Intersect

A real experience with God—a real relationship with God, often fills us with complete and utter awe. Still, this sense of awe comes from an experiential relationship with God—a relationship that may indeed be worshipful, but not one that requires us as loyal subjects to worship our Eternal Lord. A friend reminded me that believing God is the being of all being fills us with respect and makes us feel  worshipful— not out of fear of punishment, but simply out of respect for what God means for everyone. While I understand and agree with the sentiment, I still think the word “worship” itself implies an unhealthy relationship. I believe that a large part of the problem the church in general faces today has to do with language. The language we use in the church is often still steeped in the language that was used in a world of Kings and servants, Emperors and slaves. In the 1 st  Century, when Jesus’ teachings were first spreading, society was extremely stratified. The people ...

One of my continuing struggles with religious institutions is the worship experience itself. Even the term “worship” drives me increasingly crazy. Who or what are we worshipping, and why? This ancient, archaic idea that God “demands” worship and unwavering loyalty (and what that loyalty means can often only be interpreted by a specialist) is unhealthy. We’ve been taught to accept and even pursue a codependent relationship with God, and I don’t think that is either what God intends (if God even has intentions, which is debatable), nor in any way, shape or form good for our mental and spiritual health. Most church experiences today—especially Sunday services, remain locked into this very ancient idea that we assemble to  worship God.  They present us with the misbegotten idea that if we do something wrong, God will punish us—kick us out of the Garden or damn us to eternal Hell. These ideas don’t reflect the covenant relationship that our most ancient stories reflect.  Wor...

God who energizes us, who loves us into being and blesses us with creativity, courage, intellect, and reason, we thank you. We humbly accept our gifts and will strive to use them for the good of our families, our faith, and our world. Open our minds to a new way of thinking; our hearts to a new way of feeling; our eyes to a new way of seeing, so that all people will see each other as a single family, all interconnected and interdependent upon each other. Urge us to nourish all those who hunger in body and spirit. Make every place people gather a  holy place, a home for the intellectually and spiritually curious; a place of safety and acceptance, no barriers, no exceptions. We know that we are living into a new world, Holy Infinite Presence, and that, as children born in the age of science and reason, faith is often given a bad rap. Belief in God is often met with a snicker and derision. Yet, we who sense something more consider ourselves reasonable, scientific, and faithful. Hel...

It seems apparent that Jesus caused enough trouble to draw the ire of the Romans, who eventually saw his movement—a movement of peaceful non-compliance, as a threat to the stability of the state. The Romans would have made this decision without consulting the Jewish leadership, and had the Jewish leadership presented any opposition, the Romans would have ignored them anyway. The story about Jesus’ ‘trial’ in the Bible is a complete contrivance in every respect, from the day of the week it was allegedly held, to the manner in which it proceeded. This is just not the way things worked in Roman-occupied Judea. Rather, the Romans would have simply decided to execute Jesus and done it. No long walk carrying the cross, no tortured journey to Golgotha (Calvary). He would have been taken, most likely, to the nearest Olive tree, a  cross-member attached to it, and hung there to die. Crucifixion was reserved for those who had committed crimes against the state. It was a tortuous way to die,...

The Crucifixion of Jesus, part 2 Jesus proclaimed loudly and unabashedly that the laws of Roman society were unjust. He constantly pointed out that both the Romans and the Jewish priestly class were subjugating the people, enslaving every single one of them in one way or another—to Caesar or to Moses, and that this was simply not the way people were to live. For Jesus, any caste system was untenable. Jesus said all this in an an area of the world that had always been tumultuous. Assyrians, Babylonians, and now Romans occupied the land that Jewish tradition said had been given to them by God. To make matters worse, in Jesus’ time the Jewish people (Jesus’ own people) were governed by a cruel, heartless Roman—   Pontius Pilate, who had no qualms about randomly killing people in the streets.  The story in The Bible makes Pilate out to be much gentler and forgiving than history shows he truly was. The historical record about Pilate shows a vengeful, hate-filled, ruthless megaloma...

While we’re working through the historical context and development of biblical ideas and stories, it’s important to remember that the Bible is multi-layered. Each story and  letter   has  both a historical context (which is usually not a  factual  history, but rather  an historical  setting in which the biblical story takes place) and a  spiritual context.  The spiritual context of the story is really where the meaty stuff is. The spiritual meaning is what the authors of the stories wanted to convey to us about our relationship with God. Every single story in the Bible is an existential human musing about finding what Thomas Merton called our “true selves.” As the world has grown ever more literal (what  has  happened to our imaginations?), we’ve found it more and more difficult to discover and connect with the spiritual meanings in these ancient texts. So  too the historical context. As the Bible became more and more rev...

Good and loving God, we give thanks for the many gifts we have received today and throughout our lives. We are thankful for the many people who volunteer their time and talent to the needs of this world, people striving together to serve those in need. It is a great blessing, indeed, to serve with people from all walks of life, your children working together to bring food, light, and love to a world hungry for spiritual and physical nourishment. God of Magnificent Wonder, we are most thankful for your eternal presence in our lives. Join us all together as one body of love. Move us through the world as beings so filled with love and grace, that, like our Great Teacher Jesus, we too might become healers, and remind a broken world of the wholeness found in you. We ask a special blessing upon the students and teachers who return to school in the coming weeks. Keep them safe. Make their environment conducive to learning. Help our leaders provide teachers and students with all they need, so ...

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. One of the most popular quotes in the entire Second Testament is also one that is most often used improperly and out of context. This phrase comes in the middle of a story about a Pharisee named Nicodemus. The first thing we have to remember about the context of this story is that Pharisees were equal parts political movement, social movement, and Jewish school of thought. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs became the basis for Rabbinical Judaism, which eventually became the mainline Judaism we know today. Since  John  was written only a couple of generations after the destruction of the temple, keeping the Jewish liturgical and ritual traditions alive was very much on the minds of the Rabbis. So too in Jesus’ time. Nicodemus was a highly educated, intelligent fellow very concerned about the traditions of his pe...

At one time or another, we’ve all heard someone say, “Well, that’s what The Bible says, so I believe it, end of story.” For many people, The Bible is a magical book that can be read and understood at face value. This is simply not true. The Bible is an ancient book that is incredibly complex. Understanding the various letters and stories it contains takes an incredible amount of work. Much of this work has to be done exploring the cultural context in which the stories and letters were originally written. This means reading works  about  the Bible, not just reading the Bible itself. Written thousands of years ago when societal conventions, laws, political, and economic systems were vastly different from ours today, The Bible “says” a lot of things that have no place in modern society. Furthermore, the  modern  propensity for taking everything in the Bible literally (few people in the ancient world thought the universe was created in seven literal days), rather t...

God of Infinite light, we give thanks for the many gifts we have received in our lives. Guide us as we use our money, our time, and our talents to show a hurting world just how powerfully healing the modern church can truly be. Compel us to use our time, our talents, and our money to  serve  the hurting people in our world. [grant yourself a few moments of meditative silence here] Holy and Loving God, with bowed heads and hearts filled with your loving presence, we thank you for your steadfast love and faithfulness, for your mercy and your grace, for your guidance and wisdom, for every moment of every day. We acknowledge that our world is in great need of your presence right now. Violence, hunger, hatred, bigotry, racism, sexism, illness and disease seem to impact more and more people all the time. The effects of our disconnect from you become more apparent, more pervasive and more harmful every day. Sometimes, the world seems to be getting worse, instead of better. Durin...