I've been doing a lot of reading regarding the omission of some of the 'darker' psalms being omitted from church liturgy. According to Brueggemann these Psalms would be groped as 'Psalms of Disorientation' and would fit within the genre of the lament.
Some of these would be Psalm 58; 83; 88; 109; 21 - there are plenty more.
I like contextualise things... So similarly I found the controversy surrounding Michael Jackson's song 'They Don't Care About Us' very very interesting on a few levels.
You can read about it here .
there's no real train of thought here just a jumble of thoughts really.
peace.
nh
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
prayers.
A friend sent me a link to the website of a faith community in Canada and I came across a list of prayers that are prayed in the community that went beyond ego and ethnocentricism (not sure if thats a word) yet still son intimatley involved and connected to the individuals and the community.
enjoy.
enjoy.
Monday, August 17, 2009
psalm.
Not sure how many still read this... sadly - i do.
This semester at uni, I'm doing a unit focussed around wisdom writings of hebrew scripture - Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs. It's fun!
Psalms are incredibly interesting, at the moment i'm absorbed with the humanity present in them. My traditional view of psalms as the 'ancient hebrew equivalent of contemporary church worship songs' is being challenged as I get to understand the role of poetry and liturgy in ancient near eastern context - I told you it was fun!
I am admittedly biased toward the laments. I like the idea that Brueggemann suggests, that they are the result of moving from a world of orientation where perhaps one might feel life is quite simple; God is king; I am righteous and God loves me - simple... to a world of disorder, where things are ambiguous; is God distant, or not present; there is pain and confusion resulting in the psalmist being quite paranoid about everyone out to get them or feeling as important as a worm - disoriented!
I like the laments - they're real, it's also nice to know (or at least assume) there are other depressed creative types out there.
To end on a happy note there is another movement from disorienation to the new orientation - which to me, says a lot about hope and the importance disorientation which takes us beyond living in a state of denial.
Hooray for laments! hrmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
Watch this!
This semester at uni, I'm doing a unit focussed around wisdom writings of hebrew scripture - Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs. It's fun!
Psalms are incredibly interesting, at the moment i'm absorbed with the humanity present in them. My traditional view of psalms as the 'ancient hebrew equivalent of contemporary church worship songs' is being challenged as I get to understand the role of poetry and liturgy in ancient near eastern context - I told you it was fun!
I am admittedly biased toward the laments. I like the idea that Brueggemann suggests, that they are the result of moving from a world of orientation where perhaps one might feel life is quite simple; God is king; I am righteous and God loves me - simple... to a world of disorder, where things are ambiguous; is God distant, or not present; there is pain and confusion resulting in the psalmist being quite paranoid about everyone out to get them or feeling as important as a worm - disoriented!
I like the laments - they're real, it's also nice to know (or at least assume) there are other depressed creative types out there.
To end on a happy note there is another movement from disorienation to the new orientation - which to me, says a lot about hope and the importance disorientation which takes us beyond living in a state of denial.
Hooray for laments! hrmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
Watch this!
Monday, July 27, 2009
earth.
"Your love O Lord is like the ocean - deeper than endless seas
Your faithfulness is like the mountains - and your word never fails."
In our day this is an odd lyric to sing.
I wonder if we consider ocean acidification, ocean dumping, oil spills, marine pollution and over fishing when we sing about God's love being like the ocean?
Do we consider over-mining, consumerism and the destruction of our habitat or melting ice-caps and avalanches when we sing about God's faithfulness like the mountains?
Quite possibly not.
We have the potential to do so much to taint and pollute God's love - yet it remains the same for his creation.
All of our experience, knowledge and drive has the possibility to exploit God's faithfulness - yet his grace still present within the created.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
unshaved.
I was in the city today. Walking from the Oxfam shop to my car down hay street. I noticed a well dressed lady, presumably on her lunch break awkwardly stepping back from a conversation with a man. The man wasn’t well dressed, unshaved, obviously hadn’t had a shower recently. I was disgusted with my first reaction, to move to the opposite side of the walkway. I caught myself in this mindless reaction and then moved toward to the side closest to the gentleman.
He asked for some money - I only had change, so I stopped, gave him the change and then decided to have a conversation with him. Not long into the conversation he asked if I was Italian, to which I told him about my South African heritage. We talked for a little while about Cape Town, Table mountain and the cable cars. He told me his name please forgive me as I don’t remember it, possibly because it was a Jewish name. I told him my name, and told me he was a poor Jewish man, so he recognised it. We chatted a bit about the Old Testament and he rightfully corrected me and called it the Torah. He told me to remember one thing - that Jesus wasn’t a British man.
We wished each other well and ended the conversation, as I walked away it struck me - that I had just conversed with a poor Jewish man.
He kind of reminded me of another poor Jewish man.
I've never seen 'angels' - maybe i'm being presumptious, but I dont think I need to. My poor jewish friend is enough reality for me.
peace.
nh
peace.
nh
He asked for some money - I only had change, so I stopped, gave him the change and then decided to have a conversation with him. Not long into the conversation he asked if I was Italian, to which I told him about my South African heritage. We talked for a little while about Cape Town, Table mountain and the cable cars. He told me his name please forgive me as I don’t remember it, possibly because it was a Jewish name. I told him my name, and told me he was a poor Jewish man, so he recognised it. We chatted a bit about the Old Testament and he rightfully corrected me and called it the Torah. He told me to remember one thing - that Jesus wasn’t a British man.
We wished each other well and ended the conversation, as I walked away it struck me - that I had just conversed with a poor Jewish man.
He kind of reminded me of another poor Jewish man.
I've never seen 'angels' - maybe i'm being presumptious, but I dont think I need to. My poor jewish friend is enough reality for me.
peace.
nh
peace.
nh
Thursday, June 25, 2009
trip.
For those who know me, there ought to be no mystery as to why I'm feeling a little saddened today.
For those who don't know me that well, I should explain that I am one of the those eccentric Michael Jackson fanatics, the kind that my parents were quite worried about me at one stage.
So it's with deep deep sadness that I woke up hearing the terrible news of Michael's death this morning.
But I'm troubled in another sense... one man's death grabs the whole world's attention, meanwhile death and dying is all around us due to injustice, starvation, lack of sanitation.
But as I reflect, I think about many of Michael's songs, lyrics and poems... not the Billie Jeans or Thrillers - But the songs generally less glamorous and known that point us to some element of truth.
Here are the lyrics and video of two my absolute favourites. I won't comment on them, as I think they say enough in and of themselves.
RIP Michael and the "Children of the World"
peace.
nh
For those who don't know me that well, I should explain that I am one of the those eccentric Michael Jackson fanatics, the kind that my parents were quite worried about me at one stage.
So it's with deep deep sadness that I woke up hearing the terrible news of Michael's death this morning.
But I'm troubled in another sense... one man's death grabs the whole world's attention, meanwhile death and dying is all around us due to injustice, starvation, lack of sanitation.
But as I reflect, I think about many of Michael's songs, lyrics and poems... not the Billie Jeans or Thrillers - But the songs generally less glamorous and known that point us to some element of truth.
Here are the lyrics and video of two my absolute favourites. I won't comment on them, as I think they say enough in and of themselves.
They say I'm different, they don't understand
But there's a bigger problem that's much more In demand
You got world hunger, not enough to eat
So there's really no time to be trippin' on me
You got school teachers who don't wanna teach
You got grown people who can't write or read
You got strange diseases - ha! but there's no cure
You got many doctors that aren't so sure
So tell me why you wanna trip on me
Why you wanna trip on me - stop trippin'
We've got more problems than we'll ever need
You got gang violence and bloodshed on the street
You got homeless people with no food to eat
With no clothes on their back and no shoes for their feet
We've got drug addiction in the minds of the weak
We've got so much corruption - police brutality
We've got streetwalkers walking into darkness
Tell me what are we doing to try to stop this
So tell me why you wanna trip on me
Why you wanna trip on me - stop trippin'
RIP Michael and the "Children of the World"
peace.
nh
Friday, June 19, 2009
liberation.
On the basis that to a certain degree human autonomy has the ability to set or alter history, the implication stands that God’s grace is active in natural history. It is implicitly impossible to then consider individual sin without considering the social sins that exist as human beings are be understood within community and furthermore it is individuals who create and govern societal structures.
There is an intrinsic, yet not exclusive link between the Christian notion of salvation and human liberation. For the individual, salvation is being liberated from sin and not bound to the present reality. For liberation to expand in history, it must be known to the individual first followed by self-transcending acts of love for one’s neighbour. Human autonomy then becomes an instrument by which grace is active in the world. The objective of action is to liberate the person, so our concern is to confront social structures and institutions that are oppressing persons; bearing in mind conflict is not directed at the individuals. Likewise no structure or institution can objectively embody salvation as inner sinfulness remains and inner conversion of individuals is the priori to human liberation.
Liberation theologies highlight the notion of sinful social, economic and political institutions and infrastructures. Whilst understanding that Christianity is not exclusively linked to social reform, I believe there are certain implications for the way followers of Christ ought to conduct their lives. Two comparitively similar ideas are presented in The Moral Theology of Pope John Paul II, by Charles E. Curran. Firstly, every personal sin has social consequences and secondly that some sins directly effect the neighbour. Social sin, in whatever form is directly associated with man’s fallen nature.
It appears apparent that the solution to systematic injustice can only be found in human autonomy by aligning one’s free will with that of God’s desire. Just as social sin is spread throughout history flowing from individual consciousness, so too divine grace flows through autonomous acts of self-transcending charity.
This idea is present in what Christ, the central figure of grace taught when he said “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Matt 12:33). Jesus role on earth was to bring liberation (Lk 4:18-21). In first century Palestine, the Jewish people were under Roman oppression and for Christ liberating Israel from Rome was persuading Israel to change. If there was no internal liberation within the Jews, there was no hope for liberation from imperialism.
Liberation is not about a mere reform in social structure. The reform that Jesus preached is deeper and affects every sphere of life in dealing with the root cause of oppression and domination: humanity’s lack of compassion.
True liberation is about reconciliation, and to love your enemies’ means to live in solidarity with all people. This idea of liberation is far more radical then what the Zealots of first century Palestine could hope to of achieved in overthrowing the government. Loving your enemies challenges every area of life, whether it is political, social, economic or religious. With people as the primary concern for liberation, we a forced to look beyond human brokenness, as the battle being fought “is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12)
Profane history and grace are interdependent on one another, as grace comes from divine being and is exercised in the world through human involvement. As Karl Rahner, the Jesuit theologian so articulately stated, the church ought to be very the tangible present expression of a hidden reality. What radical change grace effects inside the individual, subsequently ought to be expressed in the world through love – this is communication of the supernatural reality of grace.
There is an intrinsic, yet not exclusive link between the Christian notion of salvation and human liberation. For the individual, salvation is being liberated from sin and not bound to the present reality. For liberation to expand in history, it must be known to the individual first followed by self-transcending acts of love for one’s neighbour. Human autonomy then becomes an instrument by which grace is active in the world. The objective of action is to liberate the person, so our concern is to confront social structures and institutions that are oppressing persons; bearing in mind conflict is not directed at the individuals. Likewise no structure or institution can objectively embody salvation as inner sinfulness remains and inner conversion of individuals is the priori to human liberation.
Liberation theologies highlight the notion of sinful social, economic and political institutions and infrastructures. Whilst understanding that Christianity is not exclusively linked to social reform, I believe there are certain implications for the way followers of Christ ought to conduct their lives. Two comparitively similar ideas are presented in The Moral Theology of Pope John Paul II, by Charles E. Curran. Firstly, every personal sin has social consequences and secondly that some sins directly effect the neighbour. Social sin, in whatever form is directly associated with man’s fallen nature.
It appears apparent that the solution to systematic injustice can only be found in human autonomy by aligning one’s free will with that of God’s desire. Just as social sin is spread throughout history flowing from individual consciousness, so too divine grace flows through autonomous acts of self-transcending charity.
“We all have the right and duty to promote the common good. In all aspects of our life, including family and work, those of us who are Christians, especially, should fulfill our responsibilities with fidelity and with competence, as leaven in society, guided by the gospel and the Church but normally acting on our own initiative. (McOustra, 1990, 112)”
This idea is present in what Christ, the central figure of grace taught when he said “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Matt 12:33). Jesus role on earth was to bring liberation (Lk 4:18-21). In first century Palestine, the Jewish people were under Roman oppression and for Christ liberating Israel from Rome was persuading Israel to change. If there was no internal liberation within the Jews, there was no hope for liberation from imperialism.
Liberation is not about a mere reform in social structure. The reform that Jesus preached is deeper and affects every sphere of life in dealing with the root cause of oppression and domination: humanity’s lack of compassion.
True liberation is about reconciliation, and to love your enemies’ means to live in solidarity with all people. This idea of liberation is far more radical then what the Zealots of first century Palestine could hope to of achieved in overthrowing the government. Loving your enemies challenges every area of life, whether it is political, social, economic or religious. With people as the primary concern for liberation, we a forced to look beyond human brokenness, as the battle being fought “is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12)
Profane history and grace are interdependent on one another, as grace comes from divine being and is exercised in the world through human involvement. As Karl Rahner, the Jesuit theologian so articulately stated, the church ought to be very the tangible present expression of a hidden reality. What radical change grace effects inside the individual, subsequently ought to be expressed in the world through love – this is communication of the supernatural reality of grace.
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