The Great Christian Festival of Halloween and the Problem with Light Parties

Mostly, the various feasts and festivals that the Christian church has come to celebrate over the last two-thousand years trace their origins to either Judaism or the various pagan cultures in which Christianity took root in the early centuries A.D. In light of Christ, existing seasons and festivities were often re-appropriated as a celebration of some specific aspect of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and of the Christian faith.

Rather than celebrating the Jewish festival of Passover, Christians tend to focus on the events of Christ’s death and resurrection in what has become Easter (though an understanding of both will enrich one’s faith immensely). Pentecost Sunday has come to be a celebration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2 and is less focused on Shavuot as a celebration of the wheat harvest and Torah.

When it comes to Christmas, the roots of this Christian celebration are not Judaism but rather stem from the winter solstice celebrations of the Roman Empire, and then later, from various Germanic tribes. In this sense, there is some truth to the idea that originally Christmas and some of the pageantry of Christmas finds its origins in pagan celebrations.

But. But where winter solstice marked the darkest dark and the slow turning of the seasons with the promise of the coming of a new sun, Christians subverted this idea and celebrated the coming of a different Son into the darkness of our world. Light and life to all he brings!

Together the various feasts and fasts of the Christian Calendar invite us to orientate our lives around the life of Christ. They even invite us to re-orientate our sense of time around Jesus.

Over time though, secular society does what secular society does, and takes the various Christian feasts, celebrations, and holidays that we have, and slowly but surely commodifies, commercializes, and bastardizes them. In doing so, it’s not just that a particular Christian feast is undermined, but rather that our sense of life being a reality organised around Christ is slowly chipped away at.

We think less of time as a gift, one that allows us the opportunity to simply be - to be with one another, to share life - and to walk a long obedience in step with Jesus. We start see time as a utility and a commodity to be spent – to be leveraged towards maximum productivity. Instead of living in the anticipation of Christ’s coming in Advent, in the celebration of Christ’s birth in Christmas, in the revelation of Christ as Saviour in Epiphany and so on, the framing categories of our life become; work weeks, school terms, university semesters, quarterly reports, annual reviews, the end of the financial year. Ultimately this is anxiety inducing, rather than life giving. 

Selah

In highlighting this, my point is not to rally the troops in some vein attempt to fight against the secularization of Christmas in contemporary society. I’m not trying to organise a “We Say Merry Christmas, Not Happy Holidays” protest march. My point is both narrower and broader in scope. Narrower in that my concern is not how secular society treats Christmas or Easter, only in how we as the Church do. But broader in that if we as Christians settle for a secular perspective on the various feasts and festivals, we lose track of time as sacred, and with it the fullness of Christian vision and theological insight that the Calendar offers as a discipleship tool. We need a renewed appreciation of the Church's liturgical calendar.

Which brings us to the great Christian festival of Hallowe'en!

Under the pantheon of the Roman gods, and in the folk religions of the early Celts and Germanic peoples, festivals were held that marked the seasons. I’ve already mentioned winter solstice. The autumn festival marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. For the Celts this festival was known as Samhain (summer’s end).

These festivals were religious in nature in that as well as marking the season, they were also a liminal time where people imagined the boundary between this world and the otherworld thinned – fairies and ghosts and the souls of the dead could travel between the dimensions. With the souls of the dead supposedly able to return during these kinds of festivals, they became an occasion to consider death, to consider the under-world, to set a table for ancestors whose ghosts would return to visit their homes.

Traditions varied, and traditions evolved – one tradition included dressing as the dead or dressing as characters from the underworld and going door to door to collect treats or do mischief. This practice mimicked the idea that the gods were temperamental and couldn’t be trusted – you better make good sacrifices if you want a good harvest – otherwise they’ll give you nothing but mischief. Another was to carve pumpkins (originally turnips) into scary faces to scare off evil spirits.

The Christian Church looked at all of this and thought, we can do better than this, we’ve a new understanding of death, of what it is to confront death, in the light of Christ. The principalities and powers have been defeated, death is not the final word, the grim reaper is not in charge. And God is not a god of mischief, God is light and life and in him there is no darkness.

And so, the church inaugurated a different festival (as early as the year 609, and then it has evolved from there). Not a one-day festival, but a three-day festival known as All-Hallowtide. A festival designed to sit alongside or exist as an alternative to the various existing festivals of the dead and subvert them in Christ. Hallow means saints, thus we've All Saints Time, and it is a chance to consider and face the reality of death and fear of death we often carry. It is also a chance to remember those who have passed away, saints known and unknown. The three days are October 31^st, November 1^st, and November the 2^nd.

October 31^st – Hallowe’en: All Saints Eve, Hallow Eve, Hallow Evening. This day was an invitation to prayer, to renew one’s baptismal vows in the face our fear of death – I’ve already died in baptism, it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me – and was a chance to reflect on our eternal hope in Christ: neither death nor Hades (literally the god of the underworld) are in charge and they do not have the final word in the face of death.

November 1^st – Hallow Day: All Saints Day. A time consider the capital “S” Saints and martyrs of church history and to consider their lives as exemplars to us in our own journey. Not celebrity  Christians to follow but faithful saints in the truest sense.

November 2^nd – All Soul’s Day. An opportunity to consider the lower-case “s” saints who’ve influenced our lives but have passed away over the course of the last year – friends, family, church members. And then more broadly, those who have influenced our lives but have passed away in years gone by.

All-in-all a chance for the Christian to face death, and, in doing so, to recognise that God is sovereign over death, faithful even in death, and that death has been unmasked as a false god.

Romans 8:35-39What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? (You could say; shall any sort of mischief come between us and God? No way!) As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” (I’ve been baptised, it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me!) No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, (or fairies, or zombies, or scary pumpkins, or mummy’s wrapped up in toilet paper, or trick-or-treators dressed as the Kardashians) neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow (especially about death, even though we try not to talk about in our modern world, we try and sweep it under the rug, the business of morticians and undertakers) – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below, nor anything else in all creation (not even a zombie apocalypse), will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Allhallowtide (All Saints Time) with Hallowe’en, All Saints and All Souls, is a chance to cultivate a proper sense of Christian hope and perspective in relation to death – to remember that death is not the final word! Jesus is the resurrection and the life, our promise of eternal life. The story is not over and in the fullness of time, all will be made well, all will be restored, all will be renewed, every tear will be wiped away – and in the resurrection will be re-united– we will gather to break bread together once more. 

And thus, we say; “where oh death is your sting!?!” Not because the pain of losing a loved one is not real, is not heart-breaking, is not without its own kind of sting. We say, “where oh death is your sting!?!” because death is not, ultimately, that which destroys but that which will itself be destroyed. The love of God will conquer sin and death – and resurrection life will prevail.

Which brings us to the problem of Light Parties, (or at least the potential problem of Light Parties – they are really good for little kids). The problem is that secularism triumphs when christians decide that we need an alternative to the Christian festival of Hallowe’en. Especially if the reason for it is a fear of rubber masks, face-painting, toilet paper, and cobwebs made out of cotton wool – the ghouly and ghostly get-up of Hallowe’en. Secularism wins when we decide that we can’t face death with our kids – and the cartoonish representations of death that come with it – and declare faith and hope and the victory of Christ in all things. Secularism wins when we celebrate Jesus as the Light of the World but only with glow sticks in the sanctuary.

Hallowe’en is an opportunity (with our slightly older kids – the ones that have moved on from Bob the Builder) to, paradoxically, through the use of masks, actually un-mask and disempower the various “boogeymen” that creep into our imaginations (as children – and as adults) and fill us with fear. Especially the fear of death.

We’ve a chance to face these fears – through the dressing up and running around, through the putting on and then the taking off of masks, kids get the chance to expose various monsters as make belief. And then, in conversation with parents to recognise that “there is a light that shines in the darkness, and is not overcome,” and “there is a power greater than death and it is Jesus.”

A Christian participation in All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints Eve, Hallowe’en (even the “trick or treating” part of it) and also All Saints and All Souls day is not some sort of compromised glorification of the occult – rather – it is a good time for us to allow death and other things that scare us into our celebrations and conversations, especially with our kids, in order to then unmask them and speak of the life and power of Jesus Christ. When all the masks are taken off we can have conversations about things that scare us, about death, about the power of Jesus. We let the light shine in the darkness – and it is not overcome.  

And then after that, we follow this up with All Saints Day. “You know how people dressed up yesterday as monsters and mummies and Harry Potter characters and Star Wars characters and different super-heroes – do you know who the real superheroes in life are?”  “Nope.” Well let me tell you about Francis of Assisi, or Mother Teresa or your Grandmother and how she loved Jesus and loved people… They are the kind of super-heroes that God thinks are pretty cool. And then you follow that up with All Souls Day and a conversation about a loved one who’s died, and our hope in Christ of resurrection life and the renewal of all things. Death isn’t the final word.

Rather than let secularism subvert Halloween, we leverage Halloween as a Christian opportunity to subvert fear and death!

**I don’t really have a problem with Light Parties. They have their place. Especially with little kids. Have a blast whatever you do! I’m just trying to make a point. We don’t need to have a problem with Halloween either, if we have the conversations with kids that the festival invites. That said, the whole candy from strangers practice is weird.**

Slow-Pastor

Busy pastor go, go, go,
Budgets and planning and projections to show.

Meetings, seminars, conferences, training,
Promoting and networking – next level he’s aiming.

Buildings to build, money to raise,
Overseas travel and some occasional praise. [Jesus]

How’s work? Busy, busy, no margins to bore,
Overloaded schedules that’s how you keep score.

60 hour, 80 hour work weeks even,
Advice I just read,
A successful pastor would have you believin.

But resist the desire to play that game,
A christian version of the rat race is surely insane.

We’ve no need on Sunday to be harassed and cajoled,
About some next level calling or in goal setting be schooled.

Slow down instead pastor and take a few breaths,
Let the truth of God’s Word rise up from the depths.

In stillness and prayer and quiet reflection,
You’ll discover a gentler pace from which to offer direction.

A non-anxious presence, and a more peaceful mind,
The wisdom of heaven, and of love you will find.

Walk-slowly dear pastor, please take your time,

Eyes open in wonder to see and to hear,
God’s alternate arrangement for human affairs.  

A poem I wrote for myself (and any who might appreciate it) post submitting the final project for my doctorate. I suddenly had space and margins that I've not had for a long time and people asking what I'm planning on filling that space with. There are lots of options. In one sense though, my major hope is to be slower, more present, more appreciative, more able to listen, more prayerful and considered.  

“How can I lead people into the quiet place beside the still waters if I am in perpetual motion? How can I persuade a person to live by faith and not by works if I have to juggle my schedule constantly to make everything fit into place?” Eugene H. Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor

On Books and Strategies for Reading

Have you ever thought to yourself, “I wish I read more,” or, “I’d love to be more of a reader,” or, “so many books, but so little time,”? If you have, I've got a couple of suggestions in regard to how you might become a more proficient and prolific reader. 

Firstly, I’d encourage you to start thinking about books as you do various Netflix or television shows. Picture a book as a series and the chapters within the book as episodes.

Secondly, select three books that you’d like to read. Think of them as three different television shows that you’d like to have on the go. Maybe get some recommendations from friends in regard to something they’ve read and thought was top shelf – just like you do with Netflix. Of course, don’t (when starting out) choose three ridiculously large or complicated books, rather choose something with approx. 200 to 300 pages in it and ten to twelve chapters.

Thirdly, pick a night of the week that your “show,” your book, is going to be on. Let’s say one on Monday, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday, and then choose what time your show starts each night (appreciating that it’ll be an hour long) – let’s go with 8:15pm.

Fourthly, be aware that reading is a discipline, far more so than watching television. It takes energy, effort, and concentration. Reading is in one sense a muscle that you have to exercise and develop. When you first start there might be some heavy lifting, but you will grow stronger. Commit to your hour reading each night, with each book. Don’t worry if at first you can’t complete a whole chapter in the allotted time, a whole episode, you’ll become a faster reader by simple perseverance.

Fifthly, if one of your books gets really good – feel free to binge read.

Sixthly, if you commit to the discipline you’ll get through between ten and fifteen 250-page books every year, between one hundred and one hundred and fifty books every ten years. And that’s not accounting for the improvements you’ll make in terms of becoming a stronger reader every month that goes by, nor for the occasional binge read. 

"Books shape us, dynamically molding our minds and souls. You are never the same person when you finish a book–even one that is read purely for escape or entertainment. A.W. Tozer has aptly stated that “the things you read will fashion you by slowly conditioning your mind”. What it means is that what we read matters and directly affects what we become. We are fortunate with the wealth of books at our fingertips.  - Scott Larsen

If the Holy Spirit "lives in you," then where?

The following is some thinking out-loud...

I’ve been having a great back and forth discussion with a good friend regarding the ontological make-up of human beings; bodies, souls, spirits, hearts, minds, bio-mechanics, neurological capabilities etc. My perspective is that humans are indivisible-wholes, we are fully embodied beings whom at death cease to exist. In other words, there is not a “soul” part to us, that at death detaches or flies from the body to another place or realm. Rather our story simply comes to an end. However, this end is not the end. Our story is not forgotten and in the eschaton (the age to come when God judges, heals and renews all things), God (who knows our story even better than we do), will bring about resurrection life and the continuation of our story. This will include forgiving, healing, restoring and renewing the broken and damaged parts of our story as well – there will be no more tears, no more pain, and no more heartache.  Thus, in our “storied-existence,” death at the bottom of page 91 (for example), gives way to resurrection life at the top of page 92, meaning that to be absent from the body (dead) is indeed to instantly be present with the Lord; irrespective of the years that go by in the space, time and matter universe of earth.

In terms of the “soul,” I’m not trying to do-away with it, but rather, to rescue it from dualistic ideas that all-to-often compartmentalize our lived experiences and hinder us in our journey to become fully human – to become Christ-like. As a pastor, I’m trying to minister the life-of-Christ to the life of our church community, in order that they might become whole and healthy humans – fully human in their reflection of Jesus who shows us what it means to be truly human! Attempting this, without a clear understanding of what it is to be human, has the potential to result in all sorts of disconnect and frustration – our ministry is not to “souls,” or “bodies,” or “spirits,” or “hearts,” or “minds,” but to fully embodied people.

I would understand the “soul” to be our inner-self, our accumulated reflections, thoughts, feelings, hopes, passions, dreams, fears, and anxieties – ultimately the product of our natured, nurtured, neurological, biomechanical embodied life. In this sense it is our story, not in terms of an historical-narrative though (that’s too liner), but rather in a more three-dimensional and alive sense; we can go back-and-forth, up-and-down, in-and-out, to-and-fro within our story. It is part ego, part shadow-self, part enlightened, part known, part unknown, part shared and part kept as a secret. In this manner, the “soul” is very real and very much alive. But, it isn’t a ghost that flies away at death, nor the real us to be set against our “body” as simply a “house.” The “soul” only exists in an embodied story and thus, like the body, is extinguished in death. But we have hope! (Did I mention that?)

In our conversation, a passage in 1 Corinthians came up…

1 Corinthians 6:19
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.

If the Holy Spirit lives in us, where does it live? It’s an ontologically framed question in light of our ontological discussion. Quite frankly though, it’s not a question I’d ever considered from that perspective. So, here is my attempt to explain this aspect of this verse. We’ll start with 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and then look at 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, I’ll make some comments as we read. You may like to read the whole of 1 Corinthians though – it wouldn’t be a bad thing.

1 Corinthians 3:16

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 

Here in chapter 3, Paul’s reference to “you yourselves” being the temple of God is a reference to the Corinthian church as a collective community rather than a reference to individual bodies. God dwells in the “community,” the “relationships,” the “gathering” of the Christian church. In this 1^st Century context temples always reflected the nature, name and images of their respective gods or goddesses. For the Christian church, the nature, name and image of God was not a reality reflected in carvings or statues but rather in the people of the church, God’s image bearers and their relationships with one another. God makes himself present in their midst and the Corinthian church community serves as God’s sanctuary.

1 Corinthians 3:17

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

The sinful divisions of the Corinthian church though (see early in 1 Corinthians), their vainglory, jealousy and partisanship is damaging their common life together. More than that, it is a form of sacrilege because in sinning against “consecrated persons” who are corporately God’s temple, it defiles the joint sharing in the Spirit who consecrates the temple.  This behaviour has the potential to destroy God’s temple, that is, the Corinthian church.

Now, we’ll jump to 1 Corinthians 6, as in this passage we see the individual also referred to as God’s temple. Note here there are number of quotations representing things said by at least some members within the Corinthian church that have been reported to Paul.

1 Corinthians 6:12

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.

Free from the law of Moses, it seems that some of the Christians in Corinth are abusing this freedom and embracing practices inconsistent with faithfulness to Christ and Christ-like living. Most likely regarding their eating habits, their drinking, and inappropriate sexual relationships.

1 Corinthians 6:13-18

You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

The general openness of the Corinthian Christians to this kind of living was essentially their advocacy of the quasi-Platonic thought of the day, that is, a dualism between the “physical” and the “spiritual.” Supposedly, one could do what one wanted with their “body,” eat what one wanted to and sleep with whoever one decided to, with this having no bearing in terms of sin or in terms of reflecting the nature of God. After all, these were simply physical acts and at the end of the day the “body” would be destroyed, whereas the “soul” would be saved into eternity. The attitude was thus, don’t sin with your “soul,” but do what you like with your “body.”

Paul absolutely rejects this perspective. Paul is all about a fully embodied life. The body is a temple sanctified by the Holy Spirit, united-as-one with Christ, and the mode of being through which and in which the Christian self brings glory to God. Paul rejects Corinthian ideas that freedom from the law now opens the door to licentious sexual relationships, that sin is a “disembodied” reality, and that our “embodied” choices and activities play no role in terms of our future destiny. We’re to live our “embodied” lives today, in light of our “embodied” future and Christian hope. Paul’s great affirmation of the body being the resurrection of Jesus himself! And, whom we are united with and with whom we share hope in regard to the same resurrection. One commentator writes; “Paul’s eschatology counters the dualism of those at Corinth who devalue the body by demonstrating how resurrection destiny is precisely what gives meaning, responsibility, and significance to bodily existence in the present.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies.

Now, in light of 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and further to comments in the introduction, this dust-of-the-earth body and embodied existence, is not a house for the real us, our “soul,” but rather, is the real us and is instead a house/home/temple for the Holy Spirit – who takes up residence in us and will ultimately give life to our mortal bodies (Romans 8:10). Dualism is foreign to Paul, though popular to culture – then and now. For Paul, the whole embodied person belongs to God, therefore despite illicit union with a prostitute argued by the Corinthians to be merely physical, it effects oneness of relationship which contradicts the Lord’s claim over the body. Sin isn’t something outworked in the “physical realm” as distinct from the “realm of the soul,” this is an artificial division.

So, finally, back to our original question: If the Holy Spirit lives in us, where does it live?

In 1 Corinthians 3 the focus is on the collective community of the church serving as God’s temple. The Holy Spirit dwelt in-their-midst relationally, even as they were in relationship with one another. Their sinning against one another damaged their relationships with one another and served as a threat to themselves (as the church of Corinth) and their ability to exist as God’s temple. God was in-their-midst relationally and the challenge to the church was wrong relationships – in this case broken relationships and divisions with one another.

In 1 Corinthians 6 the issue is again that of relationships. Individuals in this instance, who are united in relationship to Christ, are now also uniting in relationship with prostitutes – the two bodies in sexual union becoming one body. Not ontologically one, but relationally one – a concept which in our day and age (as in Corinth 2,000 years ago) is not always perceived as being that “big” a deal. Biblically however, relationship is the biggest deal. God is a Trinitarian relationship. Creation was created to relate to God, self, others and the rest of creation. God enters a covenant relationship with Israel and is the faithful covenant keeping God. Marriage is to be a life-long covenant relationship. The church is a community of relationship with God, each other and the world. To become a follower of Christ is to come into relationship with Jesus and become one body. Again, not ontologically but relationally.

This isn’t to say there are not ontological implications that come about as a result of sexual union. Neurological pathways are developed, chemicals are released in the brain, associations and memories are created etc., all of which impact the totality of one’s embodied existence. That said, it is still more appropriate to think of two becoming one relationally rather than ontologically – and, we would do well in the 21^st Century to re-invigorate our commitment and championing of “relationship” as the biblical value that it is. So, in sexual union a husband and wife become one flesh, they become one relationally, I now live in my wife’s story, and my wife now lives in my story. Relationally it is entirely inappropriate for a husband or wife to engage in sexual union with anyone other than their own spouse – that would be to enter into another story and would be an issue of unfaithfulness and a failure to use one’s body to its proper end – the bringing of worship and glory to God whose temple it is.

So then…

QUESTION: If the Holy Spirit lives in us, where does he live?
ANSWER: He lives in us relationally rather than ontologically.

The Holy Spirit now lives in our story and we live in the Holy Spirit’s story – God’s grand-narrative of scripture and ongoing work in the world. Relationally the Holy Spirit is with us always, and in us always, and us in the Holy Spirit. This is Jesus’ encouragement, to abide; John 15:4 -  Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 

Identity Foreclosure, Questions, Doubts and Postmodernism

To be God’s people is to be those who wrestle with God. It is to work out one’s salvation with fear and trembling. It is to be people of faith, of hope, of trust, of doubt, and of suspicion. It is to have answers. It is to have questions. Of all the places to wrestle with one’s faith, the church would ideally be that place – often it is not.

A big part of maturing from adolescence into adulthood is the questioning of beliefs, assumptions, and perspectives held by one’s elders. Moving into adulthood, young adults don’t tend to simply follow the prescribed paths of their parents, teachers or pastors, rather, they explore other possibilities, different perspectives, and alternative values. The final result of this period of searching may well be a decision to retain much of what they have received from an early age, though some things may be deleted, updated, or reframed. What is essential in this process is that the choice to accept or adapt that which has been inherited, or to adopt other perspectives, comes about through their own weighing of perspectives and wrestling with life’s complexities. This is an exhilarating part of being roughly 17 – 27 years of age - when this process unfolds. Done well, it is also a process that helps the church to continually re-contextualize the gospel in line with the questions, issues, and concerns of the day.

Ironically though, churches are not always a context where young adults feel able to navigate this process. Too often church culture is orientated around believe, behave and belong - especially for young adults who’ve grown up in the church. Christian kids tend to come of age surrounded by authority figures who champion very clear ideals around what one must believe and how one must behave. Often their self-esteem is dependent on the approval of these figures and they experience an unusual pressure to conform to the expectations of others. They are often denied the “moratorium” or leeway in adolescence to delay adult commitments, they prematurely embrace a set of values that was forged for them rather than by them.

Psychoanalyst Erick Erikson suggests that when individuals skip this critical stage of identity formation (or only partly engage) the result is a form of identity foreclosure. Individuals who have undergone identity foreclosure can be highly successful in many areas of life. However, they do tend to exhibit a number of potentially destructive psychological traits. They are less self-reflective than others. They are often mentally rigid, tending to see the world in terms of simplifying narratives that are beyond question. They are incapable of incorporating new values or perspectives into their worldview. They have difficulty cultivating warm and intimate relations even among some of their closest friends and loved ones. They have little patience with ambiguity and little intellectual curiosity in unfamiliar ways of thinking. They seek refuge in overarching meaning structures that are uncompromising and total, various forms of religious propaganda essentially. They are often deeply concerned with maintaining authority structures and upholding traditional religious values. People with foreclosed identities are thus naturally drawn toward fundamentalist communities. And, in an insidious feedback loop, fundamentalist communities produce people with identity foreclosure. This is obviously not helpful.

With this in mind, our postmodern context and its predisposition toward questioning, doubt, suspicion, and deconstructionism offers both challenges and opportunities.

In terms of challenges…

Today’s adolescences and young adults transiting into adulthood have more suspicions, more doubts, more questions than ever, and, given their connectivity and access to technology and information – are asking harder, deeper and more challenging questions of the church and of faith than ever before. On top of that, they’ve been exposed to a such a plurality of ideas in regard to any particular topic that sifting through the information is incredibly challenging. They’ve knowledge and information but need help in terms of wisdom.

At the same time though, the church, often feeling threatened by deconstructionism, is doubling-down in its cries for faith, belief, and trust – and actually working to squash down the questioning of young adults. Partly because the church (understandably) doesn’t want young people to “lose” their faith, but also partly because many pastors and leaders are themselves products of fundamentalist communities who’ve their own challenges in regard to identity foreclosure and, plain and simple, don’t know how to address the complexity of some of the issues millennials are bringing to the table. They know they love Jesus though and that Jesus is the hope of the world, the way, the truth and the life. Surely this should be enough for millennials (and it is), but it isn’t – not served up like that. And thus, in attempting to squash the questioning in order to help young people preserve their faith, they actually end up driving young people away. Perhaps not from their faith in Jesus, but at least from the church.

The church needs to become the place where young adults can come to wrestle with their faith, to work out their salvation in fear and trembling, to doubt, to question and to be suspicious. Not the place they have to avoid as thy seek to wrestle with their faith and work out their salvation.

In terms of opportunities though…

What is exciting in our postmodern world is that “older” folk are bravely attempting to ask questions and re-evaluate the parts of their faith that earlier in their life they may have had questions about but instead learned to tow the party line. Of course, rather than being exhilarating, as it often is in one's twenties, it can be daunting and overwhelming. At least at first. To question “fundamental” beliefs can be a disorientating and difficult process, and often one where participants feel a mixture of guilt and incredible instability. Guilt for asking or doubting, and instability as one is questioning things that they have perhaps felt like they’ve built their life on. Take encouragement from the psalms though - they are a mixture of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation. We should expect this cycle to be embedded within our lives as disciples. Unfortunately though, fundamentalist upbringings tend not to make space for this and the process can be scary at first.

When we can make our church communities contexts in which doubt and suspicion doesn't disqualify but rather is expected, and where big questions are wrestled with over time, they have the potential to be incredibly life giving. Places where on the other side of big questions young and old begin to experience a sense of being born-again-again, as faith in Jesus, the good news of the gospel and the great hope we have as Christ-followers comes alive in in the midst of lives toughest questions and challenges.

It’s discipleship as a lifelong journey rather than a 3 step program, with 5 main points, 7 quick keys, and 9 irrefutable laws, outworked over 40 days of who-knows-what.

My reflections interwoven with ideas from...

Ronald E. Osborn – “Death Before the Fall”
Erik Erikson – “Identity and the Life Cycle”
John Van Wicklin, Ronald, J. Burwell and Richard E. Butman – “Squandered Years: Identity Foreclosed Students and the Liberal Education They Avoid”

Worship: The Battle Ground of the Ego and the Soul

Let's have a look at worship, the lyric and melody type worship. Worship is of course the totality of how we live our lives. Worship is living in a way that gives honour and glory to God. But worship - in the sense of singing - is something that most Christians do, from Sunday to Sunday. 

Why? 

Let’s have a look at what is probably the most famous worship verse in the bible. The worship pastor's go to 'proof text' and 'sum-it-all-up-in-one-verse.'

Psalm 22:3

You can see the Hebrew text in the center of the image. Hebrew poetry, which the psalms are, is arranged via specific numbers of words rather than the specific sounds that words make - it's not about rhyming.

With this in mind, there is some uncertainty as to whether Psalm 22:3 is 3 words and then 2 words, or 2 words and then 3 words? Does the word I’ve highlighted in yellow go with the top line, or does it go with the bottom line?

Different English translations go in different directions.

The NIV thinks 3 and then 2 = You are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. 

The ESV thinks 2 and then 3 = You are holy, enthroned (inhabiting) the praises of Israel.

It’s only a little different but makes a big difference, at least in this discussion. 

My Old Testament Professor, John Goldingay, has written a fantastic commentary on Psalms. He thinks 3 and then 2 words and thus sides with the NIV translation. He offers the following… The idea of Yahweh sitting enthroned in the heavens or in Zion is a familiar one (offers a bunch of verses).  Likewise, the idea that Yahweh is the one Israel praises is a familiar one (more verses as examples). But the idea of Yahweh being enthroned on or inhabiting Israel’s praise is unparalleled, and if either of these were the psalm’s point, one might have expected it to be expressed more clearly. 

Thus it is simply more likely that the NIV translation is correct. We can’t be certain. But I think it is fair to run with the NIV.

If we go with the ESV translation of the text, then the next thing we know, we’ve well-meaning Worship Pastors yelling at us; “Come on people, God inhabits the praises of his people! Let’s get singing. Let’s make some noise. Let’s really get into this and ensure that God comes and presences himself with us. Let's really make an effort.”

Bubbling away, just below the surface, is the idea that we have discovered a key or a principle by which we can get God to come at our beck and call. Hallelujah! We've found a way to make worship transactional in order to get out of it what we want. Some people promote methodologies or theologies that turn prayer and fasting and giving into transactional based activities. Beware - these practices are intended to be transformational not transactional.  

In this instance, worship supposedly becomes something that we initiate, and a means by which we move God. If we sing then God will show up, we'll have an encounter. 

You don’t have to travel too far down this road before things start to get bent out of shape. We soon have this great push to sing louder, lift our hands higher, kneel or bow down lower, clench your eyes tighter, be more sincere, be more intense, get a better sound system, get better singers on the stage, get better musicians on the stage, get a better stage. Generally just make more of an effort to make worship something amazing. 

  

Even just intuitively I think we all know that this isn’t what worship is about. But often this is what it has become about. 

If we’re not careful, it all starts to echo the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel, beating themselves up trying to get a miracle. 

If we go with the NIV version of the text, likely a more accurate translation, I think we'll end up heading down a better path.

Bubbling away, just below the surface of this English translation, is the idea, the conviction, that God is prior to everything. God is the initiator of everything. God is present and inhabits all things, all times, all places. God initiates and we respond.

We don’t sing and then God turns up. We sing because God has already turned up.

And so, we sing louder, we lift our hands higher, we make some noise, we kneel or bow. But NOT because we are trying to make more of an effort and get God to do something. Rather it is an embodied response to the fact that God has already done something - everything. 

Here is perhaps a better verse to start from.

Revelation 3:20

Jesus speaking – Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me.

Worship isn’t God hearing our voice and responding. Worship is about us hearing His voice and responding.

God’s prior to everything.
God’s the great initiator.
The universe hums with God’s song, long before I try and bring my song.

Worship is a table of hospitality.
The love of the Father is the invitation.
The Holy Spirit is the host.
Musicians and singers are serving.
Jesus is the life-giving meal.

We’re invited to the table, invited to partake, invited to taste and see that the Lord is God, that Jesus is living water, that Jesus is the Bread of Life. We’re invited to take a seat at the table and participate. 

So how do we participate?

Singing is a fully embodied activity, it is an “everything that's in me” type activity. Songs are about lyric and melody, which means songs are about thinking and feeling. Songs are about action and contemplation.

You never put on your favorite album, your favorite song, and then sit or stand dead still. Even if you are following along reading the lyrics your foot will be tapping, your fingers thrumming, your head bobbing. 

Here is Journey's Don’t Stop Believing - try and watch this without moving, impossible! Steve Perry is rocking it! Play it super loud!

Worship is something we participate in when we allow our thinking and feeling to come together in embodied participation. Music, movement, meditation all in one go.

This instructional video may be helpful.

So we lift our hands, we shut our eyes, we stand, we sway, we sing loud, we tap our feet -- NOT because in worship we need to really make an effort, really force things, like the prophets on Mount Carmel, really get stuck in so that God knows we are sincere and will hopefully show up -- we worship because God has already shown up - big time. Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us!

We worship and we engage our whole body in the process because that's how we participate. 

The reason that the worship video clip is funny (I hope you thought it was) is because it is so true. We've all seen it get a little weird in worship.

Look at this next diagram. You have the same stuff - singing louder, lifting hands, making noise, and so on - on both sides of the equation. However, on one side it’s about striving and straining to get something. One the other side it is about learning to let go. 

And what’s it about letting go of? It’s about letting go of our ego.

The physical action in worship, our arms lifted before God, singing passionately despite our abilities and so forth, well it’s all about the abandonment of ego.

It is physical action that produces as spiritual openness, a spiritual atmosphere even. Of course it does! Everything is spiritual.

Through embodied engagement in worship we let go of our ego. We let go of  self-consciousness, self-interest, self-reliance, self-sufficiency. All of which, if unchecked, become manifestations of self-worship, a form of idolatry. Holding onto oneself rather than giving oneself over to God.  

In worship, when we practice full participation, we find that the abandonment of ego opens our souls to receive the one who is the Bread of Life, Living Water, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

  

Worship is thus the battle ground of the ego and the soul. 

In this next video clip check out the battle between the ego and the soul. The boy in the middle is “soul.” The girls next to him represent “ego.”

Ego and soul are fighting. Ego says; "stand still, don’t be silly, be dignified, what will people think?" Soul says; "loose yourself in the music, in the moment, you’ve only got one shot."

Here’s a bird that exemplifies what it is to totally let go of ego and embrace soul. You’ll be able to tell which bird.

When we let go of ego we find our soul.

And in finding our soul we find a space to experience all that is true about God.

The psalmist sings in Psalm 103…

Psalm 103:1-5
¹ Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

When we let go of ego and we sing from our inmost being our heart collides with the Father heart of God.

And then, God who is present with us, and the lyrics that we are singing, and the music that imprints it into our very beings, begins to re-script, re-order, re-configure, re-write and redeem the story of our lives and of life.

We let go of and lay down the illusions of self-sufficiency we have, we throw out all the messages that the world tries so hard to throw at us… movies, magazines, media, marketing… in an attempt to shape our lives. In an attempt to tell us, what success means, what should be pursued and valued and loved. What’s worthless and should be thrown away. What the good life is or isn’t. Who I am. Who I should be.

In the lyric, melody of worship and our embodied participation we are re-shaped by God. We find truth and life. Rather than falsehood and death. Rather than finding ourselves shaped by the world’s liturgy, we are shaped by the person of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the love of God.

Not because we are striving and struggling and making great efforts, but because we are letting go, and embodying God’s truth in worship.

That’s how it is meant to be. That’s how it’s always meant to be. That’s how worship works. We embody the song. We eat with Jesus. We find life. Ego dies. Our soul comes alive. It changes the way we live.

Through the abandonment and delight of letting go.

It keeps us safe from the temptation to turn worship into either the manipulation of God or of our fellow brother and sisters. It prevents us from turning worship into a man-made, self-gratifying, consumer driven, tick box event that God despises.

Amos 5:21-27
²¹ “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
    your assemblies are a stench to me.
²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
    I will have no regard for them.
²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.
²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!
²⁵ “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
    forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
²⁶ You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
    the pedestal of your idols,
    the star of your god—
    which you made for yourselves.
²⁷ Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”
    says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.

In the scenario here in Amos, worship “stuff” is happening. But lives aren’t being re-framed. It’s not resulting in justice and righteousness and mercy flowing into the world. This shouldn't be surprising, after all, love and justice and mercy and compassion and kindness, the fruit of the Spirit; it doesn't flow from your ego, it flows from the heart of one who has encountered the love of God in worship. 

Worship – the adoration, glorification and honouring of God. Heart touches heart. 

Worship – the abandonment of ego in the lyric and melody of song. 

Worship – the saving of our souls as that which is deep within is allowed to come to the surface. 

Worship – the formation of our lives as the scripts of our world are replaced by the truth of Jesus.

Worship – It’s not about my voice and God responding to my voice. It’s about his voice and me responding to his voice.

Worship – A table of hospitality. The love of the Father is the invitation. The Holy Spirit is the host. Musicians and singers are serving. Jesus is the life giving meal.

Worship – The battle ground of the ego and the soul.

Worship – Lyric and melody searching for action and contemplation.