not always as simple as "translating" the word! C. S. Lewis once echoed a similar sentiment, "A language has its own personality; implies an outlook, reveals a mental activity, and has a resonance, not quite the same as those of any other" (see 'The Discared Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature). Indeed, a language reflects more than a different set of sounds, syllables and words, it represents a whole different culture, a looking at the world in a completely different way.

I believe that "conversion" is essentially a process of learning a new language. It is coming to see everything--God, man, sin, etc.--in a whole new way by discovering the intended meanings of new expressions. Is this not what happened in Acts when they heard all of the Galileans on whom God had poured his Spirit? "And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?" (Acts 2:8). God uses stammering lips to utter His clearest expressions. Indeed, we do not know how to express God, we do not even know how to pray, but rely on the Spirit's groanings that are too deep for words (see Romans 8:26). Thus, the language is not he end, but rather the threshold through which one enters into an infinite realm that goes beyond finite human words.

This leaves us with some rather large implications for the church. I have several valuable resources at my disposal for learning Czech--dictionaries, personal tutor, traditional academic courses, self-study courses, audio resources, and more. All of these are extremely helpful, but ultimately I will only truly learn the language by being immersed in the culture of native speakers. We can setup our churches to have written materials, special events, discipleship courses, even personal spiritual tutors, but conversion normally only truly happens when a person is immersed into a community of persons who have come to know the "language." But it also leaves us with some rather large implications for individual believers. For it is not only my responsibility to know the "language" of this body to which I belong, it is also my responsibility to know as many of the world's "languages" as I can. Otherwise, even with the very best of my character on display, I will still appear to those who don't know this language that I speak a mere barbarian. So, how many languages does your church know? What about you?

The Narrow Path of the Mandorla

The Narrow Path of the Mandorla
Originally uploaded by thestonesinprague.

In ancient Christian art one will find a common symbol that was lost in modernity. This symbol is the Mandorla, the Italian word for 'almond.' The Mandorla refers to the union of two separate circles (realms). The overlapping area creates an oval in the shape of an almond, thus the name. It was quite frequently used to outline the Christ in medieval art, as He represents the union of two otherwise separated worlds, Heaven and Earth, the known and the unknown, life and death, etc.

One of the lessons of the Mandorla is the balance of opposing forces. We live in a world of conflicting forces, where human ideologies are attempting to reduce our worldview to one simple either/or answer. It really does not matter whether you choose one reductionistic answer or the other, either is inherently faulty. For example, have you ever felt uncomfortable when someone else is trying to get you to confess your collective politcal preferences as either liberal or conservative? Certainly these lines have proving themselves to be misleading, even total illusions!

The Mandorla is a counter-cultural symbol that resists this reduction, for it understands that truth is found in the balance between two opposing forces. A scale finds balance when the 'weight' on one side is found to have the same mass as the 'weight' on the opposite side. This is a more biblical understanding of truth and reality. The question is whether or not we are willing to live in between the tension of such opposing weight?

Several times I have tried an experiment along these lines in some of the classes I have taught, and every time I have found the same response. I will ask my students, what is the opposite of pride? They always quickly respond that humility is the opposite of pride. So, I then ask them to define pride for me. After a few minutes of discussion consensus usually falls around the idea that pride is thinking too highly of oneself. I then pose the question, what is the opposite of thinking too highly of oneself? Of course, that is thinking too lowly of oneself. Is humility to think too lowly of oneself? May it never be!

You see, the enemy, that accusing theif, would just as easily entangle me in shame as in pride. It really makes no difference to him. One is just as effective as the other. But my Saviour wants me to follow him on that narrow path between the two called humility. God's truth almost always can be understood best by our finite minds when we position it between such opposites. It is a small gate and a difficult road, few people find it (see Matthew 7:14). Nonetheless, it is the road that I am to pursue, to walk along. May God lead my steps!

The First Samurai

In the movie 'The Last Samurai' the opening scene begins with beautiful auburn-filled panoramic shots of Japan and the narrator telling us that there is a legend about how Japan was formed. This legend says that the gods reached a sword down into the waters and pulled it back up. As the sword ascended back to the heavens four perfect drops fell off the sword and formed Japan. The narrator goes on to explain that he believes Japan was truly formed in a different way, forged in history by 'warriors of honor.' From here the movie jumps scenes to a striking contrast, where the protagonist of the story is being introduced at a carnival as a military hero who had received the government's highest commendation, the medal of honor.

Thus, within the first minute of the movie we are given the heart of the story. We do not know it yet, but it is there. For we come to find out that when we pick up the story our protagonist is a stark contrast to these 'warriors of honor' that we will learn more and more about. How? After all he has been given THE medal of honor, yes? True, but he has been given a medal of honor by a dishonorable government who has employed him to carry out dishonorable deeds. So much is this true that we quickly learn that there is almost no honor left in the life he has lived.

The word samurai means 'to serve.' The samurai understood his existence to be completely summed up in one task, to live a life of service to the king. He was utterly devoted to this task. This finds expression in the film when the emperor informs the central samurai figure that he is not sure how much longer the samurai's services will be needed. Without hesitation he responds to the emperor by saying, "If I am of no service I will glady end my life." A samurai is one who exists for one purpose, to carry out the king's bidding.

Doesn't that sound like someone we know? He said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work" (John 4:34). Yes, Christ was the first samurai. He gave us this example of how we should be living our lives, living to serve the king. This is where our honor will come from, for He also told us that, "...if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him" (John 12:26). There is a certain amount of 'honor' that can be gained from the approval of men, but in the end even the greatest medals on earth are proven to be no more than empty trinkets. However, to be honored by the one true God in heaven is an honor that will never fade. And if we give our lives to Him for His purposes we will hear him honor us one day before all of creation with these simple words, "Well done my good and faithful servant!"

The Purpose Of Fruit

Jesus instructed His disciples in discernment by telling them that they would know the difference between a 'good' tree and a 'bad' tree by its fruit (Luke 6:43-44). He said a seed that landed in good soil would bring forth fruit (Matthew 13:8), and He cursed a fig tree for failing to bring forth fruit (Matthew 21:19). He said that it was His glory (and ours too) to bear fruit, and that this fruit could only come about in death (John 12:24). And He encouraged us to abide Him, for it is the only way we can bear fruit (John 15:2-5). So, with all this talk about fruit what is its real purpose in our lives?

I think it is for one chief reason--fruit is tasty! I mean, it is also nutritional. It does have some caloric value, but not a whole lot. You could live on fruit alone, but you sure would have to eat a lot of it! Above all else fruit is simply enjoyable. If we continue to abide in Christ (John 15:2-5) we will find ourselves walking in the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4) and we will also find God growing in us the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). And it is through the tasty fruit of the Spirit that God tempts unbelievers to partake in his goodness. Thus, David proclaimed, "Taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalms 34:8).

Okay, okay enough Scripture references. But it is true! God wants to grow fruit in us. It is what we were created to do. Nothing fulfills us more than bearing fruit. And nothing gives God more glory than the fruit He is able to bring forth in our lives. So what is my role? Can I grow fruit in my life? Nope. Think about it, imagine a seed 'deciding' it would grow its fruit one day. Can you see that little seed straining, pushing, pulling, doing everything it can to make fruit pop out? That's how we look sometimes. No, all a seed can do is surrender--surrender itself to the earth, to the natural cycles of life, hoping it was one of the lucky 25% that landed in good soil, but knowing it may likely be choked by thorns or scorched by sun. Yet, ready and willing to surrender its shell in a springing-forth of a life-giving, death. Pretty simple don't you think? And sounds kind of familiar too, yes? It is a picture of the Christ, and that puts you in good company.

THE Revelation

I started a Doctorate in Ministry program this fall at Drew University. Our first class is called 'Millenial Markers of Faith and Experience' and we have spent a good bit of the early part of the class exploring the apocalyptic tradition within Christianity, especially its 20th century expression in the so-called Evangelical portion of the church. I have been both amused and a bit surprised at the number of classmates who refer to that final book of our canon as the book of Revelations, when in fact it is the book of Revelation (no s on the end).

Granted this is a very common mistake. So common that you expect it among the average believer. But we're talking about ministers. These are men and women who study the Scripture almost every day of their life. They prepare multiple sermons and/or teachings every week for their church. They have been trained in seminaries through a grueling 82-plus hour/unit graduate degree of intensive biblical and theological studies called a Master of Divinity. You would think all of them would know the name of the book at least! I would not be surprised if many of them did not particularly care for the book. Even if some of them had never read the book. But not know the name?

Yet, once I get passed the surprise of this crazy fact I see that it really reflects something about our contemporary misgivings on the Apocalypse of John. Is seems that many people, even many ministers, view this book as a jumbled collection of strange visions that have little do with down-to-earth reality that they face from day-to-day. Thus, they refer to the revelations that are stuck in between their Bible and its concordance. This could not be further from the truth. Revelation is in fact one unified vision of God and his work in, through and above human history. It is the 'unveiling' (the literal definition of the Greek word from which we get apocalypse) of reality. That thing which we now only see through a dark glass dimly.

But once I get past my analysis of other people's misgivings I start to see my own. Do I not go through each day from moment to moment believing that I am in fact living in the midst of a jumbled collection of strange circumstances that have little to do with the Glory-to-God kind of heights I'm trying to attain? Could it be that all of these things that are keeping me from reaching the concordance of my life are not obstacles at all, but rather the very culmination of all that is meaningful in my life? Could it be that the most sacred things in life are right around me? In the lives of my family members? My friends? My neighbors? Indeed, the book of Revelation is the great unveiler!