Legalized Grace

Something I’ve observed over time is in our attempts to describe/define grace: we have a tendency to rush off to the law. the law is an extension of a relationship, yet, is not the defining point of the relationship. biblical attempts to reveal the incredible intensity and desire of God to be close to His creation naturally center on a law. yet, I wonder, does the centrality of a law have something to do with the context of an emerging immigrant community leaving behind the dust of Egyptian oppression? does the centrality of law in the New Testament have something to do with both a highly formed Jewish economy centered on the law while at the same time a wider, political context where the rule of law (a Roman legacy) served as ample metaphors to give a window into this Divine desire?

my point may be that our attempts to explain grace through the prism of the law may, while being biblical, be somewhat narrow. does scripture provide other metaphors, other windows, into the centrality of grace? i believe it does. before there was the rule of law, there was a Creator-Created relationship. IOW, relationship becomes a central fulcrum for the establishing of grace as the core component of our intimacy with God. using legal means as the sole proprietor of grace seems to narrow the vast depth of grace. if the poison is mysterious (sin), then can in some way the antidote (grace) be mysterious?

a legalized grace, I find, weakens the depth and power of grace. what strengthens grace, I find both in life and love, is the centrality of the I-Thou, the core component of desire for the Other. grace centralizes through an equivalent desire for the Other. the image of Jesus standing at the door knocking, waiting to be asked out on a date, is one that goes beyond legaleeze. it transcends stone and documentation and moves on to flesh and blood. one can twist legal language to redefine “is.” however, I cannot twist language to rebuild the relationship. the heart knows things the mind can never touch.

so, what power can we find in other metaphors, metaphors much more central and core in a contemporary culture today often defined more by litigiousness than by grace? how has our “rule of law” changed so drastically that perhaps we must find other analogies and metaphors that can capture not just the imagination of people but the heart and soul of a guilt-ridden person? search on, I say, search on!

Welcome to My Library

one of the cool places i was introduced to by a friend was shelfari. it is a community for book lovers who post the books they've read, want, or are currently reading. to the right now, you will be able to see what books i currently read.

yes, there are a number of them. how do i read so much? well, i watch little to none in the way of television (especially now that my Bears are out and the Cubs haven't started--though Lost is set to return). second, i do try to read two hours every day, keeping an active journal. i believe an active mind is a young mind and one way i stay active is to read. one day i was looking at Hitchens book, God is Not Great, and my son asked, "why would you want to read that?" Perhaps one of my greatest spiritual disciplines is to learn from those with whom i disagree.

so, i do little else but read when i'm not doing stuff with my family (yes, okay, you're right, i've got no life!). i usually arise by 5:30am and get in at least a solid hour. however, i still have a ways to go on my doctoral work so that encourages me to read as well.

anways, just wanted to update you on my booklist. i went with the books i am currently reading.

peace,
jg

Race & Creeds

i just wanted to alert you to a couple things i found rather inspirational over the past two days. utilizing my small nanopod, i've been able to listen to a couple interviews of note. the first was with professor Shelby Steele from Stanford U. his discussion about Obama and the issue of race in our country was incredibly helpful to me. growing up in Chicago, being as a white, a minority, was a great experience. yet, his insight into what he calls "bargainers" and "challengers" was very, very keen.

when i walk around the school where my kids go, the students ask me what i'm listening to! they can't believe it is only a podcast. i listen to anything by NPR, a sermon here and there, a number of book review podcasts. 2 gb is not nearly enough. i'm hoping for my birthday this year i can get a 80gb video ipod!

the second podcast i listened to was one with Krista Tippet and Jaroslav Pelikan. he is one of my favorite historians. he spoke about the need for creeds. it was a very interesting discussion and made me think about my own faith tradition, one that claims to be creedless, and yet, in many ways, behaves creededly. he discovered around 2000 creeds around the world from a variety of religions.

so, how does a discussion about racism and a discussion about creeds tie together? not sure, other than to say if we take serious the central tenet of Jesus, the call to love one another "as i have loved you," i must risk pain, rejection, exposure, and change. Pelikan described how his shift from being a Lutheran to an Orthodox Christian was not a change but a recovery, in some ways, of what he found he had always been. which may be why the shift occurred when he was in his late 70's. i find the mystery of human beings as equal as the mystery of galaxies, except that it is much more personal.

shalom,
jg

"A Desperate Ambition"

one of my favorite writers, former Czech president, Vaclav Havel, gave one of the most insightful speeches i've seen on hatred. i've loaded it at my public doc holding site. you can download it by clicking on the title of this entry.

"Just as a lover longs for the loved one and cannot get along without him, the hater longs for the object of his hatred. And like love, hatred is ultimately an expression of longing for the absolute, albeit an expression that has become tragically inverted."

these words describe how our longing for absolutes leads us to hatred, something very worthy of reflection for fundamentalism in any form. the relationship between the demand for absolutes and the presence of hatred struck me as very, very sobering. the journey of seeking to engage life as it is while not seeking to control life as i meet it is a rather challenging journey. for me, it is itself part of my sacred pilgrimage.

i'll close with one personal point. i try to limit my entries at this blog to be shorter, less comprehensive. however, i only describe the tip of a discussional iceberg. i appreciate those who visit and those who comment. i hope to begin later in the year to create another blog that will be far more extensive and include a library of other stuff i've written, more lengthy in nature. i am so glad i've discovered a place where i can post stuff i've come across. i have literally close to 2,000 other documents on my hard drive covering a broad gamut of stuff. i will post here in a bit my book list as a way of keeping in touch with all those who come to share here.

pax,
jg

A Delightful Balance?

while preparing for the upcoming weekend, i couldn't help but reflect on the tension between doing and being. specifically, there is this tension between information about God and experiencing God. i call this an "informed" experience of God.

over the past decade there has been this evangelical thrust to "experience God," something i am all for and glad to see. how much of it is our own response to what may have been a dry modernism remains to be seen.

the question is, can we experience God in such a way that we find out more about the way he incarnates himself, not only in our experience, but in the experience of others? does God incarnate himself throughout the world today? does God incarnate himself in and through culture? this balance of an informed experience with God guides at this window of my life the way i pursue God--all the while he pursues me.

so, let's see what this week holds, what this day holds...
holding my breath!

Pearls Before Breakfast

A way is found, i hope! please check out the link and see if you can download it and let me know. if this works, i may have found a way to begin passing along in very concrete form articles as i come across that may be appealing to you.

all you have to do is click on the title of this entry and viola! you should see a window pop up asking you if you want to download or save the pdf document.

here we go! bon voyage!

Jeans, Baseball Cap, and Incarnation

Well, i've had a great time just relaxing a bit during the holidays, taking an aside from this place and just chilling. Now, the new year has begun and i'm hoping to step up my knowledge regarding blogs so that i can provide more information to those of you who kindly visit. i know there are some contact because you've told me!

this past weekend's message regarding the incredible story of Joshua Bell's playing in a D.C. Metro station a year ago was quite an awakening for me. i knew going in i couldn't do justice to the story--and to the incredible parallels of an incarnation. we who live lives hurried enough to miss this kind of gift, probably would miss the Gift at the time it walked the earth.

here is the question they posed as central to their quest, a question which goes beyond the immediate to anyone with an ear: "In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?" This taps into maybe three of the greatest virtures in Western history: truth, beauty, goodness.

here is what their experiment was to be: "An experiment in context, perception, and priorities.” here is a challenge to we who are hurried Christians, what the author observed and asked, "Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the cityscape. Do you stop and listen? Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed by the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? Do you throw in a buck, just to be polite? Does your decision change if he’s really bad? What if he’s really good? Do you have time for beauty? Shouldn’t you? What’s the moral mathematics of the moment.”

the title of the article is, "Pearls Before Breakfast." it is my hope that by the end of the week i will have posted the article here so that you can access it directly here. it is just a matter of me being able to find out how to do it and do it.

this year will bring many changes to this post, i hope. i want to offer people resources and glimpses into a journey of faith, a seeking of the deeper meanings of life. right now i am reading Abernathy and Bole's work, The Life of Meaning.

So hang on, check back, as i seek to post something new at least three times a week.

carpe diem!