Intelligent conversation

           On occasion I get to be with young, inspiring minds, in a virtual world of blogging.

The last string of enlightened commentaries sprang from a lecture held by John Behr, a teacher and spokesman for the Orthodox community. The discussion is wide ranging and inquisitive, but also marked by a drive for truth, for giving room for true faith and true life -

           Questions that are being raised deal with relating to attitudes to and of contemporary historical scholarship in regards to the Bible texts. The questions deal with a variety of theological interpretations, from the early patristics to the postmodern mindset. 

           How do we react to new and intriguing information about a historical discoveries which may influence the way we read the Bible? Do we dismiss it and say it is not relevant to faith? Do we look it in the eye and seek to find faults, analysing their scientific methods and presuppositions, in order to defend our tradition? Do we heed the new scholarship, and in the process reject the traditional views, without really understanding their depth?

          Are we more enlightened in our perspectives these days? Do we have more knowledge, insight, wisdom? What are our caveats in this respect? Do we possess a deeper understanding of God, a clearer way of how to live Soli Deo Gloria?

         

 Perhaps I mix the questions, the focus, the intentions behind it all - but I cannot see the value of theological work if it does not relate to the lived life of the believer and the church. So, I expect there to be a meaning.

   

       As I pondered these aspects, I looked up the readings for this upcoming Sunday. (In the Norwegian church there is a set order of readings from the Bible throughout a three-year cycle.) This Sunday the Gospel text is from Matt. 7: 7-12.

"7 “Ask, and it will be given to you;

seek, and you will find;

knock, and it will be opened to you.

8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds,

and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?

11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.""

          I thought it was a fitting passage which speaks into this situation. For, clearly, we are encouraged to ask - both ask questions and to request petitions; to seek - to investigate and to seek God; to knock - to test out, try things out, try and fail, and try again... It is never in vain. Essentially, we learn to live, and live in dependent relationship to God, who is the giver of all good things. And this is further reflected in our relationships to others.

Ikke min egen herre...

Jeg sitter her og ber innimellom jobbing og kabal - og jeg kommer tilbake til takken over Jesus er min Herre, og ikke jeg selv. Jeg skal ikke måtte klare å holde alle ting sammen; jeg trenger ikke bekymre meg om å forstå og kjenne alle ting, mestre helheten. Jeg får stole helt og fullt på at Han har kontrollen.

Jesus er min Herre og jeg er en tjener. Ja, jeg er også et Guds barn, medarving, en søster, men mitt forhold til Universets Konge er slik at jeg er hans tjenenr, en lykkelig tjener.

          Jeg lærte noe av Kant i mine unge voksne år: Plikten er positiv. Det var nytt for meg. Men jeg ble overbevist, og jeg kunne glede meg over det gode i plikten. Det kan vel hende at noen får grøss på ryggen av slik tale, men Jesus sier noe tilsvarende når han sier: "dersom du elsker meg, holder du mine bud. "Det demret litt bedre for meg da jeg selv hadde små barn og gledet meg over deres lydighet i kjærlighet.

Man mister ikke sin integritet, sin troverdighet som et tenkende menneske, når man overgir seg til Gud. Slipp å føle ansvar for at alt skal fungere, at alt skal gå godt. Gud kan.

          Jeg minnes den gangen for da jeg var 15 år og gikk hjem alene etter et møte. Gud møtte meg på veien. Jeg stanset og så opp mot himmelen. Det var som om to livsveier lå foran meg: den ene var min vei, den andre var Guds vei. Jeg sto ved et veiskille og fikk valget: min veg eller Guds vei. Jeg stirret på min egen vei, og så mye kaos, ingen klar ledelse, ingen klar framtid. Det var temmelig uoversiktlig. Og så så jeg Guds vei, med trygghet, ro, orden, framtid, håp... Men jeg kunne ikke fortsette og gå begge - valget var ikke vanskelig. Et Ja til Guds vei. Det har fått konsekvenser for livet mitt siden. Og det vil fortsette å ha konsekvenser inn i evigheten.

          Lydighet er en slik konsekvens - men det er ingen mekanisk lydighet. Den er grunnet i kjærlighet. Liksom plikten, er lydigheten noe godt og livsbejaende. Er virkeligheten snudd på hodet? Neida. Som kristen har jeg Guds ånd, men samtidig har jeg min menneskelige ånd - den gamle natur - og disse står i spennigsforhold fra tid til annen. En kan føle seg som kusken i Faidros, Platon-dialogen om sterke krefter som trekker hestene Eros og Psyche i hver sin retning. Joda, kamp kan det bli, og det er ikke alltid enkelt - men jeg står ikke ene og forlatt i slike situasjoner. Gud sender sine engler, mektige krigere i åndeverdenen, som kjemper for meg. Jeg kan overgi meg til Gud og skjule meg i ham. Jeg er ikke min egen herre, men forventer at min Herre skal stride for meg. Sånn er det.  

Invitation

Welcome!

Come and share your experiences of sacred space and time!

Write a short response in the comment field/kommentarfelt, if you like:)

Where were you?

If a built structure, what was the focal point of the interior?

Or were you in nature - what sort of nature, climate, weather etc.?

Was there any sense perception?

Think of there was something special about:Sight/Sound/Smell/Taste /Touch?

Was the experience unexpected or anticipated?

How did God meet you?

Was it peaceful or challenging?

What do you think was the outcome of the experience personally?

Any other comments?

(Write in the language that you are most comfortable with.)

A Pompous Windbag!

          Alas, as I read some of my own blog entries, I sigh, and think I sound like a pompous windbag! Actually, I hear my grandmother in my own words. We called her Besta, and she was the only grandparent alive by the time I came around. She was a strong character, sort of proud, clever and artistic. She had an education in art, and she liked painting - particularly traditional rose painting - as a hobby. When I visited her on the farm, she would at times read out loud something educational, a rather lengthy and boring article about an issue she thought I needed to know about. Ah, pompous windbag!

           Presently I am having tea with my youngest son, and he talks a lot, prances around with a long blanket wrapped around him to the music of Tchaikovsky - the forever 1812 Overture (I have heard this for years, many times, in the car, at home). Every time he becomes exited and and wonders if I get surprised at the moments of suspense and surprise....even after the tenth time.

         

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Moscow

  By the way, do you know when this piece was premiered? It was at the opening of the beautiful Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow! That is the church Stalin and his crew ruined and tore down - and which was re-built by the orthodox church, beginning the plans in the early 1990ties and it was dedicated in 2000. It is built like the old one, with beautiful gilded domes: The gold is a symbol for Jesus. I would love to visit it one day. It is a great encouragement to me that the church saw this as a sign, a symbol, to rebuild the same structure: to show the presence of Christ, to show how God is there, with victory over the godlessness of the communist agenda.

Interior, church in action

           I am really interested in the churches of the east, the Russian Orthodox Church architecture, but I have yet much to learn about it. They are splendid!

The Words and the Word

Bibel in Brunkeberg kyrkje

          On occasion I come into discussions about the validity of God's Word in its present form. There are arguments that suggest that the written word is incorrect in its dealing with natural sciences, that the sources of knowledge are influenced by other documents from antiquity. There are other arguments that the world view presented is outdated and can not hold true to modern standards. Inconsistencies exist, they assert, contradictions, together with a confusing image of justice and compassion on behalf of God, as he lets war and destruction occur in the stories of old. Questions are raised about the validity of Paul's teachings in the New Testament - and the list goes on.

           I often wonder what the real purpose is behind the critical eye. Some may think, and hope, it is a genuine search for truth, a real and open scientific inquiry, which will lead to better insight, perhaps - insight in to the soul of man and the heart of God.

           I must admit that, although I would readily admire such a sentiment, I find it naive. The admiration for academia is such that one still believes it has no drive, no politics, no will to power, no intention, other than to truly seek out the real. With a blind eye to any underlying aim, any drive in the hypotheses to undermine the authority of God's Word, one ends up in a quagmire of relative statements, of uncertainty, of unsettled wondering - what can I believe? What is true?

           Language is incomplete and fallible. Languages are restricted. Naturally are there inconsistencies in a language, and in the use of it. As such, it is a miracle that God communicates with us through language and that we may be able to under stand and respond.

Bible procession

          The truth is, what God has said, and what he speaks though the word by his Holy Spirit, is always valid - no matter what anyone does to his recorded word. You may burn all the bibles, but the word of God is still his word. What he has said, he has said. No act of man can change that.

          But God's Word is more than recorded vocabulary about events and encounters between God and humans. God's Word is more than what is contained in human language.

          As I said, God's Word is more than the written words. Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the Alfa and Omega, the beginning and end. He is a being, and in the present.

A couple of days ago I listened to a lecture by Fr.Robert Barron, and the way he spoke of Jesus Christ, of the two natures in Christ - the fully human and the fully divine - as the underlying principle through which we see and understand all things in our Christian World view, was settling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp21zP50cSE&feature=youtu.be

(Fr. Robert Barron:

Lecture given at Duke U., March 19, 2015

Topic: "Faithful and Intelligent.

The Catholic intellectual tradition and view.")

A Symbol - a silent speaker, or silenced speaker?

A symbol is a shape or sign used to represent something else.

           Richard Taylor, an Anglican parishioner, realised that much of the symbolism in the churches were foreign to many, and a silent language without reference points. He wrote a book called "How to Read a Church" in order to aid many in understanding the meaning in many of the symbols we find in a traditional Catholic or Anglican church. Naturally, the knowledge is waning due to lack of participation and lack of instruction. The most common reason for people not going to church is that they have no personal connection to this religious institution. They may have been baptised in their infancy, they may have gone through a confirmation, and perhaps had some other connections with the church on special days. Still, it is as institution they see as part of the landscape not something which is part of their lives. Will then a book about the symbols and their meaning help?

           His contribution in writing the book helps in an initial understanding some of the symbols for the ones who want to know. It does not intend to help people seek the church and be part of the fellowship. That is a much more fundamental issue, and it leads naturally to the question of how to reach out the the new generation with the message of the church: the message of salvation, a restored relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

          Every generation needs to hear and respond to this message.

          How will they hear, if no one speaks?

          Before the silent signals through symbols may have any meaning, the plainly spoken word, the preaching of the Word of God, must precede it. Faith comes from hearing the Word of God, and by the work of the Holy Spirit who works on the heart of the hearer. All of Scripture is inspired by God, and willed by God in its present form. God has revealed himself in history, and we have recorded testimonies, psalms, words of wisdom, we have interpreted history - and sayings from prophets and from other teachers in the New testament. We have the story of Jesus, the ultimate revelation of God's love for us. What He has done, is enough for me. I have a new life, an eternal life. And the life I now life, I live in dependence of God, by his power.

          When I see a symbol of the risen Christ, be it a Lamb with a pennant, or a cross, I am deeply reminded of a truth that is central to my life. For me such symbols have meaning, because I know them in the depth of my soul. The symbol speaks.

           It is an outcry, then, that for many the symbols are silenced and carry no reflections of truth, if this means they have no hope for eternity, no salvation from sin, no forgiveness from God, no loving Father in heaven to seek comfort with... even if they once were baptised in their infancy, or obeyed tradition in going through confirmation.

Got Time?

The concept of space and time is a philosophical expression, indicating reality in this world. We experience things in the frame of spacial environment and in the defined time as recorded history.

          What is time? Perhaps the very question is impossible, for it presupposes that time"is". Time is not spacial, but we can not relate to it in any other way. Time is not sequential, but we measure it in segments, to organize our lives in relations to past and future events.

          Time, some say, is relative, and by that meaning that we experience time differently in different situations in life. We talk about a long minute - the longest minute -, and the same length of measured time as a blink of an eye. We think back to our childhood and remember time as moving much slower than in the adult years.

Salvador Dali: Clock Exploding

          Philosophers and scientists alike have pondered the nature of time. In one sense it is not an entity, still we have a concept, a term, and we speak of it as if it is real. We measure movement in time segments, we measure the speed of light and sound. Is time constant? Is time flexible? Is time malleable? Interesting young philosophers ponder these questions and time will tell what they conclude in the end.

          "The eternal now " is another expression for the ever present presence. As such, we can claim that history does not exist. All we have is memory, recollection, and this will naturally be subjective and interpreted. No one can prove what happened, even an hour ago, without taking into considerations what people remember, a witness account, related artefacts which might be put in reasonable connection with the acts of one hour ago. We have methods we use in dealing with the past. We build our cases on probability. But any of the acts of the past are no more in existence, only as a memory.

Salvador Dali: The Persistence of Memory

          My use of language reveal that in my world view, there is something called time through which I can understand events and acts in my spacial reality. Further, it reveals that my concept of time is linear. There is a beginning and there is an end - at least to the sequence of acts and lived life. I age. I change over time. I will face the end of my life in this world, but as a Christian, I believe in the gift of eternal life. So, there I defy the limits of space and enter into an endless reality. Interestingly enough, although it is eternal, in my Christian faith there is a clear sense of physical existence: a new body, an essentially different one, but still physical, body will define me. I am not like a wind, or like a shapeless ghost floating about. In our confession of faith, we state: I believe in the bodily resurrection. Indeed.

          In essence, I will claim that time does not exist as a separate entity. I also claim, that given this premise, history as such does not exist, not in any present sense. We have recollections, memories, and we put it all together in our interpretation. The better attested an event is, the more probable it is as a building block in our historical inquiries.

           Time, then is simply an aspect of our spacial experience. At the same time, it is the sacred time that defines the sacred space, as I have mentioned earlier. It is the presence of God which sanctifies the time and space. Some may say: Is there a time and space where God is not? And that is a genuine question. The omniscient and omnipotent Creator is not limited. Still, what I refer to is the special promise given by Jesus: "Where two or three are gathered, I am in your midst." This meeting is personal. This meeting has consequences; this meeting sanctifies the ones who are there.