i’m not religious, but I’m still pretty good

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I call this the PG effect.  I’m pretty good, I don’t need God.  But even when I hear it with emphatic vigor, I still hear a question behind it.  The speaker is seeking affirmation from themselves and perhaps also from others.  They have to seek it from others, because it is a statement of comparison.  As long as I can find someone else who is “worse” than me, my self-righteousness is intact.  This kind of living may be fun for a while but it seems to me to be tedious, and ultimately leads to a callous heart; the PG effect depends on denial.

When people do good things, live well, or demonstrate good character it does not invalidate the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Gospel of Jesus–that faith in Jesus ushers us into the love of God and empowers us to live responsive and obedient to our Creator–does not operate ultimately in the realm of our goodness.  The Gospel operates in the realm of God’s goodness and our response to Him.  People doing good is part of the common grace of God.  James says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17)  In the letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul identifies those who might be called good among both the Jews and the Gentiles.  He seeks to establish that God is just when He judges anyone–whether they had the testimony of the Law of Moses or not.

Perfect goodness, Paul argues eludes every person.  The Jews who had the tradition of the Law might claim goodness or righteousness because they had it and the Gentiles did not.  But goodness could only be established by obeying the Law perfectly.  The Gentiles who did not have the Law might claim goodness because they “obeyed” the Law without having it around to guide them.  And here it gets really interesting to me.  In fact Paul argues that the Gentiles do have a “law;”  they have their conscience.  “When Gentiles, who do not have the law do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them”  (Romans 2:14-15)  So I have to ask, “Have you ever violated your conscience?”  “Did you go against your internal compass of what was right or wrong?”  And the honest answer is that we have each felt the pain one time or another of going against our conscience.

I have met some very principled people, who rejected God, but lived close to their conscience.  Yet the PG effect is still in place.  To establish their own goodness they have to look around and compare.  God is comparing too, but not to other people; He is comparing, examening through Jesus Christ.  The Scripture says, “This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ” (Romans 2:16).  The PG effect is established only through self-righteousness.  And against the goodness of Jesus Christ I am seriously lacking.

The good news is that I can change plans through faith in Christ.  I can get off the plan of my own goodness and accept the plan of faith in Jesus’ goodness, grace, and power.  This capitulation to Jesus as Savour and Lord as the only One who is good may seem costly.  (See the story of this young man who came to Jesus with a questions about goodness and eternal life in Luke 18:18-30)  But what good is it to gain the world and yet forfeit your soul?

Heavenly Father, I reject my pride that rests on my efforts to be pretty good and the examination of the failings of others.  Forgive me for rejecting you.  You alone are good.  I receive Jesus as the only One who can establish me in your grace and set me into a new life of knowing You and responding to You.  Fill me with your Holy Spirit and empower me to live by faith.  I am so thankful to be freed from the aweful paradigm of “good enough.”  I rest in the acceptance of Jesus Christ.  Help me to extend this grace to others, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

harper scores a hat-trick with solomon’s sword

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So I just listened to my affectionate talking heads on CBC Newsworld trying to help us all make sense of what is happening in Ottawa.  Wow!  After voting in my first federal election this Fall, am I going to get to do it again so soon?  Who knew that public election money for parties was such a fly in the hornet’s nest?  So we will pay for it again?  Are we focusing on the right things these days?  Sure we need our own budget and we will get it…but prudence suggests that we should see which way our large neighbours move in January and present a budget that responds to reality rather than guessing.

The most intriguing diplomatic solution offered was for Harper to walk across the floor and hand Dion the baton and say, “You make a government.”  Two images came to mind trying as I contemplated a coalition government made up of The Bloc, The NDP, and The Liberals.  One, Harper walking across the floor with “Solomon’s sword” and handing it Dion; “let’s see who loves the baby.”  Two, A Hat-Trick; only this is not a game, but all three of these parties in a coalition led by Dion, who the Liberals wanted to jettison just a few weeks ago, would go down in the next election if the economy continues to erode and more Canadians suffer through it.

The headlines:  Harper scores a Hat-Trick with Solomon’s Sword.  So I don’t think shutting down Parliament is the solution.  But I’m really not sure.

the Triune God and the absence of control or passivity

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Christmas revolutionizes our knowledge of God through the incarnation of Jesus the Son in the flesh.  At Christmas we are introduce to The Triune God–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who relate together as distinctive persons as one being.  God relates!  What we see in the Gospel of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit reveals a way of relating that is mutual serving love.  The way we apprehend or are apprehended by the knowledge of God has tremendous influence on the nature and projectory of our relationships.  Growth in my knowledge of the Triune God through Christ can restore to me the relating capacity for love.  This growth is not without its pain.  In fact the movement into God’s glory is not without struggle.  (See John 13:27-35)  It seems to me that apart from the fresh and daily work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit I would easily drift into the tides of control or passivity in the context of marriage, parenting, friendship, and community.  However, by entering often into the mystery of the Gospel and the revolutionary perspective of a God whose very existence is relational–Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I am also called to honor the distictiveness of the people with whom I share life.  I am called to love as a third way contrary to the ways of control or passivity.  To love is to engage in the creation of a “we.”

the gospel of mark: a window on the authority of Jesus

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1.  Jesus comes with power.  John the Baptizer proclaimed, “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  I batize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”  Mark 1:7-8
2.  He comes with the Father’s blessing and the Spirit’s annointing.  Mark 1:9-11
3.  He passed the “test” of Satan’s temptation and was ministered to by animals and angels.  1:12-13
4.  Jesus had authority to usher in the Kingdom of God.  1:14-15
5.  Jesus called people to himself as his followers.  1:14-20
6.  Jesus had authority over the demonic.  Mark 1:1-25
7.  People observed that his teaching was “with authority.”  1:27
8.  Jesus had authority over sickness; 1:29-31.  Deafness, 7:31-37; Blindness, 7:22-26
9.  Jesus had authority to restore people to religious and social society.  1:40-43
10.  Jesus had authority to forgive sins.  2:1-12
11.  Jesus could call people living outside the bounds of society’s norms.  2:13-17
12.  Jesus had authority over the Sabbath.  2:21-28, 3:1-6
13.  Jesus could share his authority with those he called.  3:13-19
14.  Jesus had authority over Satan’s havoc.  3:20-30
15.  Jesus had authority over nature.  4:35-41, 6:45-56
16.  Jesus had authority over death.  4:35-43
17.  On occasion Jesus excercised his authority according to the faith of people.  6:1-6
18.  Jesus had authority to send the disciples out to preach and heal.  6:7-13
19.  Jesus had authority to provide for people’s needs miraculously.  6:30-44, 8:1-13
20.  Jesus had authority to discern the values that ordered the application of the Law.  7:1-25
21.  Jesus had authority because of who he was.  Mark 8:27-30
22.  Jesus had authority to know and share his future.  Mark 8:31-37
23.  Jesus had authority greater than Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets.  9:2-13.
24.  Jesus used his authority to call his disciples to serve and welcome the weak.  9:33-37
25.  Jesus had authority to usher people into eternal life and the Kingdom of God.  10:17-31
26.  Jesus had authority to lay down his life as a ransom for many.  Mark 10:45
27.  Jesus had authority over the activities of the Temple.  Mark 11:12-21
28.  Jesus’ authority became a “bone of contention.”  11:27-33
29.  Jesus understood his authority to derive from his identiy.  12:1-12, 35-40
30.  Jesus did not use his authority as an excuse for himself or his disciples to recklessly abandon the earthly authorities.  In fact he called on people to honour both appropriately.  12:13-17
31.  Jesus had authority to identify the greatest commandment.  12:28-34
32.  Jesus had authority to speak prophetically about the future.  13:1-37, 14:27-31
33.  Jesus had authority to receive the worship of people.  14:1-10
34.  Jesus had authority to recast the Passover meal to the delivereance He would bring.  14:12-26
35.  Jesus used his authority to fulfill the Scriptures.  14:48-50
36.  Jesus spoke his authority when he remainded silent except to declare his identity in court.  14:53-65
37.  Jesus had authority to open the way between God and humanity.  15:33-39
38.  Jesus had authority over the grave.  16:1-8

And because of the Resurrection of Jesus I accept that the authority He had, He still has.

Dances with Dependency by Calvin Helin

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I recently completed reading Dances with Dependency:  Indigenous Success through Self-Reliance, by Calvin Helin.  Helin observes that Canada is headed for the perfect storm as two large systems converge and make greater demands on the economic systemof Canada:  the retiring baby boomers and the growing aboriginal population.  He believes aboriginal communities are being decimated today by reliance on welfare.  He argues that there must be systematic, intentional and urgent effort exerted by all Canadians to avoid the welfare trap and the ensuing destruction of families, communities, and souls.  Dances with Dependency is an impassioned and well thought out plea for leaders of all tribes in Canada to promote the value of self-reliance. 

Helin’s call to self-reliance should not misinterpreted as extreme individualism.  Rather it should be set fully into a community paradigm that values interdependence as a mature way of being between the poles of dependency and Independence.  Self-reliance as a community value saturates Helin’s work and reflects both his study and his roots.  I deeply appreciated how he moved from an autobiographical story line into the historical and economic research that added strength to his anectodal observations.  As well it is fitting to say that this is a beautiful book; I never felt distant from the land and communities of which he writes because of the art work by Bill Helin that is featured.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone working in urban, rural, or reserve communities.  Not only was I inspired and encouaged by Helin’s writings, I was given a thoughtful historical perspective on the Canadian experience for aboriginal peoples; injustice gets wrapped up in systems that seem to take on a life of their own regardless of racial and ethnic heritage.  This book is a call to action.  Anyone who wants to deal with reality will appreciate Helin’s call for future-looking decision making.  I also found the transcript of Kevin Liben’s interview at The National Post in January 2008 helpful for encouraging me to read the book.  In case you are wondering if you should take up this book here is Calvin Helin speaking for himself:

If lasting solutions are to be found, the real Aboriginal solcial and political problems must be discussed openly and frankly.  Aboriniginal people need to declare an Abloriginal “glosnot” similar to that in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev.  The removal of government censorship allowed the problems of the Soviet Union to be discussed and addressed in an environment of openness.  Aboriginal citizens must also squarely face the Industry of Non-Aboringinal Hucksters, and “consultants”, and those Aboriginal politicians who are openly profiting from this sea of despair and poverty.  In spite of what they say, this “Indian Industry” has no real interest in changing a a system from which they are profiting.  Without such resolve it will be difficult, if not impossible, to deal with the myriad of problems that must be tackled.

If manners and common civilities stand int he way of finding solutions, then these must be set aside.  It is also time to put questions of self-interest and political correctness aside while real solutions are explored in the name of a higher purpose.  The tears and broken hearts of thousands of mothers and grandmothers should be enough to convince anyone that we must take action now.  How long are we prepared to leave the plight of Aboriginial children and youth in the unkind hands of the welfare trap?  How many more families need to fall as casualties of a fatal “welfare syndrome”–one that is literally stealing the lives and hopes of our future generations?  We must shake off the apathy of what has become an all too comfortable “cloak of welfare” and act to fix the problems now. 38-39