The Sycamore’s Prayers
The Sycamore’s Prayers
Blind Man at the Gate
Read more
All posts by Brian Zahnd
-
-
In Praise of Ordinary Church
In Praise of Ordinary Church
Brian ZahndSometime in late modernity Christians who had deeply, though mostly unwittingly, imbibed the heady cocktails served by the high priests of the Enlightenment (Voltaire, Hume, Nietzsche, et al.) conjured the drunken idea that Jesus had given a writ of divorce to the church. In an age of suspicion committed to the critique of tradition how could it be otherwise? Surely the compelling figure of Jesus of Nazareth could have nothing to do with the tired institution that is dismissively referred to as “organized religion”? This secular assault upon the church found a surprising resonance among many Christians — especially pietists, revivalists, and rugged American individualists. Thus was born the modern idea of Jesus as personal savior (which really means private savior), leaving the church as little more than an optional common interest club for the more socially inclined. Jesus was essential, but the church was optional, or perhaps irrelevant, or even a hindrance to Christian faith.
Today this kind of thinking is in full bloom. But what should we make of it? Or perhaps a better question is, what would the first followers of Jesus make of this development? I have no doubt at all that they would scratch their heads at this strange new private religion with its stunning capacity to misunderstand Jesus and his message.
Read more -
Memorial Day
Memorial Day
by Brian ZahndI have vivid memories of Memorial Day growing up in Savannah, Missouri. The last Monday in May marked the end of the school year and the beginning of summer vacation. As such it is a fond memory. And on Memorial Day I always went with my dad to a ceremony held in the northeast corner of the town cemetery. This is where the war dead are buried. Each uniform grave was decorated with a small American flag. As a child in the 1960s, the freshest graves contained the bodies of young men who had returned from Vietnam in flag-draped coffins. Old men were there wearing faded and ill-fitting uniforms from the wars of yesteryear. There would be a speaker (some years it was my dad), a prayer offered by one of the town’s clergy, the National Anthem played by the high school band, a twenty-one gun salute from the old men in their faded uniforms, and taps played by a trumpeter in the distance. The occasion was somber and patriotic. And the theme of the prayers and speeches was always the same — it was the language of sacrifice.
Read more -
Thoughts On the National Day of Prayer
Thoughts On the National Day of Prayer
Brian ZahndA few years ago, I was invited to speak on prayer at a Christian school on the National Day of Prayer (an observance established in 1952 during the Cold War Era). As you might have guessed I’m less than enthusiastic about the National Day of Prayer, mainly because of its tendency to turn into the Day of Nationalistic Prayer. I would rather we observe Ascension Day as a global day of prayer. Ironically these two days occasionally coincide, and it’s telling that the American National Day of Prayer easily overshadows observing the Ascension of Christ to reign over all the nations. But despite my ambivalence toward the National Day of Prayer, it was less trouble for me to accept the invitation than to decline. The student assembly was held in the gymnasium, and before I spoke the students were to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lord’s Prayer. The Pledge of Allegiance came off without a hitch — every student recited it flawlessly, complete with a hand-over-heart liturgical gesture. But the Lord’s Prayer was another story; in fact it was a bit of a fiasco. The students in this private Christian school didn’t know the Lord’s Prayer. So a student was pressed into service to read it so he could lead the student body through it line by line in “repeat after me” fashion. It was embarrassing. I turned to the faculty member assigned to host me saying, “It’s not that this Protestant Christian school doesn’t believe in liturgy, you just don’t believe in Christian liturgy; your students know their American liturgy quite well.” It was a harsh assessment on my part, but the faculty member could only sheepishly agree.
Read more -
Now Is the Time for the Good Wine!
Now Is the Time for the Good Wine!
Brian Zahnd
I know what it’s like to fear that the feast is about to cease because, as in the words of Mary the Mother of Jesus in Cana of Galilee, “They have no wine.”
This was my experience almost twenty years ago when I first began to feel the falseness prevailing in Americanized Christianity — it was too shallow, too watery, too weak, too partisan, too incurious, too complicit with the materialism and militarism of the age. For me this wasn’t a crisis of faith in a general sense — I was still fascinated with the Jesus who had captured my heart as a teenager — but I knew Jesus deserved something a whole lot better than American pop Christianity. I still believed in Jesus, but it felt like the party was coming to an end.
But I didn’t walk away, instead I threw myself into seeking something better, and in 2004 Jesus performed a miracle — water turned into wine! I found the rich, substantive, subversive, intoxicating Christianity I was looking for. Today I’ve never been more excited to be a Christian, and I’ve never been happier to serve Jesus and his beloved church. This is the truth and it’s the story I tell in my spiritual memoir Water To Wine.
The point of this piece though is not to retell that story (as wonderful as it is) but to encourage those of you who feel the falseness prevailing in Americanized Christianity and fear you’ll soon have to walk out on the Christian feast. I have good news for those forlornly looking for the exit from a party that feels like it’s about to grind to a halt: Now is the time for the good wine!
After Jesus had performed his first miracle in Cana of Galilee the master of the feast told the truth when he said, “You have kept the good wine until now!” That’s what I want to say — now is the time for the good wine!
I’m well aware that much of the more public expressions of Christianity in North America seem to be backsliding into religious nationalism, narrow fundamentalism, and tawdry consumerism, but that’s not the whole story. I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to travel widely and to speak in churches, seminaries, and conferences across North America, and I’m happy to report that Jesus is manifesting his glory by turning water into wine! The good news is you don’t have be done, you just need to find where Jesus is doing his thing and give it a hearty salute — L’Chaim!
It’s by coming to the end of that which is fading away that we are invited to participate in what the Spirit is doing now. We can call it deconstruction if we like. Indeed sometimes a whole wing of our theological house needs to be demolished so the renovation project can move forward. But I prefer to use the metaphor of a precious icon being lovingly restored so that we can once again behold the beauty of Christ. But my favorite way of talking about this spiritual phenomenon is to say that when the inferior wine has at last run out, don’t walk out, instead let Jesus turn plain tap water into extraordinary carménère!
This is why I’ve again asked some friends to join me in June for our second Water To Wine Gathering. June 13–15 we will gather at Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri to talk about all kinds of things I bet you’re interested in. Of course we’ll have plenty of plenary sessions (and every session will have Q/A), but just look at these workshops!
Joe Beach — “Wittenberg, We Have a Problem: Christianity’s Dangerous Idea”
Sarah Bessey — “A Path In the Wilderness: Deconstruction Beyond Doubling Down or Burning It Down”
Cheryl Bridges Johns — “No Other Gods: Discipleship in the Age of Empire”
Jonathan Martin — “Staying True To Your Roots!”
Rich Villodas — “Sabbath-Keeping as a Contemplative Practice of Resistance”
Derek Vreeland — “Atonement and Authentic Discipleship: How the Cross Frees Us To Follow Jesus”
Brian Zahnd — “A Blight Upon Beauty: How We Should Understand Hell”
Peri Zahnd — “Why Fixing People Doesn’t Work: Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Care”
We’ll be talking about the Bible, the Spirit, deconstruction, empire, atonement, hell, Sabbath-keeping, and spiritual direction all in a vibrant, life-giving, water to wine context.
So take heart my troubled friend, you don’t have to be done with Christianity — Jesus is still turning water to wine!
Register today for Water To Wine 2019.
L’Chaim!
BZ
(The artwork is The Miracle of Cana of Galilee by Alexandra Desnitskaya.)
-
The Slaughter of the Innocents: The Dark Side of Christmas
The Slaughter of the Innocents: The Dark Side of Christmas
Brian ZahndAs the Gospel of Matthew tells us, Jesus was born in the time of King Herod, and the history books tell us that most of civilization has been lived in the time of kings like Herod — that is, in the time of tyrant kings. I’m talking about the time of Herod, the time of Pharaoh, the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the time of Augustus, the time of Nero, all the way into modern times — the time of Hitler and Mussolini, the time of Franco and Salazar, the time of Pinochet and Putin. It’s tragically true that most people have lived their lives in the time of tyrant kings. But the gospel also announces the glad tidings that with the birth of Jesus heaven has invaded the time of tyrant kings!
Matthew tells the story of the first gentiles to receive the revelation (epiphany) of Christ the King. This is the beloved Christmas story of the Wise Men. These Oriental magi (or magicians) were most likely Zoroastrian priests from Persia skilled in astronomy, astrology, and dream interpretation who evidently somehow discerned in the stars an astrological sign announcing the birth of a new King of the Jews. The Zoroastrian priests regarded this birth as so auspicious that they embarked upon a dangerous and difficult thousand-mile journey from Persia to Judea in order to perform obeisance before the child and present their famous gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Because the magi were looking for a child king born in Judea, it made sense for them to inquire in the capital city of Jerusalem, but by doing so they unwittingly set in motion terrible events.
Read more -
Walter Brueggemann’s Foreword to Postcards From Babylon
When I finished writing Postcards From Babylon there was only one person I wanted to write the foreword — Walter Brueggemann. So you can imagine how delighted I was that he agreed to write it for me and I would like to share it with you.
FOREWORD
As long ago as the sixteenth century, Martin Luther boldly voiced a vigorous either/or for Christian faith in terms of a “Theology of Glory” and a “Theology of the Cross.” By the former Luther referred to an articulation of Gospel faith that smacked of triumphalism that was allied with worldly power that specialized in winning, control, being first, and being best. For Luther, that theology was all tied up with the European imperial of his time. By the contrast of a “Theology of the Cross,” Luther referred to the risky way of Jesus that is marked by humility, obedience, and vulnerability standing in sharp contrast to and in opposition to the hunger for “Glory.” The “way of the cross,” for Luther, is demanding and costly because it contradicts the dominant way of the world.
Now in a bold and daring articulation, Brian Zahnd has sketched a “Theology of the Cross” for our time and place in the United States of the twenty-first century. He does so in a way that deeply resonates with the primal claims of evangelical theology. He sees that the Gospel is inherently and inescapably countercultural because the God of the Gospel is in particular and passionate solidarity with the “left behind.”
In this daring articulation, Zahnd pulls no punches. He sees that so much of the American church has been cozily allied with the high claims of U.S. nationalism that readily tilts toward imperialism. The whole package of dominant triumphalist faith adds up to “God and country,” with “country” being the tail that wags the dog of “God.” Most particularly, this triumphalist alliance has a long history of attachment to military ideology, the winning of wars, and the domination of other nations and their resources and markets. In one of his many poetic renderings, Zahnd offers a nearly unbearable riff on the aggression of Achilles in the Iliad and completes the thought of Homer as he enumerates at great length the inventory of wars in which triumphalist Christianity has been eagerly and characteristically implicated. That long alliance with brutalizing power of course has deeply skewed everything in the faith, offering both a caricature of the God of the Gospel and a distorted notion of both discipleship and of citizenship. Before he finishes, Zahnd goes on to see how it is that the Trump administration is a near perfect embodiment of that ideology of “lust, greed, and pride” and how so much of the church has sadly colluded with the Trump administration in a pretend embrace of Gospel faith.
Read more -
Trying Hard Not To Be Ugly
Trying Hard Not To Be Ugly
Brian ZahndWe live in an ugly time. That’s how I see it anyway. Racism is on the rise, xenophobia is in vogue, and mercy walks the plank. Children are imprisoned, journalists are dismembered, and rage is all the rage. It’s an ugly time. So I’m trying hard not to be ugly. But it’s not easy. To be ugly about all the ugliness is easy. Of course when I insert my own ugliness into the fray I don’t call it being ugly, I call it being right. I tell myself that my rage is like the whip-wielding, table-flipping Christ in the temple. But in my more contemplative moments I have to admit that most of the time my rage is more like Peter cutting off an ear than Jesus cleansing the temple. Just because Jesus did something doesn’t mean that I should try to do it. After all, Jesus walked on water too.
So I want to resist the ugliness, not by being ugly about it, not by raging against it, not by hurling insults at those caught up in mimetic ugliness, but by being something other. What I’m saying is that I want to try to be beautiful. I’m not sure I’m called to imitate Christ in his rage, but I know I’m called to imitate Christ on the cross. It’s the cruciform that is the definitive form of Christian beauty. Crucifixion is ugly unless we imitate Christ and pray, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This is the beauty that saves the world.
Read more -
Waiting for God to Act
Waiting for God to Act
Brian ZahndAdvent is for waiting. As we tell the story of redemption through the church calendar we begin our telling of the sacred story, not with doing, not with celebrating, but with waiting — waiting for God to act.
Yet most of us — children of a high-tech, high-speed, instantaneous age — are not very good at waiting. It feels too much like doing nothing, and we are the driven ones who take pride in being busy. Waiting is not really our thing.
Or worse yet, waiting feels too much like lamenting, which is closer to the truth. With the loss of a strong sense of the Christian calendar we have conflated Advent and Christmas into a single “holiday season.” But the truth is that Advent is quite different from Christmas as it carries its strong theme of prophetic lament. The world has gone wrong, justice lies fallen in the streets, and it seems that God is nowhere to be found. That’s when the lamentation of waiting arises in our soul: “O Lord, how long?” From Isaiah to Malachi there is a consistent theme of waiting in lament for God to act. All of the Hebrew prophets, each in their own way, composed their prophetic poems around this recurring theme: The Lord is coming, God is about to act, but for now…we wait.
And yet the waiting is essential. For it’s in the waiting that our soul grows quiet and contemplative and cultivates a capacity for awareness by which we can discern what God is doing when he does act.
Read more
