big bang

what does it mean for something to 'blow your mind?'

to somehow experience something so incredible that you not only struggle for words to describe it, but you just wish you could remain then and there forever?

revelation is a mind-blowing thing…

in the revealing of oneself, there is a deep permission granted which goes beyond anything casual, and a trust that opens oneself to absolute unconditional acceptance and therefore to ultimate rejection. because of the invitation to intimacy, revelation engages the hearts of both parties involved.

could it even be possible for God to experience this overwhelming sense of connection with us- for the mind of God to be blown?

having looked upon us wearing the blood of Christ and the filthy rags of our own righteousness for so long, there is this sense of anticipation in the scriptures that sing of God’s eagerness to see us as we are meant to be.

to see us standing naked before God
not nude before God... naked.
there is a difference.

the fundamental difference between nakedness and nudity is gauged by the degree to which we openly and honestly release ourselves from the whole personal image cultivation thing in favour of self-revelation that fosters intimacy…

this is very much what God waits and waits and waits for with regard to humanity. in the scriptures, the image of a bridegroom is applied to God to illustrate this sense of deep and meaningful anticipatory longing by God for the day of true, mutual self-revelation. likewise, the church is compared to a bride in waiting.

that's right. a bride to be.

i think that in many ways we've gotten it wrong as we've referred to the church as being the bride of Christ. we've applied our western tradition to an eastern analogy.

this past summer while in sri lanka, i learned that the daughter of a dear friend of mine had been married over the course of the year. i was amazed (and mildly disappointed, having not heard until then) that this had all happened so fast, and asked for some more back story. it was explained to me that it wasn't fast at all- that this had been in the works for the last five years and that the husband was in london while she continued to live in her father's home in colombo.

by and by i realized what was going on.

she was betrothed- given, but not yet taken. she was, in the view of everyone, the bride. however, the actual ceremony would be undertaken after a time of preparation- and until then there was all this waiting, hoping, dreaming, planning, preparing.

eventually this beautiful girl will be with her handsome new husband completely, and their minds will both be blown at the depth of connection to which the word 'completely' implies.

but until then, there is all this anticipation and imagination as all is made ready for the final revelation... the one that effectively consummates the new identity and echad that will be part of who they are forever.

is it any wonder that the final book of the bible which describes, among other things, the 'marriage feast of the lamb' is called revelation?

i've always thought that the title pertained to the vision that God gave the writer of the book- a revealing of that which was hidden: the future.

what if the title revelation deals with the fact that, for the first time since the fall of humankind, creator and creation stand before each other completely naked of all that has separated them in order for the sinful and the fallen to not be completely destroyed by the holy? what if it carries within its implication, the openness and vulnerability and the mutual givenness to each other that blows all minds, even the mind of God, simultaneously for all eternity?

(much of the inspiration for this thinking has come from rob bell's book sex God- in particular, the final chapter, aptly titled 'whoopee forever')

tough love

love is a cause.

it is God’s cause. it is about the giving of life, not the taking of it.

recently I noticed something new in the spelling of a familiar word…
within the word pacifist there is the word ‘fist’. never noticed that before. always thought that 'passive' was in there because i don't think i ever actually read the word and paid attention.

but there it is: paciFIST... not PASSIVist.

now, this isn't some etymological thing... just something that caught my eye when i was thinking about wars and rumours of war and trying to figure out how to aptly remember on remembrance day without somehow justifying more violence.

there is nothing passive about fighting against violence. whether it is violence being exacted against another using physical force or violence being exacted against another using mental force, guilt, manipulation, obligation, a cause is a cause and a fight is a fight.

love is a cause worth fighting to the death for… Jesus demonstrated this, giving life without hope of a receipt or a reimbursement… love is about attending to the needs of others because the deepest need of love is to see the needs of others met.

i wonder if this kind of thinking will get us into trouble.

sexy

(some leftover sunday morning sermonizing on a thursday afternoon...)

In the book of Hebrews, it’s written that God is the one for whom and through whom everything exists. If we take this understanding of our natural state seriously, we have to rethink what sexuality is. For many, sexuality is simply what happens between two people involving physical pleasure. But that's only a small percentage of what sexuality is. Our sexuality is all of the ways we strive to reconnect with our world, with each other, and with God.
(rob bell, sex god, p42)

although the 80's was not, in my view, a decade of noteworthy artistic significance...

other than perhaps for the reestablishment of pop music as a surprisingly meaningful force of social justice to be reckoned with (taking up the charge begun in the 70's by george harrison, ravi shankar and others with the Concert for Bangladesh) in the coordination of awareness and relief efforts like BANDAID's do they know it's Christmas? song ('84), the LIVEAID and FARMAID benefit concerts(85) which reshaped my personal thinking concerning art and justice forever

...there was one particularly interesting breakthrough in music technology that had everyone talking.

MIDI (musical instrument digital interface)

MIDI was one of the sexiest (in the above-cited, rob bell sense) musical innovations of the 1980’s. it operated upon one basic assumption: no matter what the manufacturer and regardless of style/genre usage or basic instrumental role in a musical environment, there should not be barriers between the instruments themselves… in this way all MIDI instruments were immediately compatible with each other… designed to connect in order to facilitate the making of music.

i've heard the expression let's not confuse love with sex...

however, with this whole 'bigger definition' thing, i'm not sure how much of a distinction needs to be made. i mean, if we're speaking only about biology then there's some implications there, sure. .. but if we are speaking about God's original plan as outlined on the first page of our bibles then there might be some more there that we are missing which is merely informed by our biology, not defined by it; opened by our biology, not closed by it.

if we see sexy as the ability to meaningfully connect with God, each other and our world, then there's not a whole lot of difference between this and love in the deepest sense. also, there is incredible responsibility attached to this endowment...

it appears as though, in God's design, sexy is

light, not darkness

delight, not lustfulness

engagement, not instinct

depth, not superficiality

freedom, not enslavement

justice, not exploitation

meaningful connection, not biological interface…

in this reading of the word and its implications, sexy invites connection and communion, and for God to look at creation every day and conclude that it is sexy is fun... but to take that further and conclude at the end of day 6, upon looking at us, that it was now very sexy is an invitation to reach for something higher than our lust for kicks when we start talking sexy talk.