nakedpastor

T. F. Torrance, a modern theological heavyweight, lays great emphasis upon the Incarnation—God become man—as the key to Christian theology. Torrance asserts that true Christian theology, to be correct, cannot distinguish between God’s act and God’s person. His act and person are identical! To distinguish the two leads to a dangerous dualism that is one of Christian theology’s worst and most frequent and prevalent error. Torrance writes that even though creation is an act of God, it doesn’t convey his person because it is distinct from God. He created it to be distinct from him. Romans emphasizes that even though we can detect God in creation, we cannot know him. It is because it is distinct from his person. Torrance writes:

“It therefore follows that ‘nothing but God Himself in Person will suffice to bridge the gulf between man and God.’ Creation and providence alike are to be seen as acts of God in which ‘God does not actually convey Himself’”.

I do not pretend to understand this fully, but I know it is important and needs to be understood. I think Torrance is right—we have been seriously infected with Christianity’s worst error: dualism. More to come.

copyright: churchpundit!

Here is what I think is one of the best one-sentence definitions of the Trinity:
“God reveals himself though himself—that is, God (the Father) reveals himself (the Son) through himself (the Holy Spirit)” (T. F. Torrance).

I found this on the web on another blogger’s site who was also satirizing it and couldn’t resist posting it. No, I’m not going to buy a pair for my daughter! She’d be embarassed to wear them. Personally I think it’s a bummer that people have to resort to this kind of crap! This deserves some kind of reward! Maybe I’ll start, instead of the Darwin Awards, the Judas Awards for Christian nonsense.

Doug Mawer and I, good friends and co-partners in ministry, have been “tentmaking” in ministry now for quite a while. (Tentmaking is a term adopted from St. Paul, who made tents while he served churches, at least for a time. See Acts 18:3). We co-pastor the same church for a half-time salary, and we make up the other half with other income. Mainly because the church can’t afford to pay both of us full time, and we had decided to try to do this together. I paint and sell my art in a local gallery as well as on eBay. Doug does construction work. The Vineyard movement, which we are a part of, encourages it, especially in church-planting situations. I just want to write about it from a different angle: mine. I would contend that it would depend on what type of tentmaking you do.

For instance, Doug and I agree that it is easier for me to do tentmaking ministry with my kind of job than it is for him. I can paint in the comfort of my studio, listen to music, write when the mood hits, think about my sermon, talk on the phone if necessary, hurry off see someone if they need me, quickly change into more decent clothing to go to the church, and go to evening meetings in fairly good form. I can do this half days each or day on day off. I still find it challenging to juggle the two jobs, but it is manageable.

But for Doug it is more difficult. He has to get up early to load up his vehicle with all the tools and ladders, get to the job site, price the job, go to the supply store for materials, measure, calculate, get dirty, sweaty, sometimes wet, ocassionally hurt, always exhausted. People want their decks built NOW, not half day here, half day there, maybe see you next week. So with Doug’s kind of tentmaking, it requires full-time full-on thought, effort, time, commitment, and sweat. Doug finds it too stressful for him and unfair to the church to juggle these two kinds of jobs.

There are some jobs that are more suitable for tentmaking. For instance, I’ve heard of some pastors who land-lord a few buildings. That wouldn’t be so bad if the buildings are in fairly good shape and your tenants are decent. But if not, you could catch yourself having to dash off at inappropriate moments to stop a leak. I’ve heard of others investing money in properties and reselling. That would be pretty good too if you have money upfront and the smarts to flip property wisely. Others I know are professors at universities. That would be cool provided your congregation was fairly settled and manageable, meaning you could predict when you would be free for the congregation. That way you could sit at one desk and just change hats, so to speak, as the need arose.

Anyway, it’s gotten to the point where Doug’s decided to find a construction job full time. At least for a while. The stress of trying to support a family on only one reliable half-income has taken its toll. We are both frustrated and disappointed, but there seems to be no other option. We don’t think his tentmaking experience is conducive to pastoral ministry.

Now, I know much depends on our definition of “pastoral ministry” as well as the needs and expectations of the congregation. Agreed. Any thoughts?

This is a good quote from William Placher, “Helping Theology Matter: A Challenge For the Mainline” in The Christian Century, October 28, 1998:
“So many of our churches have become boring and depressing places. So many of the brightest children of our church members are going to Buddhist retreats or reading about Celestine prophecies or God knows what. They aren’t seeing churches as places where they migth go to think seriously about their religious questions.”

I appreciate The Christian Century’s motto: “faithful living; critical thinking“! Good mix. For me, as a pastor with young people in my own family and in our church, I think Placher is right. We need to allow our children, as well as adults, to ask the hard questions. Also, what people may be finding in Buddhist retreats and prophecies is religious experience. I think we should make every effort to make our churches communities where critical thinking can occur, as well as a place where God may be perceived, where people may actually exclaim, “God is really among you!” Theological depth and the presence of God among us is a mix I desire and encourage.

I watched the foreign film Caché (Hidden), directed by Michael Haneke. If you like the ordinary Hollywood fare with clear plot, non-stop action, “no thought required”, then you’d better stay away. Like the title says, much about this movie is hidden. When the credits started rolling at the end, I exclaimed to Lisa, “What?!”, although I caught something just before that shed light on the underlying theme of the movie.

Sony Classics summarizes: “Georges (Auteuil), a television talk show host, and his wife Anne (Binoche), are living the perfect life of modern comfort and security. One day, their idyll is disrupted in the form of a mysterious videotape that appears on their doorstep. On it they are being filmed by a hidden camera from across the street with no clues as to who shot it, or why. As more tapes arrive containing images that are disturbingly intimate and increasingly personal, Georges launches in to an investigation of his own as to who is behind this. As he does so, secrets from his past are revealed, and the walls of security he and Anne have built around themselves begin to crumble.”

If you want to see a movie that courageously explores the cruelty that underlies our civilized world, then watch it. In theological language, I appreciate how Haneke exposes the sin that permeates our apparent innocence.