there's so much going through my thoughts these days. these are the ones that seem to be seeping in lately...causing me to think, which should, in my humble opinion, always be a dangerous task to take on.
networking with God:
if you haven't read Nickel and Dimed by barbara ehreneich, well... you should. you may not agree with everything or her take but it makes you think. i just finished another of her books, Bait and Switch - The (Futile) Pursuit Of The American Dream. her approach as a journalist fascinates me, going undercover in various places to learn what it means to "live on minium wage" or to "survive the corporate world". while her books are not religious in nature, in both she encounters situations/times where religion interesects with poverty, the corporate life and those living in those worlds. she is an atheist and yet when she speaks on the issues that intersect with religion and God i find that there is a truth there that is so profound and spiritual that my spirit rises to say amen.
here is just an excerpt from her book, Bait and Switch. she has been trying to find a job in the coporate world and the advice she is given by those in that realm is to network, network, network. network being the connecting with people with the end result always in mind, engaging people for an outcome. the goal of networking is the return on time spent with a person - what did i get out the encounter. she is sent to various networking sessions and finds herself among a group of christian mostly men with a few women in networking/business groups. the following is her response to Francois, a fellow who is sharing the importance of networking, and having a prepared "elevator" speech to sell oneself. He states that our first networking target should be the Lord.
"I'm sorry, this is too much for me. I endured the Norcross Fellowship Lunch as an atheist, but now, at the Mt. Paran Church of God, I discovoer I am a believer, and what I believe is this: if the Lord exists, if there is some conscious being whose thought the universe is - some great spinner of galaxies, hurler of meteors, creator and extinguisher of species - if some such being should manifest itself, you do not "network" with it any more than you would light a cigarette on the burning bush. Francois is guilty of blasphemy. He has demeaned the universe as I know it."
i wonder if we, us, me, I have blasphemed the person of God? have we, us, me, I seen him as something to be networked, to work over to get something out of in return? if an athiest can so address in, my opinion the grandor and splendor and sovergienty of God, do I, in my arrogance and "knowledge" of God have a clue? you see i'm not surprised that an "athiest" came up with that thought but i fear that in the christian world today there exists a certain arrogance - as if we have a corner on the market and the reality is that we haven't a clue.
replace the "world" with you:
overheard a conversation recently in which a young man talked about hearing all his life that when John 3:16 is quoted, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe would have everlasting life, that he should insert his name in the place of "world".
he questioned if by making it such an individualistic verse (which is true, yes Christ died for me, specifically me and specifically you) that we lose a part of the meaning/intent and wonder of a God who loves the WORLD, whose mission was not simply to me, but to ALL.
changing the "to" to "with":
met missionaries recently who are ministering to the Muslim world and notice they do not say they are "taking" the light of Christ "to" the Muslim world or even "showing" the light of Christ "to" the Muslim world but rather they are "sharing" (signifies a mutual partaking - is it possible we could learn about God from a Muslim or that perhaps by sharing we give of our lives rather than provide a "product" to a "consumer") the light of Christ "with" (Jesus came "into"the world and not simply "to" the world) the world.
the "to" and the "with" signify a difference in theology that is as wide as the east is from the west.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Hi Jessica
WOW! you officially have me confused but in a good way... I think. I wish I could think of something deep to say,* but I cant(*cue dramatic pause). The END. I think we should make a music video and no joke on that, have your people call my people.
Nickel and Dimed is definitely on my list to read. We'll have to chat after I finish. Did I ever tell you that one of my majors in college was Econ? You should check out "The Ordinary Business of Life" sometime. Good tracking through the ages of the interweavings of econ, politics, and even religion.
Very good comments! I think the God we serve in America may not be the same God served in third-world countries. Too often God is just another one to help out us out with our own plans. The author of Nickel and Dimed may have a greater sense of the majesty of God than we who profess to be His children.
I loved the comment about John 3:16. Never really thought about it before - but you are right - or the person you quoted is right - perhaps we have done a great injustice to that verse by putting our name in it - perhaps we need to remember God loved the world - not just us - not just our little part of the world.
Post a Comment