Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

Easter Sunday thought

Alan writes – a thought from N.T. Wright’s latest book ‘Surprised by Hope’ about resurrection Sunday - Easter was about the wild delight of God’s creative power. It was about the real Jesus coming out of the real tomb and getting Gods real new creation under way. So why spend forty days keeping Lent, preaching about self denial, being at least a little gloomy, and then only have a single day of celebration? Why not have an eight day festival, with champagne served after morning prayer? Was it any wonder people found it hard to believe in the resurrection of Jesus if we didn’t throw our hats in the air? This was our greatest festival! Take Easter away and you don’t have Christianity.’

Paul writes - Hoping that wherever you are you’re able to see the small (and large) signs of resurrection and new life (and possibility). Some how Jesus' resurrection means the world is different, even when it feels the same. May we each learn to creatively and imaginatively live as resurrrection people - to carry with us, and to embody in small ways the "already-but-not-yet" realities of God's plan working its way into the ordinary and everyday stuff of our lives and contexts.  Happy Easter to you from the both of us. Jesus has risen…!

Holy Saturday reflection

Alan writes – On ‘Holy Saturday’ we see that Christ died. Really died and so the incarnation is complete. Christ leads us where, for us, there is the promise of the eternal arms of God and a reality of such wonder that we cannot begin to imagine. But before this new reality comes into play Christ dies. Christ is buried. Christ descends.

For the Word must go into that place of absolute and utter silence; the complete antithesis of Jesus very essence. Here the communion between Father and Son is stretched to breaking point as love becomes an infinite compassion embracing the full depths from heaven to hell; and thus allowing the Son to enter the realm of utter Godforsakenness.

Von Balthasar says - “On Holy Saturday there is the descent of the dead Jesus to hell, that is . . . his solidarity in the period of non-time with those who have lost their way to God. Their choice, with which they have chosen to put their ‘I’ in the place of God’s selfless love, is definitive.”

This is where Jesus descends. Here he is utter solidarity, complete incarnation, not as the victor, not as the messenger, but as the dead among the dead, the utter Godforsaken among the utter Godforsaken. He is left with nothing but being dead with the dead.

Here Jesus is totally abandoned …God’s ultimate mercy on those who have definitively chosen to be damned apart from God. Here in their utter damnedness, and isolation in a loveless self entombment they find God alongside them in the absolute weakness of an unfathomable love.

Or as the psalmist wrote - “If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!” Psalm 139 v 8 (RSV) or The NIV - If I were to dig down to the world of the dead you would also be there.”

Good Friday Reflection

Alan writes – in the ‘Crucified God’ Jurgen Moltmann states - The cross in the church symbolises the contradiction which comes into the church from the God who was crucified ‘outside’.

Every symbol points beyond itself to something else. Every symbol invites thought.

The symbol of the cross in the church points to the God who was crucified not between two candles on an altar, but between two thieves in the place of the skull, where the outcasts belong, outside the gates of the city.

It does not invite thought but a change of mind.

It is a symbol which therefore leads out of the church and out of religious longing into the fellowship of the oppressed and abandoned.

On the other hand, it is a symbol which calls the oppressed and godless into the church and through the church into the fellowship of the crucified God.

Where this contradiction in the cross, and its revolution values, is forgotten, the cross ceases to be a symbol and becomes an idol, and no longer invites a revolution in thought, but the end of thought in self-affirmation.

(The Crucified God – Jurgen Moltmann.  SCM Classics p35)

"Popular modern books on religion lack serious engagement with previous work", says Gordon Lynch

Alan writes - Gordon Lynch, recently appointed professor of sociology of religion at Birkbeck College, University of London, has written an article for the Guardian newspaper on the need for quality religious study. He says:

"If you are in a company of people of mixed occupations, and somebody asks what you do, and you say you are a college professor, a glazed look comes into their eye. If you are in a company of professors from various departments, and somebody asks you what is your field, and you say philosophy, a glazed look comes into their eye. If you are at a conference of philosophers, and somebody asks you what you are working on, and you say philosophy of religion ... "

Nelson Pike's observation of his experience of being a philosopher of religion, quoted in Daniel Dennett's recent book Breaking the Spell, will strike a chord with many academics and students involved in the study of religion. Since the high tide of secularisation theories in the 60's, the study of religion has often been seen as a Cinderella subject, a strange subfield in the academic world with little to do with the pressing questions of the day. A-level students thinking about degree options are still discouraged from taking a degree in religious studies by some schools, unless they are sure they want a career in teaching or religious ministry. The idea that the study of religion could be an urgent area of cultural inquiry with the potential for generating insights that are as important for our future wellbeing as the study of economics, computer science or the natural sciences still seems implausible to many people..."

Read the rest of the article here.

Also, John Morehead has an interesting interview with Gordon on his blog (posted July 16, 2007) – you can find it here.

Staggering global and technological shifts

Alan writes – a friend sent me a You-Tube link with some staggering information about technological and global changes including:

·            Over 106 million people were registered on ‘My Space’ in September 2006. If this number was compared with national population figures it would rank as the 6^th largest population in the world. That would place registered ‘My Space’ users between Japan and Mexico on population stats.

·            There are over 3.7 billion searches on google every month…

·            The number of texts sent daily exceeds the population of the world

·            3,000 new books are published every day

·            3^rd generation fibre optic cable now exists capable of transmitting 10 trillion bits of information a second. That is the equivalent of 1,900 CD’s of information a second.

The clip last six minutes and points to the degree and pace of change in our world. The numbers are staggering. The impact enormous. You can watch it here.

Relationship Trust – The Speed of Trust – Part 3

Alan writes – coming back to Stephen Covey’s book ‘The Speed of Trust: the One Thing That Changes Everything ' again; I was struck by the importance he placed on 13 behaviours. 

His second wave of trust, (Relationship Trust) builds of the first wave (Self Trust - see my previous postings – here and here.). He argues that the thirteen behaviours determine the degree to which we trust someone. While the book has a chapter on each I have only listed them below with one or two explanatory comments.

1.        Talk Straight – tell the truth and leave the right impression (it is often possible but unhelpful to tell the truth and yet leave the wrong impression).

2.        Demonstrate Respect – simply how you treat people. “There are two critical dimensions to this behaviour – first, to behave in ways that show fundamental respect for people, and second, to behave in ways that demonstrate caring and concern (p145).”

3.        Create Transparency – being open rather than secretive, transparent rather than hidden. “The opposite of Create transparency is to hide, cover, obscure, or make dark. It includes hoarding, withholding, having secrets, and failing to disclose. It includes hidden agendas, hidden meanings, and hidden objectives. The antonym for transparent is opaque – meaning something that is impervious to light and through which images cannot be seen (p154).”

4.        Right Wrongs – is more than simply apologizing; it’s also making restitution. It’s making up and making whole.

5.        Show Loyalty – give credit to others and acknowledge their part in any results. “Give credit to people for what they do, but also to acknowledge people for who they are (p167).” Speak about others as if they were there.

6.        Deliver Results – look for people who are ‘short on talk and long on delivery’.

7.        Get Better – Alvin Toffler said ‘the illiterate of the 21^st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” “The opposite of Get Better is entropy, deterioration, resting on your laurels, or becoming irrelevant.

8.        Confront Reality – is about taking the tough issues head on. It’s about sharing the bad news as well as the good, naming the ‘elephant in the room’, addressing the ‘sacred cows,’ and discussing the ‘undiscussables.’ “The opposite of confronting reality is to ignore it, to act as though it doesn’t exist. It’s burying your head in the sand, thinking that maybe it will go away or that it’s not really there after all. The counterfeit is to act as though you’re confronting reality when you’re actually evading it. It’s focusing on busywork while skirting the real issues (p187).”

9.        Clarify Expectations – is to create shared vision and agreement about what is to be done up front. Covey says “I have learned to quantify everything: What result? By whom? By when? At what cost? How will we measure it? How will we know when we have accomplished it? And when and to whom is the accountability – both in terms of benchmarks and end results…. better to focus on results than activities (p197).”

10.    Practice Accountability – accountability builds extraordinary trust when people know that everyone will be held to certain standards

11.    Listen First – ‘I have found that the two best qualities a CEO can have are the ability to listen and to assume the best motives in others’ Jack M. Greenberg

12.    Keep Commitments – ‘when you make a commitment, you build hope; when you keep it, you build trust’.  Keeping commitments is the perfect balance of character and competence.

13.    Extend Trust – treat people the way you want them to treat others. 97% of people can be trusted so make policies and practices based on the 97% rather than the 3% who can’t be trusted.

The Speed of trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything – Part 2

Alan writes – two of the waves of trust seem particularly pertinent to Christian faith and the future shape of the church. The first is – the inner wave of self trust.

Covey suggests that this first wave is where we ask ourselves ‘Am I credible?’ ‘Am I congruent?’ ‘Do I have integrity’, ‘Do I trust myself?’ and ‘Am I someone others can trust’.  Covey argues that our answer to these questions determines the degree of trust we will have in all other spheres of life. If we can’t trust ourselves then who can?  This is the root of the tree of trust and I would suggest the essence of our faith and ability to contribute to the shape and future of Christian communities.

“The good news”, he says, “is that every time we do make and keep a commitment to ourselves or set and achieve a meaningful goal, we become more credible. The more we do it, the more confidence we have that we can do it, that we will do it. The more we trust ourselves (p46).”

He quotes the third round of the 2005 Italia Masters tennis tournament in Rome to illustrate his point. In this match the champion, Andy Roddick, was playing against Fernando Verdasco from Spain:

“It was match point in favor of Roddick. When Verdasco hit his second serve, the line judge called the ball “out,” and the crowd began to cheer for Roddick. Verdasco moved toward the net to shake hands, as if the match were over. But Andy Roddick didn’t accept the point. Instead, he said that the ball was “in” and called the umpire’s attention to a slight indentation on the clay court which showed that the ball had landed on-not beyond – the line. Surprised, the umpire allowed Roddick to overrule him and the point was awarded to Verdasco.  Everyone was amazed.  . .” Though Andy Roddick went on to loose the game, “he gained something far greater. He gained credibility. He gained trust. How did this display of integrity give him credibility? Look at it this way: How are the umpires going to respond the next time Andy Roddick challenges a call? Most likely they will treat his challenge with the utmost respect. His reputation was known; his credibility will precede him.” (p60).

This kind of integrity and self trust is the core – the root of all other relationships and life. In the end as Albert Camus said, ‘integrity has no need of rules’.

The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey

Alan writes – I have appreciated Stephen Covey’s writing for a number of years. His seven and then eight habits are practical simple tools that help keep the important things at the forefront and the less important but nevertheless demanding in perspective. So when I saw this new book - The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything - I was immediately interested.  The fact that ‘trust’ has been a significant issue in my context made me doubly interested.

But this is not a Stephen Covey book. It is written by his son who both draws on his Father’s approach and takes it further into the realm of the soft skill of personal and organizational trust.

“Simply put, trust means confidence. The opposite of trust –distrust- is suspicion (p5)” And as Gandhi is quoted as saying – “The moment there is suspicion about a person’s motives, everything he does becomes tainted.”

Trust, Covey argues, “is a function of two things: character and competence. Character includes your integrity, your motive, your intent with people. Competence includes your capabilities, your skills, your results, your track record. And both are vital (p30)”. To put it simply – ‘live your values and deliver results’.

Using the image of ripples in a pond the move from the centre outwards he talks of five waves of trust:

            

Wave 1: Self Trust  - personal credibility

Wave 2: Relationship Trust – consistent behaviour

Wave 3: Organisational Trust – alignment

Wave 4: Market Trust – reputation

Wave 5: Societal Trust – contribution

In each sphere Covey points to this one thing that affects everything else. This one thing, which changes everything, is trust—the foundation of the most powerful governments, the most successful businesses, the most thriving economies, the most influential leaders, the greatest friendships, or the deepest loves. I will post some more from this interesting book over the next couple of days.

The Truce – Primo Levi

Alan writes – I have recently read the sequel, titled The Truce, to Primo Levi’s “If This is a Man’. This second book describes Levi’s protracted journey from Auschwitz into Russia and eventually back to his home in Italy. It is a journey that begins when the concentration camp is liberated by Russian troops; a journey through war torn and weary Europe. Again it is a fascinating insight into the human spirit. At the end Primo Levi answers the most common questions asked of him since the publication of his books. The last two questions he answers are: “What would you be today if you had not been a prisoner in the camp? What do you feel, remembering that period?”

He responds by saying the writing of his books acted as ‘an artificial memory’ and “also a defensive barrier, between my very normal present and the dramatic past. I say this with some hesitation, because I would not want to pass for a cynic: when I remember the Camp today, I no longer feel any violent or dolorous emotions. On the contrary onto my brief and tragic experience as a deportee has been overlaid that much longer and complex experience of writer-witness, and the sum total is clearly positive: in its totality, this past has made me richer and surer. A friend of mine, who was deported to the women’s Camp of Ravensbruck, says that the camp was her university. I think I can say the same thing, that is, by living and then writing about and pondering those events, I have learned many things about man and about the world.” (p397-398)

“To what factors do you attribute your survival?”

After explaining the good fortune and luck aspects of his survival he says – “Perhaps I was helped too by my interest, which has never flagged, in the human spirit and by the will not only to survive (which was common to many) but to survive with the precise purpose of recounting the things we had witnessed and endured. And, finally, I was also helped by the determination, which I stubbornly preserved, to recognize always, even in the darkest days, in my companions and in myself, men, not things, and thus to avoid that total humiliation and demoralization which led so many to spiritual shipwreck. “(p398)

Remembering Rightly in a Violent World

Alan Writes – Miroslav Volf, director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, has a new book out. One that looks worth careful reading. The book is titled The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World

Christianity today has an interview (here) with Miroslav Volf about the book in which he answers three key questions:

Why is this topic especially important to you?
Much of the conflict in the world, whether between individuals or between communities, is fueled by memory of what has happened in the past. So on the one hand we have to remember to preserve our identity. We have to remember in order not to allow similar violations in the future.

Yet when we remember, our memory is not innocent in our hands. I use the term "shield of memory." But so quickly, the shield mutates into a sword. Memory played a significant role in the recent conflict in my native Croatia. My interest was to find ways in which we can prevent memory from mutating from a shield into a sword—indeed, finding ways in which memory can become a means of reconciliation. That's why I'm interested not just in memory, but in remembering rightly.

The book is both theological and personal—why?
The narrative backbone of the book is my interrogations by the secret service of Yugoslavia and the Communist army. Immense suspicion arose from the sheer facts that I was a theologian, I studied abroad, and I was married to an American. They had to find out whether I was a subversive element. I narrate the story of my interrogations and my relationships with my interrogators in order to illustrate what memory does to us, how we can deal with memory, and what the light of Christ's truth and Christ's person can do to help us remember and reconcile in healing ways.

How do we remember without getting bitter?
In the present discussion about memory, we tend to emphasize remembering what has happened to us, what others have done to us, or if we are more virtuous, what we have done to others. But it's not about our actions and our sufferings. Now, I don't want to disregard our deeds and our sufferings, but in Exodus, the Israelites didn't just remember what they had suffered at the hands of the Egyptians. That was the backdrop to remember what God did for them. It's a hopeful memory of liberation, a memory of salvation. If you emulate that, then you can remember rightly.