by michael | Apr 5, 2023 | news
We read Philippians 2: 5-11 as the second lesson today, as we do most years on Palm Sunday. Why?
The short answer is: it is read to remind us of the central meaning of Christianity. That is, following the Nazorean messiah in humble service to others, a meaning which brings life to others and ourselves, a meaning to be pondered throughout Holy Week. That meaning is not, I might add, about whether or not the bones of Jesus and his family once existed in a few ossuaries in Jerusalem or not. It is also not about the ‘truth’ of Christian doctrine or belief (whether Jesus rose from the dead or not, or the objective, universal salvific nature of Jesus’ death on the cross). Such doctrines can always be argued about, dismissed, rejected out of hand by those who are not Christians or used by those who are Christians as bludgeons to beat other Christians into submission to their own egos and points of view.
To explain all that more fully there needs be a longer presentation.
This short section we read from St. Paul’s letter to believers in Philippi is in fact likely a hymn of praise about the (Nazorean) messiah. It may have been written by Paul and inserted into his letter. It may have been written by some one else whose text Paul immortalized by quoting it.
The whole hymn or poem is intriguing but there are some parts of it that are more so for our purposes than others. One theological perspective that has come out of it has been called the ‘kenotic’ theory. ‘Kenosis’ refers to the English words ‘emptied’ (himself). Paul and other early followers believed that the Christ/messiah was pre-existent, somehow ‘God’ or part of YHWH or in God, before he or it became the living man, Jesus of Nazareth. In this hymn, then, kenosis refers to the choice of the Nazorean messiah to abandon or empty himself of divine prerogatives and become a man. But it also refers to a self-emptying, of taking on the form of a servant, leading to death.
The writer has produced a theology of humbleness. He (she?) believes Yeshuah chooses to deny himself for the sake of humanity. Note that this notion of being a servant has nothing to do with the idea that a servant is a doormat or someone who allows himself or herself to be trampled. Nor is it about giving up one’s personal identity or individuality. Rather, it is about turning one’s self over to God, through messiah and ‘letting the same mind be in you that was in messiah’, rather than the mind and heart of the world around us. Elsewhere, Paul writes a complementary comment when he says ‘do not be conformed to this world but be transformed into the likeness of messiah’ (Romans 12:2).
So, someone might ask, what does this mean at a practical level, and how is it the very centre of Christian piety and trust? To answer that question we need to step outside the parameters of the reading and look at the words before and after the quoted hymn. What does Paul say? Some of the words before the hymn are these: ‘Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others’. Some of the words after are: ‘Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of YHWH without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation’. One would think that Paul had written these words directly to any of us in the Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Nazarene etc. etc. churches than to those few believers in Philippi two thousand years ago.
Paul’s concern about being like messiah, having ‘that same mind of messiah’ in each believer, that intent to be servants of others, that same sense of kenosis, of choosing self-emptying or self-denial over self- promotion is throughout Paul’s letters to Gentile believers. In one place he writes ‘Let love be genuine…’ In another he wrote, ‘Outdo one another in showing zeal…’ In Galatians he writes about ‘faith working through love’ being the only thing that counts. Elsewhere he writes ‘love does no wrong to the neighbour’; knowledge, words, reason, argument, all passes away, but not love. So, if the greater context of Paul’s quotation of this great hymn is the iteration to ‘have the mind of messiah’ as a servant of others and to act in humbleness for others, then I suppose the next question is: how is that done? Is it done through some sort of magical formula that only some have the wit, personal charisma, desire or will or (political mindfulness) grace to receive from God, or is it something more prosaic and difficult?
Let me answer that question by talking about an ancient theological/philosophical problem which often erupted in rather un-saintly disagreement. This was the problem of the freedom of human will versus YHWH’s sovereignty. It goes along in the following manner: if YHWH is sovereign or king, or omnipotent etc, etc, then what becomes of human freedom and therefore what becomes of human responsibility?
Saint Augustine died in 430 c.e. He is one of the most well-known of the early Christian philosophers/theologians. His opponent on this matter was a British theologian named Pelagius who argued that human beings can and do choose, in freedom, to either accept or oppose YHWH without any interference or aid from God. Augustine believed that no one can come to YHWH or even make a move in that direction without God’s grace impelling them and aiding them on the way. Augustine’s view was in part based on the idea that original sin made human beings incapable of freely choosing, that is without God’s support, the path of self emptying or giving for others, the path of the cross. Pelagius, being of a more Celtic and Hebrew-like disposition, did not accept such a negative view of humanity and believed that there was original goodness in human beings, as well as ‘original sin’ (a complex and irrelevant that cannot be discussed here.
I have to say that I agree with Pelagius on this issue for a number of reasons, biblical and theological, but I chiefly am on his side in the debate because of one sentence that Paul wrote immediately after the hymn in Philippians: ‘work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.’ Being a Christian, then, is a life-long task to achieve the humbleness of a servant, of a messiah figure who denies (at least part of the time) his or her own interests for those of others, one who self-empties for others, makes others first, one who sacrifices his or her love of self for love of the other. Here is a quote that summarizes Augustine’s rather extensive thought on this issue of love: “it is by the character of their wills, by the character of their dominant love, that men are ultimately marked.’
There is a Christian theology that is based upon magical thinking. It is the kind of thinking that states that ‘if we suffer now, we will reign later’, as the Anglican Lenten sentence for the breaking of bread implies. It is also seen in various hymns and other liturgical phrases. One hymn sung at this precise time in the year is Lift High the Cross. The standard refrain is, ‘Lift high the Cross/that all the world adore his holy name’. I propose a revision: ‘Lift high the Cross/that all God’s church, obey his sacred word’. It is also summed up in the idea that YHWH will take care of everything, with or without our own involvement, that YHWH has done it all (destroyed evil, secured salvation, etc, etc) in Jesus’ death on the cross and therefore you and I are only involved as Christians in a kind of mopping up exercise while we wait for Jesus to come back and the members of the church to be openly revealed as the true people of God. There are a number of concerns I have about such theology and one is that it is triumphalist and therefore the tendency has been for Christians to feel superior towards everyone else, or for some Christians to feel they are superior or better than other Christians (a direct contradiction to Paul’s words in this letter) but also because it does away with choice and therefore responsibility.
A better theology is this: that YHWH cannot force any human being to bend to YHWH’s will; else we would break and cease to be human. YHWH or God’s grace, to use an analogy, can lead us to the door but only we, of our free will can choose to walk through the doorway. And so we come to the reason why we read this hymn today on Palm Sunday: messiah chooses a mortal life and then once mortal chooses a path of self-denial, the role of a servant, so that other human beings might turn to the second of Augustine’s two loves: the love of YHWH and through the love of YHWH, the love of humankind. Christians, if they are true to the mind of messiah, choose precisely the same kind of path, not waiting or expecting that some magical act of YHWH will bring the kingdom into existence but instead use their freedom and their gifts to make choices that throughout their life’s journey lead to sacrifice of their will to YHWH’s grace for the sake of others. In this way we become either angels or devils, we choose the love of self which is only the instinct of our animal natures or we ultimately choose, ‘are marked by,’ as Augustine put it, the love of YHWH, which persuades us to turn to love other human beings.
If I were to sum all this up, it would be by means of the quip ascribed to St. Francis of Assisi: ‘preach the Gospel; if necessary, use words’.
It is here that the mystery of the cross and resurrection lies: that somehow in the death of this one man and his post-death life, his resurrection, we can find power/authority that leads to new life, both here and hereafter. But it can only be accessed by choice after choice after choice to put the other person first, to put another person’s interests first, or at least consider another’s welfare as important as one’s own and to be humble in service of others, to do all things without murmuring and arguing, as Paul put it.
If the Church, that is you, me, bishops, archdeacons, all of us, learnt how to do this, how to be Christians, so defined by Paul, then there is no argument or critique against the church that could possibly work because who can argue against goodness or love (chesed)? Who can argue against service? Who can argue against love of other? Self-denial? It is right here in this notion that lies the authority of the Christian tradition and the ability to change the world.
by michael | Mar 12, 2023 | news
money laundering in BC
Consequences of giving up
Long term consequences. Unscrupulous persons will see an opportunity in that they can beat our systems, our governments, our police, our investigators. Such persons will not pay tax and avoid the responsibilities of being a Canadian. We will all be cheated.
Not enough resources (?)
Both reports state there are not enough resources, that we can’t afford them and it will take too long to get to trial. Do not our financial institutions still have a requirement to report over $10,000 deposits and the info sent to FiNRA? Does the former also report when an account has multiple $10,000 deposited in an account over an extended period of time? Are persons investigated when someone buys a house with cash?
Trust?
The Canadian citizen’s trust in the CRA, the financial system and even the government of Canada and BC is being tested. If a sovereign government like Canada cannot devise ways of catching these persons and their monies, who can?
Unscrupulous persons
The unscrupulous will get more powerful so that they can get bigger and even more unassailable and will not be made responsible for their deeds.
Addressing the issue
Surely there are ways to address these issues: new and innovative laws and procedures put in place; experts who know how money is laundered and how tax avoidance takes place. Perhaps we need a special judiciary tribunal that only deals with these kinds of cases so that everyone from investigators to lawyers to judges are well informed about how this behaviour happens and how best to pursue the people doing it. With respect to money, if a robust, tight and even eager group of Canadians are put together to catch these people, there will be convictions. It seems we do not have proper tools, so why can’t they be given such tools?
No resources?
We don’t have the money? Money that is caught can be used to off-set the expense of how these behaviours are dealt with. Surely successful proceeds of crime, no matter how long it takes, would pay for those costs. We cannot speak the language in which such transactions are made? Hire people who can translate.
Technology
Given the power of computers, and the wonderful people who know how to use them to abuse the system means there are even more wonderful people who can devise both regulations and computer systems to stop and apprehend them.
The unscrupulous and cheats undermine Canadian institutions
Canadians have a right to demand that our various governments vigorously pursue the persons behind dirty money. These people are cheaters and tax dodgers. The rest of us are paying for the comforts of living in a safe country ruled by law and by the division of powers. This kind of massive theft and abuse undermines the principles. In essence, we who pay taxes are subsidizing these cheats.
How does that make you feel?
by michael | Feb 24, 2023 | news
Important qualifications:
- I use YHWH (YHWH) because it saves me from calling YHWH by any male/female pronoun. I am also a cousin to YHWH’s people and so a better respect for YHWH is due.
- This text, like the others, are works in progress. If someone writes to let me know of a misspelled word etc or some other grammar-like possible correction necessary, i will change it. I will do the same if I find or am told that there is a logical problem within the context of the argument.
- There are footnotes to these texts, for further reading or from which direct quotes were derived.
Who are you? What are you? What kind of an animal are you? It is questions such as these that lie at the heart of these forty days of Lent.
We could add certain things: give our time to a worthy cause, pray, go to worship, study the Bible and other literary sources that will enable us to address those questions. We could also give alms (money or food) to the poor. According to both the Tanach (the Hebrew Bible) and the Nazorean Codicil(1) it is necessary and righteous to serve and help the poor (those in distress of any kind). However, in Lent we do them because they can remind us of the questions about who and what kind of thing we are. They are tools towards an end, not an end in themselves. We could subtract: food or drink once a week (fasting), some unhealthy habit (say smoking), or perhaps cut down on screen time.
These weeks in Lent
Over these weeks in Lent we will explore these questions. How we explore them comes out of the Gospel reading that is read the first Sunday in Lent every year; the famous story of Jesus’ temptations or testing through a devil or daemon in the desert after his baptism.
A word about stories or narratives. (2) We create meaning out of, live, suffer sometimes, and change by stories; the stories of others that move us to both act and care but also our own stories. Unlike all other creatures on earth, we connect to our past and our future, to our families and strangers and to YHWH through stories, narratives; our own and those of others. The events that make up our stories shape us and we shape the stories of others through participation in them.
Jesus himself had a story. (And continues to have a story, but that is a reflection in forty days time). Those who followed him wrote his story down; they left some things out (one estimate is that what is in the Gospels about Jesus may cover three weeks of a thirty-plus lifetime), copied and changed others, some of it they invented, some of it goes back to Jesus himself. The critical thing to understand is that they told Jesus’ story because their own stories had intersected with his remarkably. Ever since that time, Christians have followed Jesus’ life story during the year both to make sense of their own and to re-shape their own stories.
The tale of Jesus being tempted or tested in the desert is one of the most important stories put together by three of the authors of the Gospels to help Jesus’ followers come to grips with (reconcile) their own stories, ask questions on their own journey. In short, we can use Jesus’ journey as a way of checking our own spiritual/emotional and physical pulse.
The desert and temptations.
There are three versions of the story. Mark’s is the shortest. Matthew and Luke’s expand Mark’s to include the temptations or testing of Jesus. In their expansion of the story these three tests mirror three dominant themes of human experience: bread, power and individualism or aloneness.
1) Bread. Are we simple animals that consume, who are born to buy?(3) Advertising assume that that is all we are, that we are temporary components of the market and that we have no other purpose or goal in existence but to serve the needs of the all-consuming market. The last sixty years seems to have pushed all contenders for a definition of ‘human’ aside except for that of human beings as buyers. But should we serve the needs of the market or should the market serve our needs?
2) Power. We are animals. We often therefore act on instinct and sometimes that instinct is motivated by fear. Some of us control our fear and our instinct better than others. Some of us, therefore, seek power and control as we try to avoid being in situations where we will feel afraid or in which the fears that are buried deep within us confront us. However, we also have the ability to understand our fear; we can understand our environment better than other animals on earth. We can anticipate our fear and we can then act to manipulate events, people and the environment. Is this all we are, a superior political animal? Are we therefore doomed to react only through a Darwinian impulse-only the strong shall survive?
3) Individualism, aloneness. The third test/temptation differs somewhat from the other two. Instead of a question about whether or not we are animals who are defined by certain acts, this test/temptation asks: are we mere individuals, alone in two universes, the physical one with stars, planets, gravity and science, as well as that of human and divine/spiritual interaction?
These questions will arise over the next three weeks. For the rest of this reflection the scene needs to be set: what about the desert and what about the devil or daemon that puts Jesus through these tests or temptations? Like Jesus, we have all been to the desert and we have all known, and perhaps still know, daemons.
I believe in daemons. I am uncertain about a personal devil that wanders about the earth causing great evil or the temptation/testing of human beings, but I am certain about the reality of other very substantial daemons. There used to be a TV show, the name of which I forget, where one of the recurring lines was: “The Devil made me do it!” The joke of course was that whoever said it was trying to get out of a sticky situation and did not want to be made accountable for his or her mistakes or outright sins (harm caused another person). For those who still believe in a real, physical devil, we often use ‘the devil’ as a diabolos ex machina that provides comfort in naming a horror that others do or for the evil that we ourselves do in order to get ourselves out of a sticky situation. We do this so that we can avoid the uncomfortable and difficult process of repentance and then reconciliation/forgiveness. The hard truth is that there are no daemons or devil than those which we ourselves have created or those which others have caused to take up a living inside us. It is those very real, personal daemons that meet us, visible, in the desert.
The desert.
Many of us have been there, in a fierce landscape,(4) a desert. Many of us avoid the same. Because we have wandered by threat or coercion into such a place or because we have walked there with a set purpose, we have been in the desert. Deserts of course are inhospitable places. No one can survive for long in a place without food, without water, under a blazing sun. This description of a desert is accurate for either a real place or a place into which only our minds, our spirits, our souls, if you will, go.
Sometimes outside force has been used to push us into a desert; It happens when someone dies: a spouse, a parent, a child, or a friend. It happens when we lose a job. An abusive relationship, either physical or verbal or both, or when we feel betrayed can cause a desert experience. Sometimes we enter a desert after moments of great triumph, like Jesus in the story, right after his baptism and acclamation by God. Sometimes when we have landed a great new job, sometimes when we have find a way to reconcile with someone else or when we again remember a great hatred that holds us in a prison of our own choosing. Even at times like those, the desert experience is waiting for us.
However, sometimes when we accept a an invitation to go to the desert as a volunteer, such as during these next forty days. The desert experience can be a time of healing, a time of aloneness that can bring clarity rather than confusion. It is not a coincidence that in the noble traditions of the world fierce landscapes are places both of hell and of healing.
There are of course some critical differences between these two sorts of desert experiences. In the first we are unprepared. The daemons feast and we suffer. The baggage with which we have entered this dry and waterless place is heavy and almost impossible to carry around. In the other desert experience, the one into which we choose to enter, the baggage is not so heavy because we have become used to the weight and we are prepared to more ably deal with the experience. The daemons are there of course but they are not as fearsome, not as in control of the moment. And we can deal with them in a careful way.
In fact, in either kind of desert experience, we can find such moments to be healthy rather than destructive, a time of cleansing and consolation rather than a time of damnation. We can use such times to understand our baggage. After all, no one carries our baggage for us: we cart it around ourselves, dragging it behind us, grinding long ruts in the path we walk.
Some desert experiences are hell and, as C.S. Lewis once put it; we lock the door to hell from inside. The daemons that we meet in that place are the ones we carry with us. Our baggage is our own (cf. Matthew 7:17-23). The desert experience can be one in which we find a way to banish the daemons or at least chain them down and keep them under control. Our time of testing and temptation then becomes manageable and profitable.
Alone in the desert
One other point. Desert experiences are times when we are alone. The fact that we go in and come out alone creates the value of a desert experience, in part. Someone else can walk to the edge of the desert, can even sit and watch us from that vantage point on the edge, but cannot carry our baggage, cannot unpack it for us, cannot meet the tests or temptations or daemons that we meet. Only we can do that.
It is notable that when Jesus met his daemon or devil he did it alone. It was not until after his time of testing that angels came and ministered to him and he experienced consolation. During the experience YHWH could not do more than watch and wait. Even YHWH cannot do more than walk with us to the edge and wait like an anxious, brooding, hovering parent watching a child step out and do something complicated for the first time. And when we come out we, like Jesus, can be more confident, more certain and whole and less controlled by our daemons.
Interestingly, if we are successful we find, once we have emerged, that God, or God’s representative somehow cheated the rules and was there with us all along. It is a peculiar thing, but it is a common experience. If we leave the desert without success, we leave blaming everyone else, especially God.
Part of the danger of the desert experience is of course that we leave the desert too soon or pack up the baggage and walk away without dealing with the daemons. When that happens, the desert experience becomes hell and being hunted by our daemons continues. And then we mete out hell on others. The daemons come back stronger and more evil than ever (cf. Mathew 12:43-45). And so we are at risk of being damned, not because YHWH damns us but because we do not choose the path of healing, or we find it impossible to do so.
The texts invite us during Lent to enter the desert. Seek self-knowledge. Unpack our baggage and struggle with our daemons. Allow YHWH a chance to bring peace, healing and comfort to us so that we, in turn, can walk with others to the edge of their deserts and be an angel of mercy to them, as others, if they are willing, can be so for us. In fact, if ‘God’ as defined earlier, is indeed part of the human experience, then when we do so we are YHWH for them.
The traditional model of what these forty days of Lent are about is that it is a time of penitence. My question for the tradition is this: if we do not know our daemons, if we do not go into the desert to confront them, seek to either drive them out or chain them down, unpack our baggage and see ourselves as we are without the glittering image,(6) without the facade with which we cover ourselves day to day, how can we be penitential? Penitence arises out of uncompromising self-understanding. The place to begin that search for understanding is in the desert with our baggage and our daemons.
***
(1) A Jewish view here: the Nazorean codicil: http://www.betemunah.org/merit.html; that is, an addendum to the Tanakh.
(2) R. Fulford, The Triumph of Narrative: Storytelling in the Age of Mass Culture, being the 1999 CBC Massey Lecture (Toronto: Anansi, 1999) and Thomas King, The Truth About Stories, being the 2003 CBC Massey Lecture (Toronto: Anansi, 2003).
(3) George Bush in a speech after 9/11 said, shop, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxk9PW83VCY
(4) A wonderful volume that reflects upon such matters from physical landscapes and not those of mere mind is that of Belden C. Lane, The Solace of Fierce Landscapes (NewYork: Oxford University Press, 1998)
(5) C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce: A Dream (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1946), 63, 67. See also Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, 4, 93, 2 “There would be no everlasting punishment of the souls of the damned if they were able to change their will for a better will.”
(6) The phrase comes from the title of Susan Howatch’s novel, Glittering Images, Glamorous Powers (Alfred A. Knopf, 1987).
by michael | Jan 31, 2023 | news
T. Carlson: What level of education did he achieve? And is he allowed to drive? Invade Canada to rescue us poor Canadians from our Prime Minister? Hmmmmmm…
The U.S, has made it an art form, to say nothing of policy, to invade other countries (why is our oil under their land?), when it wants something (make the world safe and accessible for U.S. Companies). Have a read of William Blum‘s highly nuanced and well- researched Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions since World War II. Don’t be turned off by the term ‘socialism’. If you are scared of the term, try to put it aside so that you can read from someone else’s textbook than the one in your head, if you want them to read from yours.
How about a poll? which would you choose?
Tucker: a) believes the silly things he says b). he knows what he says is _____(pick an adjective), but he loves stirring pots (would he keep his job if he didn’t?). c) he keeps forgetting to take his happy pills and forgets what is false and what is not.
If Tucker could understand stats, knows history, understands the difference between these terms- communist, socialist, democratic socialist-he will find that most countries have some form of the third option and, while every country has its foibles and crises with which to deal, are doing far better than his country in safety, health, equity between citizens (though of late: the last 40 years, we have had some trouble with this one), overall higher educational achievements by more people per capita, we do not allow citizens to have enough guns to keep killing one another, especially school children, nor do we allow a bunch of cops to beat the s**t out of and kill black people because; well-what the hell is going on there?
So, dear Tucker, it would be much better for everyone if you a) went back to grade school and learn a few things, b) see a psychiatrist if you actually believe the kind of silly things you say and c). maybe contemplate whether a few other countries in the world would have some positive things to teach you.
