Prickly City – new cartoon worth taking a look at…

my brother-in-law keith just introduced me to this new cartoon strip called Prickly City by a guy called Scott Stantis and i took a look at a bunch of them and there’s some good stuff – great series on the Occupy phenomenon and some other good ones – here are a quick pick:

on the place of using metaphor to understand/describe God [part i]

i have been busy reading brian mclaren’s ‘Generous Orthodoxy’ and as a previous not-a-big-fan-of-brian-mclaren am absolutely loving it and highly recommend it – breaks open a lot of different boxes and helps clarify a bunch of christian labels in a very helpful way…

here is an extract from the latest chapter which i really enjoyed titled, “Why I am Mystical/Poetic.” and the context is using metaphors to understand God:

‘So we reach for another metaphor to correct the first, and we say that God is also a father, or a friend, or a shepherd, or a vinedresser, or wind, or storm, or fire, or water, or a rock. Each metaphor enlightens, but if taken too far, or taken in the wrong way, it can mislead. (Is God cold and uncaring like a rock? Shapeless and conforming like water?) We must, therefore never underestimate our power to be wrong when talking about God, when thinking about God, when imagining God – whether in prose or in poetry. Romano Guardini, chaplain to Pope John XXIII in the Second Vatican Council era, captured the challenge of trying to speak of God and divine truth:

“[When one] attempts to convey something of God’s holy otherness he tries one earthly simile after another. In the end he discards them all as inadequate and says apparently wild and senseless things meant to startle the heart into feeling what lies beyond the reaches of the brain. Something of the kind takes place here: “Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor 2.9). [These realities beyond understanding] can be brought closer only by the overthrow of everything naturally comprehensible. Flung into a world of new logic, we are forced to make a genuine effort to understand.”

Now there is no need to swing to an opposite extreme, to say that since even metaphors can mislead, we might as well give up on language altogether. C.S. Lewis caught the needed balance – that language can be a window through which one glimpses God, but never a box in which God can be contained – in a dense but brilliant poem called “A Footnote to All Prayers.” The poem begins:

The one whom I bow to only knows to whom I bow.
When I attempt the ineffable Name, murmuring
Thou

Then he compares himself to Phaedius, a classical Greek sculptor famous for his majestic sculptures of the gods:

And dream of Phaedian fancies and embrace in heart
Symbols (I know) which cannot be the thing thou art.
Thus always, taken at their word, all prayers blaspheme
Worshipping with frail images of folk-lore dream…

Lewis goes on to say that people deceive themselves in prayer, thinking that their images or thoughts of God are actually God, and comparesall our prayers to arrows aimed wide of their target (but that God mercifully hears despite their bad aim). All who pray, he realises, are idolators “crying unheard/To a deaf idol” if God takes the words of their prayers absolutely literally. He concludes by begging God to “take not… our literal sense” but rather to translate our limping metaphors into God’s “great/unbroken speech.”

A generous orthodoxy, in contrast to the tense, narrow, controlling, or critical orthodoxies of so much of Christian history, doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is humble; it doesn’t claim too much; it admits it walks with a limp. It doesn’t consider orthodoxy the exclusive domain of prose scholars (theologians) alone but, like Chesterton, welcomes the poets, the mystics, and even those who choose to say very little or to remain silent, including the disillusioned and the doubters. Their silence speaks eloquently of the majesty of God that goes beyond all human articulation. And it welcomes the activists, the humanitarians, the brave and courageous and compassionate, because their actions speak volumes about God tha could never be captured in a text, a sermon, an outline, or even a poem.”

[a Generous Orthodoxy, brian mclaren, pg 170-172]

why i believe that God is not faithfull

i was thinking about this the other day and it’s a pretty silly semantical thort but it was mine and that it was too. [eh hem]

and hopefully someone is already penning me an email [can one do that?] to tell me i spelt ‘faithful’ wrong, without reading the blog post [those are some of my favourite people] but actually that was the thort that ran thru my head the other day

God is faithful, for sure, i have no doubt of that and especially so after experiencing it [albeit on many 11 hour 56 minute occasions] many times the first half of this year, but He is not faith full as in full of faith, because God doesn’t need faith like we do.

Why not? Because He knows Himself. i think some dead english guy wrote the phrase “to thine own self be true” which is what God absolutely is. God cannot not be true to Himself. He is Love and Justice and Mercy and Grace and Faithfulness and Wisdom and all of those descriptors get a capital letter when speaking about Him because that is when they are at their absolute truest.

So God doesn’t need faith in Himself – hope that He will act in the way He should, because He is God and that is who He is and He will absolutely always act true to Himself and His character.

So God is definitely not faithfull. He doesn’t need any faith.

But what He is, is Trustworthy.

Which we have learnt from experiencing His faithfulness.

the beautiful val and i started the year trusting that the belief i had that God was wanting us to wait on Him for plans for this year was a valid one and so we waited and prayed and asked and answered other peoples questions using the phrase ‘i don’t know’ to good effect and then two possibilities came up – the Simple Way which we are doing and an internship [for tbV] with IJM [International Justice Mission] which we are not [at the moment anyway]. the process happened pretty smoothly and at the end of april we were invited to join the Simple Way in Philadelphia [those who have read ‘The Irresistible Revolution’ will know what it is, those who haven’t should!] for 19 months with val working in crisis management and emergency services and me being involved with the hospitality house which deals with people coming to check out the work and happenings of the Simple Way and hopefully some communications stuff as well.

which left us with the big 5 – getting someone to take over our apartment, selling both our cars, getting visas, buying air tickets and getting rid of our stuff [with a 6th one – paying off val study visa and car loan – lurking quietly in the background] which have now largely been taken care of thankx to incredible provision by God and people who love Him [and love us which is really cool] – getting no salaries from Feb [and then having the two salaries we were meant to get in April not arrive due to a clerical error] meant that we really had to trust God a lot that we were being obedient to what He had said – and sometimes literally the night before we needed money it would appear in our account, with no-one knowing that we needed it. The visas are on hold as we wait for some info from the Simple Way which we should get later today and it seems like we will get better ones than we were applying for. We were blown away by a gift from a good friend last nite that will allow us to, as val would say, punch number 6 in the face. So it is all looking good.

Did we triumphantly trust God the whole way with no doubting or second-guessing or getting ready to panic or stress or make a plan B? Absolutely not. We had moments of weakness and struggle and panic and doubt. But we continued to trust through it all and God, as always, continued to prove faithful and show us, in His perfect timing that He has us. And a lot of the time He did it through His church, the Christ-following people we are fortunate enuff to be in relationship with. And not always the ones we suspected it would be. We have been pleasantly surprised time and time again.

So God doesn’t need faith. Therefore He cannot be faithfull.
But God is trustworthy, not always in the ways we expect, and so He is absolutely faithful.
Church, when it works, is incredible.
and some other fourth thing…

latest TFTW: when God is absent…

i send out a weekly email message called thort for the week aimed at challenging and encouraging Christ-followers to really live out what we say we believe – i thort i’d share this week’s with my blog [if you would like to receive the weekly messages simply email brettfish@hotmail.com with the email address you would like it sent to and a ‘please add me’ subject line] – trust you enjoy…

I was sent this psalm during this week of listening to God and it really encouraged me and trust it will do the same for you – take time to really read it though, don’t rush through:

Psalm 77

‘I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me
When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
At night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted.

I remembered you, O God, and I groaned;
I mused, and my spirit grew faint.
You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak.
I thought about the former days, the years of long ago;
I remembered my songs in the night.
My heart mused and my spirit inquired:

“Will the Lord reject forever?
Will He never show His favour again?
Has His unfailing love vanished forever?
Has His promise failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has He in anger withheld His compassion?”

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years of the Most High.”
I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago.
I will meditate on all Your works and consider all Your mighty deeds.

Your ways, O God, are holy.
What God is so great as our God?
You are the God who performs miracles;
You display Your power among the peoples.
With Your mighty arm You redeemed Your people,
The descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

The waters saw You, O God
The waters saw You and writhed; the very depths were convulsed.
The clouds poured down water,
The skies resounded with thunder;
Your arrows flashed back and forth.
Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world;
The earth trembled and quaked.
Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.

You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.’

Yeah, that Psalm spoke really strongly to me, but especially the verse that Doug and Janet who sent it to me highlighted – we probably all know that story of the footprints on the beach and the question of ‘why God, when it was hardest, was there only one set of footprints?’ and God responds with, ‘during the times of difficulty i was carrying you.’ And yet this seems to be almost the opposite. Or maybe the same in a different way, i don’t know.

Verse 19:

Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.

This is really just an encouragement to continue to trust in God and the faithfulness of Him, even in those moments when His footprints can’t be seen – when it looks like He has abandoned you, when there is no voice or answer coming to your questions or prayers. His path continues to be there. His way stands firm. Even when there is no visual evidence of His footprints.

God is here. He is involved. He does care. He does have a plan. Even when it is not as evident as we would like, all that stuff is still True.

So be encouraged
As i am.

God bless you as you bless others
Love brett anderson

botswanan reflections: next year

so botswana was hot. very hot. hotter than the camembert cheese (or lack thereof) in the monty python ‘the cheese shop’ skit was runny. and so a lot of the time it was a case of existing and surviving and seeking shade.

but there was some contemplation that took place, in between the gaps (surely you mean ‘in the gaps?’ – yes, quite, i clearly panic’d!) about life, the universe, and a whole bunch of stuff. well seven. seven stuffs. at least, and maybe eight.

but one of those was next year and for those of you who don’t know (or haven’t asked in a while), the plan for next year is waiting on God for a plan for next year. not a kind of random, let’s wait around and hope something turns up kind of waiting, but a more purposeful i-believe-God-has-lead-us-to-specifically-wait-on-Him-for-the-next-life-plan-and-journey plan kind of thing…

i resigned my job after working for 6 years at the vineyard church in stellenbosch and the beautiful val is in the final throes (or throws, perhaps) of finishing her masters thesis in development studies at the u of ct (first draft handed in, waiting for it back so changes can be made, if necessary, before final submission)

so we are waiting, and it is both tremendously exciting and slightly nerve-wracking cos what if God doesn’t show up? what if i heard wrong? what if a wood chuck could chuck all that wood, or if anyone knew what chucking was in the wood chuckian context?

and the closer it gets, the more nerve-wracking it should become i would imagine, according to latent locked-away mathematical propositionals lurking in the grey matter of my brain… yet botswana somehow proved the opposite… i really wanted to spend a lot more time in prayer and contemplation and thinking and dreaming and co-dreaming with tbv and so on, but the heat and context took care of a lot of that. but i did do a bunch. i managed to get up on a few mornings before manyone else and sat in the funky camp deckchair (with foot rest) next to the fire and mused.

amused. at times. and just plain contemplative at others. and chatted to God a bit. and read some ezekiel (wo!)

and i didn’t hear anything much. but i did feel a lot more peace. and calm. i really haven’t been much stressed about the whole thing at all, altho i think that is more likely more due to my ostrichsitis than my calm prevailing trust (which does exist, but possibly not quite as much as my maybeifidontthinkaboutititwillgoawayorjusthappen’ness) and botswana for me was a lot of just reducing the one and increasing the other, and so now, altho january is soon, i am fine with that. i have been still and known that He is God, and i really believe that He has this one. and it excites me.

and the moment i hear anything about next year and know what is going to happen, you will be one of the top ten to know so PLEASE STOP ASKING ME THE FLIPPIN QUESTION? cough. thankx. i know you care. it means a lot. but until we know, we don’t know. it’s that simple.

[oh and we’re not particularly wanting to have kids at any stage and val’s thesis is going well, thankx.]

stan. and little stan. [and some kind of miracle]

so last nite the beautiful val and i flew to kwazulu natal where we met up with dreadlock mike and nancy who we are driving up to botswana with (but that’s another post) and on the plane we got talking to stan who was a friendly-seeming guy sitting next to us [no CATFLAP MAN on this flight…] and got chatting cos we were sodukuing and his wife is an avid sodukuer [stan’s wife, not CATFLAP MAN’s wife, we don’t even know if he has a wife, or if he needs help showing her how to walk in and out of doorways, but that’s another nightly visit…]

so we started chatting about what we do and who we are and eventually it came on to the topic of little stan (whose name was matthew if i recall) and it was a really exciting story to hear – him and his wife had been trying to have a kid for a while and ended up at the doctors and were told that it was impossible (for various reasons which i can’t remember of the medical variety) for them to have children and they got that from three different doctors i think it was (joburg and kzn)

so they were praying about it and trying and nothing and then on two occasions at two different churches with people who didn’t know them or their situation they had two woman come up to them after a service (one was a british lady who was visiting and just happened to end up at the same church having seen it and decided to go in) who came up to them and felt God had told them to tell her that she is going to have a baby – the one lady told them she didn’t know what it meant but during the preach she had seen a light over stan’s head and his wife’s head and then a little light in between the two of them…

then they ended up at another service where the preach was all about leaving your burdens before God and really trusting Him with them and they realised they needed to do that with the whole baby thing cos it had really become a bit of a burden for them and so they left it at the foot of the cross and decided to just trust God [and it turns out that the day they did that she was already pregnant]

stand showed us some really cool pictures of a lively 22 month year old full of energy and smiles – a miracle baby… luck? coincidence? sure, you can think so, but it is a lot harder to explain away God speaking through two different strangers on two different occasions into a situation they knew nothing about and giving an impossible answer to an unlikely question…

i have generally had bad (or weird or uncomfortable) chats with people on airplanes so i generally try and avoid them and focus on getting nine numbers in a square, but i’m really glad we met stan and had our faith built up in the God we serve by an incredible story, and one of just many

He is alive.

a simple cartoon of the bible story of church

imagine this in badly drawn stick figures if you will:

God and man (as in mankind/people) in harmonious relationship walking together in the garden, the place of creation, unified in relationship, God somehow receiving something from this engagement with His creation.

something happens – man decides to choose self over obedience to God and relationship breaks down – we have the word ‘sin’ but really it is simply an indication of relationship gone wrong, breakdown of engagement, distance and an obstacle or barrier between man and God.

man is banished from the place of creation and heads out by himself, left to his own devices (which quickly leads to murder) and God sets in place His plan of restoring the way things were in the beginning.

Round [1] – God appears to individuals and start to show them a blueprint of the way things are meant to be – God calls a man and then a nation, Israel, and says, “you will be a blessing to other nations.”

Round [2] – God shows up from time to time in different manners and disguises to an individual and they pass on the messages He speaks.

Round [3] – God moves into a tent – well not quite, but the people are struggling with such an abstract picture of God and so as Israel wanders around the desert, God allows His presence to settle in the tabernacle, in the holy of holies chamber and communicates through the priests, and particularly the high priest on one special day every year.

Round [4] – the people settle, eventually making it to the promised land (after much trial and disobedience and grace on God’s part as time and time again they continue to choose their way over His, but He remains faithful to the restoration process) and so God settles (well, not really) and makes the building of the temple His place of encounter with the people, still through the chosen order of the priests.

Round [5] – a lot of time has passed and it has been a while since God appeared directly to anyone, altho the messages of the prophets, talking of a time in the near future when He will come and bring justice and mercy once again and they hold tightly to that. suddenly, God arrives on the scene – having sent messengers who are for the most part ignored, ridiculed and executed, He decides that a personal visit is in order and so Jesus shows up [God, and yet Son of God] and once more walks among the people – He declares that God is wanting an intimate relationship, using terms like ‘abba’ (daddy) and ‘Father’ to address God directly – and then dies in an act that somehow destroys the sin, obstacle, barrier that has stopped man from really getting close to God.

Round [6] – as Jesus is leaving, He speaks of His Holy Spirit who will come and live in those who choose to die to their own lives (wants, greeds, agendas) and follow Him and His ways – a few weeks later, as the followers of Jesus are hanging out together, this happens dramatically and like a cloud of fire the Spirit settles on them and they (and 3000 other people who happened to be in the vicinity) are transformed forever.

this is obviously a very simplistic way of telling the Bible story, but i was just struck once more this morning at our church gathering how it went from a place of intimacy and engagement to a place of separation and that there was the process of God speaking through a man – to the tent – to the temple – to God coming down – to us becoming the temple and having God live in us, preparing us for another day when it will be returned to the way it was.

This excites me.