Opting Out of the Christian Faith

People coming to faith in Christ, people walking away from their faith, people out-growing the version of church or Christianity they grew up with, people exploring, people opting out; none of these things are new or novel. What perhaps is, in our contemporary Christian context, is the publicized advent of these events. Especially when one considers the obsession (at least in some quarters) for a glamorous and alluring type of Christianity modeled cat-walk style in mega-churches. One that celebritizes singers, songwriters, and preachers, who themselves then curate social-media profiles followed by thousands (and hundreds of thousands). When folk such as this step away from their faith it becomes a press-release statement, as much a stage-based moment as their Christian ministry has been.

In recent weeks we’ve had a couple of these publicized announcements followed by the inevitable reactions one would expect in the world of social-media and in the world of consumer-Christianity publishing. I know none of these folks personally and have no desire to judge them or pass comment on their particular journeys. With all sincerity I wish them Godspeed as well as God’s grace and peace. I have my own beliefs that it is in God that we (them included) live and move and have our being, and that the declaration of the Hebrew psalmist in Psalm 139:7-12 (see below) is as true for them as for anyone else; where can I flee from Your presence?

I do, however, want to highlight a couple of reasons one of these folks offered for calling time on the Christian faith and make some brief comments. Part of their Instagram post read…

“How many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it. How many miracles happen? Not many. No one talks about it. Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send four billion people to a place [hell], all ‘coz they don’t believe? No one talks about it. I am not in anymore. I want genuine truth. Not the ‘I just believe it’ kind of truth.”

No one talks about it. Really? He’s mis-read the situation, surely? What bubble of the Christian world does he live in? Everyone is talking about these things! Aren’t they? Actually, not everyone is talking about these things. In certain contemporary church contexts ‘deeper’ issues of theology are rarely talked about. A clear statement of faith is produced that defines the boarders and discussion is dismissed.

I can well imagine this Christian minster feeling the need for robust conversations (very robust conversations) to be had in relation to each of these topics – over coffee, in church staff meetings, and in Sunday morning sermons – but finding that they are never addressed. They’re not glamorous topics that build organisation momentum or inspire people to greatness, so they are put to the side. As well, they are complicated topics and for many Senior Pastors (especially CEO types) fall in the ‘too hard’ basket. But for many people these are big issues that pastors in every context must address. Calling people to ‘just believe it’ isn’t enough.

In his book ‘A Churchless Faith,’ pastor and writer Alan Jamieson, points out that people who leave the Church have, on average, been congregants for sixteen years with 94 percent having been leaders. These people are not slackers who leave because they have been offended; rather they leave because of meta grumbles – deep rooted questions about the foundations of faith itself which are not being addressed.

Obviously, this is problematic. Left unaddressed, or worse when they are suppressed (which happens all too often), these issues become destabilizing. At best folk perceive the Church to have taken them as far in their faith journey as she can and opt out of a localized Christian community. Alternatively, they opt out of faith altogether.

Pastors (and everyone else), questions, doubts, suspicions and uncertainty are part-and-parcel of authentic Christianity. In fact, it is almost inevitable that there will come a season where these things serve as the primary catalyst for spiritual growth in one’s journey of following Jesus. What’s unfortunate is that the modern church doesn’t always make space for people to doubt or to question or to be suspicious. Organisational church growth tends to require unwavering commitment to the vision, the values, the mission and the culture of ‘the house.’ This tends to mean cultivating an environment of momentum, alignment, excitement and anticipation; an ‘atmosphere of faith.’ The demand therefore tends to be for uniformity and conformity. This becomes a pretty challenging context in which to ask big questions about faith, the nature of the church, Christian spirituality and what it means to follow Jesus. Questions and doubts can be wrongly interpreted as a “lack of faith,” “a bad attitude,” “divisive,” or even a clear indicator that someone is “backsliding.” This is problematic on so many levels. No topic should be off-limits, and space needs to be made to address the theological issues that are being wrestled with in our contemporary context. (You can read more on this here). 

Pastors (and everyone else), if you’re not sure where to start when it comes to thinking through some of these topics – have a look at these links. On miracles, this or this. On hell, this, or this, or this. On suffering this. On the Bible this, or this, or this. 

Finally, I think it is worth pointing out that what inevitably becomes a kind of minor Christian celebrity status for gifted singers, songwriters and preachers who are privileged (or perhaps inappropriately burdened) by the bright lights and big crowds of the main stage needs to be carefully managed. And by carefully managed I don’t mean stage managed by an artist development liaison officer; I’m talking about robust pastoral care. Most young singers, songwriters, and preachers promoted to the main stage are aware that they are their based on their gifts, talents and abilities rather than character, ministry experience and faithfulness to a long obedience in the same direction. Pastoral care is required in order to ensure their holistic development. But more is required than the character development championed by the adage ‘gifting will get you there, but character will keep you there.’

Character development is good, but more is required than gifts and character. Vocational Christian ministry needs to be appreciated as a professional vocation as it historically was (along with medicine and law). Too often though, professional contemporary church ministry parallels professional sport, a paid profession where skill and natural attributes bring you into the role. Instead (without discounting skill and natural attributes) it should be appreciated as a profession where professional training brings you into the role – theological training, professional ethics, a body or required knowledge etc. This won’t fix everything, but it should give rise to vocational Christian ministers more than capable of navigating issues such as those highlighted by this recent Christian minister opting out. Instead he’d be able to help others navigate these topics.

*Psalm 139:7-12. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Doctorate: Done and Dusted

I recently wrapped up my doctorate studies with Fuller Theological Seminary. It is a wonderful feeling to have finished the program and I'm looking forward to a study-free summer! Below are three paragraphs I've plucked out of the introduction to my final paper - Pentecostalism Re-Imagined: Reconfiguring Pentecostalism in Twenty-First Century New Zealand. If you would like a full copy of the paper please e-mail me and I'll send out a PDF copy. 

joseph@stlukeschurch.org.nz

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The late Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue once stated, “It is essential for somebody who wants to have a mature, adult, open-ended, good-hearted critical faith, to conduct the most vigorous and relentless conversation that [they] can with [their] own tradition.” This project is an attempt to engage in such a conversation with my tradition(s) – Pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God movement in New Zealand. It is not a project of criticism – nothing life-giving or transformative is achieved by throwing stones. Rather, the aim is a critical-reflection – a careful and prayerful analysis of Pentecostalism in my twenty-first century context. It is an attempt to offer fresh perspectives on Pentecostal ministry that would assist Assemblies of God pastors throughout New Zealand to minister, with increasing fruitfulness, the life of Christ in a postmodern world.

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Three realities within a twenty-first century context that necessitate a process of critical reflection. Firstly, “ministry today takes place in a world that is rapidly changing and extraordinarily multifaceted;” globalization, the information-age, and the progresses of science have awakened in the world a growing appreciation of the complexities inherent to every aspect of human life. This reality demands that the church exhibits a faith that is not only numinous but also rational and intellectual. This does not have to mean academic, nor does it have to be a capitulation to modernist ideals of logical positivism, scientism or some sort of biblical-rationalism. It does, however, ask that while Pentecostalism holds onto the mystery of faith – that God is unknowable in an empirical sense and is fundamentally ineffable – that it also attempts to speak of faith in a manner that is well considered, well formed and well argued. “The world cannot be ignored and isolation – intellectually, physically and spiritually – is not a viable option.”

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The third factor prompting the need for a critical reflection in regard to the theological constructs and ecclesial expressions of Pentecostalism concerns the nature of Pentecostalism and what, in the first place, makes a church Pentecostal. As a younger generation of Assemblies of God pastors are ordained for ministry, appreciation should be given to the fact that they will likely enter ministry with a natural postmodern disposition that will implicitly include a tendency towards deconstruction, institutional suspicion and an incredulity regarding meta-narratives. Whether their points of view are appreciated by older Pentecostal ministers or not, this new generation of pastors is likely to conduct their own evaluations of Pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God as a twenty-first century expression of the Church. Rather than ignore or try and shutdown these postmodern sensibilities, this paper will attempt to create the space required for an honest process of both deconstruction and reconstruction – with the latter being an effort often overlooked in postmodernism. Thus, with Pentecostalism moving into its second century, a critical analysis will consider what should be preserved and what should be discarded; in the first instance, to use the metaphor of 1 Corinthians 3:12, preserving the gold, silver and costly stones of Pentecost and, in the second instance, leaving behind that which might be referred to as the wood, hay and straw of the various Pentecostalisms that have unfolded over time. 

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If you would like to read the entire paper I'm happy to e-mail you a PDF version of the completed document, just send me an e-mail request: joseph@stlukeschurch.org.nz

Jeremiah 29:11 and some thoughts on Studying a Passage

On Studying a Passage of the Bible?

Jeremiah 29:11 - I do not think this verse means what you think it means.

Someone mentioned my blog today. I forgot I even had one. It got me thinking that I should probably post something as it has been a while.

Here are a couple of thoughts on studying a passage of the bible. They are kind of based on a document I got as a part of a recent course I was on at Fuller Seminary. 

I more or less use the process for most texts I'm navigating and below give an example of how the process helped frame a sermon on Jeremiah 29:11. You can find that sermon (Famous Verses; Jeremiah 29:11) here or on iTunes. 

1.      Spend a moment in prayer. I believe that the writing, recording, compilation and canonization of the biblical text was ultimately inspired by the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you in your reading and studying of the text.

2.      Read a couple of different translations of the text to get a feel for what you are reading. Translations vary from word for word, to thought for thought, and right through to a paraphrase translation. Try the NKJV, then NIV, then NLT and then The Message.

3.      Write down your first thoughts about the text. What stands out to you? What questions does it raise? What parts don’t make sense? What seems most applicable in the text? What seems to be the main point of the passage?

4.      Look at the passages that come before and after your particular text. Do they add any insight to the passage you are reading? What the pressures, needs, issues etc facing those that the passage is addressed to?

5.      If you could write down the main point of the passage in one sentence what would it be?

6.      See if you can in one sentence explain what you feel the passage is trying to do in the lives of the recipients?

7.      If the passage is narrative have a think about the larger plot of the story. Who are the characters in this passage? At what place in the story is this passage situated? How does what came earlier, or what you know comes later impact on your understanding of this passage?

8.      Read the passage in a more word for word translation like the Lexham Bible (online), are there reoccurring words in the passage or contrasting words? Do they impact your understanding of the passage?

9.      Does the passage mention a location or refer to a biblical character or story from another time? If yes, in what way might this influence the recipients understanding of the text?

10.  Refer to a couple of biblical commentaries on the passage. What insights, answers, and explanations do these commentaries offer you? Especially in light of questions and comments you have already noted down.

11.   In light of your work above, in what way might the passage be significant for your life, or a church community today? What does the passage teach you about God? About Jesus? About what it means to be a disciple? Does the passage challenge contemporary culture in some way?

Here is my attempt to do the following for Jeremiah 29:1-14

Certain things come up in the passage that are significant that I do not attempt to address in the sermon that follows because you can only cover so much in 35 minutes.

After prayer and after reading a couple of different translations of the text, here are my first thoughts on the passage.

First thoughts:

Verse 1: What follows seems likely to be a fairly significant passage in the text of Jeremiah given the occasion and the recipients of the “letter.”

Verse 2: The occasion indicates that indeed this is a significant time in the history of Judah and Jerusalem; all have been overcome and all are now in exile, a desperate and despondent people.

Verse 4: Even desperate and despondent, they are not abandoned by God, God still desires to speak.  

Verse 5-6: Jeremiah writes that God’s instruction is to build houses, settle down, plant, produce food, marry, and have children. Perhaps you could say, make yourself at home even though you are in exile, this is how things will be for an extended time so settle that in your hearts and get on with living.  

Verse 7: Rather than rebel against the system that dominates them, that is over them in their exile, God’s instruction is to seek the peace of the empire and to pray, and in doing so find that things will go well for them even though they are displaced people.

Verse 8-9: They are not to listen to other supposed “prophetic words.” These words are not from God, rather that which Jeremiah speaks is the word from the Lord for them.  

Verse 10: The long and short of it is that they will find themselves in exile for 70 years (a lifetime) and should thus carry in with life in the situation they find themselves in.

Verse 11: They are not forgotten, God has plans and a purpose for them that is ultimately in their best interest.

Verse 12: Then, after 70 years (?), you will call on me and God will listen and will rescue them.  

Verse 13: It will take 70 years before those in exile are really ready to seek God with all their heart (?).  

Verse 14: At that time God will rescue them and bring them back into their own land.  

Initial Questions:

There are a couple of questions that immediately spring to mind when looking at this passage. 1) Is the seventy years in exile kind of like a time of purgatory designed to cleanse Israel and Judah of their propensity towards unfaithfulness, i.e. will it take seventy years before they are ready to be God’s faithful people again? 2) What does it mean to seek the peace and prosperity of the city one finds oneself in exile to? To what degree might this require either collusion with the empire or at least accommodation into the empire?

Proceeding passage and following passage:

The proceeding passage tells of the prophecy of Hananiah, that the oppression of Babylon will be short lived with Israel and Judah being restored within two years and the conflict of Hananiah and Jeremiah over this. Jeremiah declares this a false prophesy and not at all a word from God. Jeremiah predicts Hananiah’s death within the next year. This indeed comes about and one is left to conclude that Jeremiah is the true prophet and that seventy years in captivity rather than two years is God’s word. The next passage concerns the false prophecy of Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his false prophecy and serves as a book end (along with the false prophecy of Hananiah) that sandwiches Jeremiah’s prophecy in the middle as the true word from God. 

Jeremiah 29:1-14 is God’s true word that the captivity of Israel and Judah in Babylon will be a seventy year experience. Thus they should settle down and make peace with this fact, and peace with the city they find themselves in, but hold on to hope that God will restore them in due course even though this will not be experienced for another generation.   

The main point of the passage in a summary form:

The main point of the passage is that Israel will be in captivity for seventy years and should make peace with this rather than seek to fight against the empire. Their hope should be in what God will do in the future, in seventy years.

Commentaries:

Commentators seem to indicate that indeed the seventy years in captivity was in order that those in exile would genuinely return to the faithful following of Yahweh. “God had ordained and commanded the captivity of Judah as a punishment upon the rebellious, apostate nation; it was God's intention to humble and discipline his people, and bring them at last to an acceptable relationship to Himself.” In terms of a collusion with the empire or at least accommodation, the reality here seems not to be that of compromise. In “seeking the peace of the city” one is not required to shift one’s allegiance away from Yahweh and to the worship of false gods, nor is a compromise of values, such as Sabbath keeping, required. Rather there is simply a submission to the authorities in power even as promoted in the New Testament rather than rebellion and disquiet. “The wholehearted cooperation with the governmental powers under which one may chance to live is spoken as a cardinal principle of the gospel of Christ in Romans 13:1-12. Praying for authorities is specifically commanded in 1 Timothy 2:1-3.”

Significance of the passage:

The significance of this passage for a congregation today is not that God has great and wonderful plans for people, though God may. The significance is that ultimately God’s plans will be realized, though this may not be on a time scale that we appreciate. And that at times, the less than ideal situations one finds oneself in, may in fact be a season in which great fruit can be produced and true life found. In those sorts of seasons and places there are great lessons to be learnt. Though we might appreciate an encouraging “word from the Lord” telling us that everything will turn around quickly; in reality some situations may last a life time. However: hope remains.

Sermon Outline – Famous Verses – Jeremiah

The Princes Bride: In the movie The Princes Bride, Vizzini (the short bald headed leader of the baddies), runs around declaring everything to be “inconceivable!” After a while Inigo Montoya quips one of his famous lines from the movie, “You keep on using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Famous Verses: I think there are some Bible verses that people famously use, but, “they keep on using those verses, I do not think it means what they think it means.” In the early days of St Luke’s talked about tackling some of those famous verses.

Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Luke 6:38
Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.
2 Corinthians 2:14
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

Seems we’ve the time and space to tackle one of these kinds of verses today.
Does anyone know off by heart any of the verses from Jeremiah 29? Yes verse 11.
Does anyone know off by heart any of the other verses in Jeremiah 29, other than verse 11?

Nope? Funny that.

People keep on using this verse, I do not think it means what they think it means.

Take a verse out of context and it can mean pretty much anything you want it to mean. Leave the verse in its context and you’d be amazed at how context shapes meaning.

Let’s start in Jeremiah 28. Israel is in exile. King Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom of Babylon, has come and taken over. Israel has been dispersed throughout the kingdom of Babylon. It is a reasonably hopeless and bleak time in the history of Israel.

But the prophets are still prophesying and they speak of hope.

Jeremiah 28:1-17
In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people:

 ² “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. ³ Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon. ⁴ I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’” This is a good prophecy. This is the kind of prophecy you want to hear. Within two years everything is going to be sorted!

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord. But please appreciate here, Jeremiah’s response is kind of a slow clap response from the side of the room. ⁶ He said, “Amen! May the Lord do so! May the Lord fulfil the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the Lord’s house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. ⁷ Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: ⁸ From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. ⁹ But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true.”

¹⁰ Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it, ¹¹ and he said before all the people, “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.’” Prophetic theatrics. Common in Old Testament prophecy. Hananiah is doing a good job.

At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way. ¹² After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³ “Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. ¹⁴ This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.’” In other words, Hananiah, you think Nebuchadnezzar is a wooden yoke that will be broken in two years, ha, he is an iron yoke that will not be broken so easily.

¹⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies.¹⁶ Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.’” ¹⁷ In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died. Hallelujah, blessed be the name of the Lord.

So this prophet Hananiah is prophesying good news, the overthrow of Babylon, in two years everything is going to be sorted. Jeremiah, no way, you’re a false prophet and you’re going to die soon. This isn’t a word from the Lord.

In chapter 29, Jeremiah then prophecies what is the true word of the Lord. He writes it down and sends it to the elders, priests and prophets of Israel that have been carried into exile…

Jeremiah 29:4-14
⁴ This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  And now, in exile, in this state of overthrow that you find yourself in… ⁵ “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” ⁸ Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.

⁹ They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord. Lies that the situation for Israel will soon be turned around.  ¹⁰ This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfil my good promise to bring you back to this place. Not two years of captivity. Seventy years! ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

When we read Jeremiah 29:11 within the wider context of Jeremiah there are number of important truths to appreciate. Truths for Israel and truths as well that I think we can appropriate for our lives as well.

God’s time frame isn’t always the same as our timeframe.

The most significant thing about Jeremiah 29 is not that God has plans to prosper his people, to give them a hope and a future. That’s always God’s plan; eventually. It’s the fact that there is 70 years of exile ahead for Israel. A life time.

We’re two year type people not seventy year type people. We’re instant type people not delayed gratification type people.

God’s end game is always a hope and a future.

Restoration, wholeness, relationship with God, being found by God, coming out of exile and into freedom. Prosperity for sure, though we’re to define prosperity and blessing in 21^st Century Western materialistic terms rather than biblical terms.

A hope and a future can be found in the circumstances of now, not only the “Promised Land” of tomorrow.

Perhaps you could put it like this; they were to make peace with their less than ideal circumstances.

And in doing so, discover great blessing in this less than ideal place and space of exile.

For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future… For some people I think this stirs up thoughts of God, in due course, giving them their lucky break, their big opportunity, their breakthrough moment, win lotto, get promoted, receive an inheritance, you’re ship is going to come in.

Nope. Make peace with your less than ideal circumstances and discover God’s blessing even in those circumstances.

Do you have some less than ideal circumstances that perhaps you need to make peace with?

Not the right job, not enough money, not the right house, too busy, to tired, kids are too young, kids are too old, don’t have kids, have too many kids, health issues or challenges, relational issues or challenges.

Feel like your living in exile. Waiting to be delivered. Could be waiting a long time.

Perhaps you’re spending so much of your time and resource and energy, protesting against and wrestling against and fighting against something that is less than ideal, that you’ve no strength left over to get stuck into actually living. Could be fighting and wresting for a long time.

Perhaps you need to make peace with the life you find yourself living, even if it isn’t the life you always dreamed you would be living.

But I know the plans the Lord has for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me a hope and a future. I have that verse written out on the back of the toilet door.

Sure thing. It’s a good verse. A really good verse. A verse ultimately directed at Israel in exile, but still, one I think we can appropriate for our lives. Absolutely. It’s just we need to take the other verses in chapter 29 as well and the bigger context to chapter 28 too.

Isn’t that a bit fatalistic?

Well it depends, whose got the true word of God? Who is the true prophet? Hananiah – 2 more years and the yoke of oppression will be broken. That’s what people wanted to hear. Clap, clap, clap from Jeremiah. Good stuff but sorry. 70 more years? Who’s the true prophet.

Summarizing Kierkegaard on faith… “Faith is the total acceptance of the way things are and the total belief that things can be different.”

I think that’s perfect. I think that’s what we have happening in Jeremiah 29.

What you discover is when you have the faith to accept things as they are, when you’ve the faith to make peace with your circumstances, as well as faith to belief that things can be different, you discover you’ve got energy and passion for the now of life.

You discover that life is in front of you now and that you should live it. That God is present with you, even in less than ideal circumstances. And you get stuck in. Planting, harvesting, marrying. You discover that blessing is possible even in the middle of that which is less than ideal.

Top 5 Books of 2014

I love reading. Good books feed my soul, so to speak. You'd have to read Body, Soul and Human Life by Joel Green to understand why I say "so to speak."

As a student much of what I read is dictated by course selection. Often there isn't much time left over to simply read the many books I come across that take my fancy for some reason, or the many that are recommended to me by others. At times this can be annoying but it also ensures I read pretty widely. It's also a blessing in that quite often books I wouldn't otherwise be inclined to read, turn out to be game changes. That's always fun.

In no particular order here are my top 5 recommended reads from last year - well, I made it 6.

The Source of Life - Jurgen Moltmann; Beginning with his experiences as a prisoner of war, Moltmann anchors his reflections in a theology of life - and the Spirit as elemental renewer of life - which links biblical manifestations to contemporary ones, hope to holiness, creation to community, and politics to prayer. In the Spirit we embrace the presence of God, but we also embrace community with people and all living things. 

Accompany Them with Singing - Thomas G. Long; Long reflects on the Christian funeral, what it has become and what it should be. He looks at the muddled theology we often hear at funerals and argues that the proper Christian funeral should be constructed around the metaphor of the deceased as a saint traveling on a baptismal journey toward God, accompanied by the community of faith on "the last mile of the way." 

Life After Death - Graham H. Twelftree; Few of us can remain indifferent to our personal fate. Is death the end? If there is an after-life, what is it going to be like? "We may never know the answers to these questions with the certainty some crave," observes Graham Twelftree. However, through this book Twelftree hopes readers will become clearer about the possibilities and also understand the Christian expectation that death is not the end. "If the Bible is important in forming your views you will probably assume that this book will confirm your views." Says Twelftree. "I cannot promise such a comfortable journey. Thinking clearly with the Bible open can turn up some challenging conclusions."

Eating Heaven - Simon Carey Holt; Sitting down at a table to eat is an activity so grounded in the ordinary, so basic to the daily routines of life, we rarely ponder it beyond the simple inquiry, ‘What’s for dinner?’ However, scratch a little deeper and you discover in eating one of the most meaning-laden activities of our lives, one so immersed in human longing and relationship it’s a practice of sacred dimensions. In this age of culinary infatuations, global food crises, celebrity chefs and Biggest Losers, the need to reflect more seriously upon eating is pressing. A trained chef, teacher, social researcher, minister of religion and homemaker, Simon Carey Holt draws on experience and research to explore the role of eating in our search for meaning and community. To do so, he invites us to sit at the tables of daily life – from kitchen tables to backyard barbecues, from cafe tables to the beautifully set tables of our city's finest restaurants – and consider how our life at these tables interacts with our deepest values and commitments.

The Bible Tells Me So - Peter Enns; Christians have been defending scripture from attack for two centuries. In fact, argues Bible scholar Peter Enns, we have become so busy protecting the Bible that we are now unable to read it. In The Bible Tells Me So, he provides a revolutionary new perspective: "What if God is actually fine with the Bible just as it is? Not the well-behaved version we create, but the messy, troubling, weird, and ancient Bible has something to show us about our own sacred journey of faith. Sweating bullets to line up the Bible with our exhausting expectations, to make the Bible something it's not meant to be, isn't a pious act of faith, even if it looks that way on the surface. It's actually a thinly masked fear of losing control and certainty, a mirror of our inner disquiet, a warning signal of a deep distrust in God. A Bible like that isn't a sure foundation of faith; it's a barrier to true faith. Creating a Bible that behaves itself doesn't support the spiritual journey; it cripples it. The Bible's raw messiness isn't a problem to be solved. It's an invitation to a deeper faith."

Jesus of Nazareth - Joseph Ratzinger; In this bold, momentous work, the pope—in his first book written as Benedict XVI—seeks to salvage the person of Jesus from recent “popular” depictions and to restore Jesus’ true identity as discovered in the Gospels. Through his brilliance as a theologian and his personal conviction as a believer, the pope shares a rich, compelling, flesh-and-blood portrait of Jesus and incites us to encounter, face-to-face, the central figure of the Christian faith. 

Here are my other reads from 2014...

Thinking on the Run - Soo-Inn Tan

The Active Life - Parker J. Palmer

Spirituality at Work - Gregory F.A. Pierce

The Source of Life - Jurgen Moltmann

Exploring Celtic Spirituality - Ray Simpson

Sport and Spirituality - Gordon Preece and Rob Hess

The Shape of Living - David F. Ford

A Meal with Jesus - Tim Chester

The Mystery of the Ordinary - Charles Cummings

Earth Crammed with Heaven - Elizabeth A. Dreyer

God Next Door - Simon Carey Holt

The Spiritual Life - Evelyn Underhill

God Hides in Plain Sight - Dean Nelson

Spirituality in an Age of Change - Alister McGrath

Eating Heaven - Simon Carey Holt

Seven Days of Faith - Paul R. Stevens

The Elements of New Testament Greek

Accompany Them with Singing - Thomas G. Long

The Honour Key - Russell Evans

The Perfect Smoke - Fred Hanna

The Christian Gentleman's Guide to Smoking - Zach Bartels & Ted Kluck

The God's of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs

Pipe Smoking Guide - Chuck Reitoth

God the Worker - Robert Banks

History of New Zealand - Michael King

The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan

Life After Death - Graham H. Twelftree

The Slavery of Death - Richard Beck

Jesus of Nazareth - Joseph Ratzinger

The Gospel of John - J. Ramsey Michaels

Gone - Michael Grant

Divergent - Veronica Roth

The End of Religon - Bruxy Cavey

Shrink - Tim Shuttle

Slow Church - C. Christopher Smith and John Pattison

Reveal; Where are You? - Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson

Follow Me - Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson

Sticky Faith - Dr Kara. E. Powell

The Bible Tells Me So - Peter Enns

Johannine Theology - Paul Rainbow

A Kingdom Besieged - Raymond E Feist

A Crown Emperiled - Raymond E Feist