Three Sentences That Changed My Life
“Christ has given us an entirely new way to be human.”
-Maximus the Confessor
“Now with the help of God I shall become myself.”
-Søren Kierkegaard
“Beauty will save the world.”
-Fyodor Dostoevsky
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The Beatitudes (BZV)
People have asked for the “BZV” Beatitudes. So here they are.
Blessed are those who are poor at being spiritual,
For the kingdom of God is well-suited for ordinary people.Blessed are the depressed who mourn and grieve,
For they create space to encounter comfort from another.Blessed are the quiet and content, the humble and unassuming, the gentle and trusting who are not grasping and clutching, for God will personally guarantee their share when heaven and earth become one. Read more
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The Church as an Alternative Society
Charisma Magazine asked me to write an op-ed addressing this question: Can Christians save the mess that is today’s American political scene? Better yet, should we? I was asked to represent the position that the church is an alternative society and our role of prophetic voice is better served when we remain transcendent to political partisanship. I was given a thousand words. Of course I explained that the relationship of the church to the state is one of the most complex issues we have faced in our two thousand year history and it would take at least a thousand pages to adequately address this topic. Nevertheless, I took a shot at it. Here are my 999 words on the subject:
The Church as an Alternative Society
By Brian ZahndElection season is upon us again…let the madness begin! And in the current climate of polarized partisanship where everything is now politicized there will be plenty of madness, anger, vitriol and a general lack of civility. Sadly, millions of confessed followers of Christ will be swept up in the madness as they give vent to their anger, fully convinced that God is on their side. Their justification is “we’ve got to take America back for God.” Presumably this is to be done by the dubious means of acrimonious politics. But I’m going to ask us to take a step back and think a little more biblically. Read more
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Truth, Violence and Love
What is truth?
This was Pilate’s famous ironic question of Christ. A short time later—after Jesus had been scourged and was now standing before Pilate wearing a crown of thorns—Pilate answered his own question when he said to Jesus, “Do you not know that I have power to crucify you?” In this moment the “truth” came out. For in the end it is the power of violence that is the ultimate truth for the principalities and powers. The “truth” of violence is the axis around which the world ruled by the principalities and powers revolves. It is their centering principle. It is the bottom line for those under the spell of “the ruler of this world.”
Pragmatism is the ultimate truth of empire, and the ultimate pragmatism is violence. (Though ordinarily great effort is expended to conceal this “awful truth”.) So despite the fact that noble virtues are often present within the empire (family, justice, service, etc.), the axis of empire, the centering principle, the final truth is violence. This was certainly true of Rome. Read more
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Does the “slippery slope” always lean left?
A refreshing and balanced perspective from the always brilliant N.T. Wright.
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On Going To Church
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome guest blogger, Joe Beach!Joe Beach pastors Amazing Grace Church in Denver and is a dear friend. Joe loves a lot of the same things I do — things like Jesus, church, mountains, theology and Bob Dylan. Which goes a long way in explaining why we like to hang out together so much. Joe is also an avid reader and a keen thinker. (Have you ever noticed that reading and thinking tend to go together?) Anyway, Joe has written a thoughtful article entitled On Going To Church. I would like to share it with you. Read. Think. Act.
ON GOING TO CHURCH
by Joe BeachYou’re probably familiar with statements such as, “we don’t GO to church. We ARE the church.” There are similar ones that go something like this: “Church is not what we do when we gather on Sunday mornings for an hour or so. Church is not a place or a building. It’s what we are OUT THERE.” Well, I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and, although there’s some truth and some wisdom in these statements (which I’ve spoken myself), I’m no longer so sure about them on the whole. Read more
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At My Writing Desk
Today I returned in earnest to my writing desk. I’m working on a book entitled Cruciform Reformation: Recovering the Form and Beauty of Authentic Christianity. My deadline for completion of the manuscript is December 31, 2010. Your prayers are appreciated. I’m very excited about this book…in a serious sort of way. Here’s sentence from today’s labor:
The cruciform is the posture of love and forgiveness where retaliation is abandoned and outcomes are entrusted to the hands of God.
Semper Reformanda.
BZ
PS: The release date for Unconditional?: The Call of Jesus to Radical Forgiveness is January 4, 2011.
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Beautiful People
For the fourth installment of Finding God On Your iPod I selected Beautiful People by my friend Jason Upton. Here’s the video our media department produced for it plus Jason telling the story behind the song. Read more
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Passage to India
The poets say things better than anyone else. This is a fact. I am of the opinion that the deepest and most important things can only be said as poetry. Furthermore, poetry can only be heard, it cannot be “explained.” So either it speaks to you or it doesn’t. Either you get it or you don’t. Tonight I found some lines in a poem that not only speak to me, they speak for me. These lines speak to me and for me as I contemplate my lifelong quest to know God. Allow me to share with you a few select lines from the poem Passage to India by America’s greatest poet, Walt Whitman. Read more