Nomadic Faith

Yes, lose your faith. Lose your faith in God. For as the French mystic Simone Weil insisted, there is a kind of atheism that is purifying, cleansing us of idols. Lose your faith in the god that the cross exposes as a no-god, a sham god. Lose your faith in the god who is but the product of your projections, fantasies, wishes, and needs, a security blanket or good-luck charm god. Lose your faith in the god who is there to hold your hand, solve your problems, rescue you from your trials and tribulations, the deus ex machina, literally the “machine god”, wheeled out onto the stage in ancient Greek drama, introduced to the plot artificially to resolve its complications and secure a happy ending. Lose your faith in the god who confers upon you a privileged status that is safe and secure. Lose your faith in the god who promises you health, wealth, fulfilment, and success, who pulls rabbits out of hats. Lose your faith in the god with whom your conscience can be at ease with itself. Lose your faith in the god who, in Dennis Potter’s words, is the bandage, not the wound. Lose your faith in the god who always answers when you pray and comes when you call. Lose your faith in the god who is never hidden, absent, dead, entombed. For the “Father who art in heaven” – this week he is to be found in hell – with his Son.

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So, yes, lose your faith! For as with life, so with faith: only those who lose it will find it. Or rather may find it. Faith is a risk, and discipleship demands that we learn to live with insecurity and uncertainty, setting out on a journey without a map, with companions who are as lost as we are, following a leader who is always way ahead of us, beckoning mysteriously, “Follow me!”, and then vanishing just as we arrive. God is mystery, ineffable mystery, naming a reality that we know, but the more we know, the more we are forced to un-know and rethink everything we thought we knew.

http://faith-theology.blogspot.com/2008/03/palm-sunday-sermon-lose-your-faith.html

God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are a follower of Jesus.

Jesus said, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the Son of Man, have no home of my own, not even a place to lay my head.” .. “Follow me now! Let those who are spiritually dead care for their own dead.”

You will be handed over to the courts and beaten in the synagogues. And you must stand trial before governors and kings because you are his follower.

Brother will betray brother to death, fathers will betray their own children, and children will rise against their parents and cause them to be killed. And everyone will hate you all over the world because of your allegiance to Jesus.

The student shares the teacher’s fate. The servant shares the master’s fate. And since Jesus, the master of the household, have been called the prince of demons, how much more will it happen to you, a member of the household!

If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Jesus.  Whoever wants to be a leader must be a servant, and whoever wants to be first must become a slave.

On judgment day many will tell Jesus, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’  But he will reply, ‘I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were not for me.’

[His words, not mine]

http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/390/

Is it possible that modern Christianity has become too much about pragmatics?  That is - too much about how to live a successful life?

While biblical texts do give valuable insight into marriage, finance and sex, is it really meant to be as holistic as we’d like to think?  Perhaps we do like to think of it this way because it allows us to claim to be experts in all areas of life and the world around us from science to running a business just by studying the ‘Word’.  Perhaps in such matters we are, in reality, ignorant and dysfunctional.

Being experts means that we don’t need advisors.  We don’t need financial advice from outside ‘the church’ (warning: they may suggest that we don’t tithe our way out of debt), we don’t need doctors, councillors or psychiatrists..  We don’t appreciate ’secular’ art, music or scientific discovery.  And all the while we become more insular and disconnected from society.

Have we forgotten the simple aspects of our Faith, such as ‘trust and obey’, loving our neighbour, avoiding backbiting and gossip, and living in humility?  Shouldn’t our focus in spiritual matters be primarily on reconciliation with God and others, prayer and worship, and growing in character and understanding of God?

Not that we neglect these other areas - we just leave them up to the experts.

Mr. “Different” didn’t so much fit in at Tiddletown Abundant Life Church. 

Mr Jesus didn’t either.

http://nakedpastor.com/archives/1896

Have I been hurt by the Church..

.. or by people in the Church?

Are they same, or different questions?

Some would try to deconstruct their Faith in endeavour to find the roots of their beliefs.

And before they know it, it has all gone.  All that is left is a pile of rational rubble and emotional waste.

Construct I say! Even when the need is to start anew.  Find that which is worth building upon and build, build, build.

Matt, a “hobby pastor”, and servant of Jesus.

To all who care to listen..