In Transit

Faithful readers, many thanks for your patience. My family and I have been on the move constantly for the past two weeks. Having spent several days packing up, we left Columbia for Rochester, NY, only to discover our moving company neglected to pick up our trailer until just a few days ago. Having arrived, we were immediately off to Barker, NY to spend time at Leah's family camp, only to turn right around to come to Princeton for a conference with other "emergent" church leaders regarding the future of the Gospel. I hope to update more on the compelling conversations we've been having here. In the meantime, bear with us - I drive solo to Denver on Monday, to begin work with House for All Sinners and Saints and settle into our lives at Casa Karibu Sze-Ming in Denver's Cole Neighborhood. Some day we will be settled; for now, we remain pilgrims and sojourners - as we must for our entire lives! In the meantime, I HAVE been keeping up on "the facebook." Grace, peace and thanks to all!

19: Transfiguration

18: Ezekiel 47.1-12

17: "Where there is doubt, faith..."

16: Vocations

15: The Dream of the World

Easy Essay: On Inclusivity

Inclusivity - as the world conceives it -
is a form of eschatology.
It assumes that the world is moving
inevitably towards
the fulfillment of the liberal-progressive agenda.
Yet, inclusivity is not
universalism, because its god is not
universalistic, because its god is not
the Lord of Israel.
Rather, inclusivity
is exclusivistic and exclusionary -
those who do not embrace it fully
are cast into the outer darkness,
not just at the End,
but also in medias res.

Jesus Christ is universalistic
because he is catholic
in that he draws
and reconciles
all things to himself.
His death is for all people
exclusively.
His life is for all people
exclusively.
His truth is for all people
exclusively.
His way is for all people
exclusively,
because it is His way,
because it is His truth,
because it is His life.
Every single person who ever lived
is invited to partake
in Christ - this is an
exclusivist eschatology,
and this
is the inclusivity,
in the end,
inclusivists cannot include.

Still In Medias Res: First Year in Retrospective

Nate Lee's generous post reminded me that it's been just about a year since I first launched During the World following my graduation from Duke Divinity School. As the blog's subtitle suggests, during the world, we are always already "in the midst of things," and for me, the art of blogging itself is no exception. I'm still learning (and failing!) to learn word limits and focus, as well as to be ok with long periods in which there is not much to say. I lament the large pile of half- and un-written posts that vocations as husband, father, pastor, student and sinful saint have simply not allowed to be written. I hope as I leave school behind and strike out once more into the real world, there will be more time for writing - though this kind of naivete is probably a product of my long absence from said real world. Even so, I wish to offer my profoundest gratitude to anyone who has patiently endured my mistakes, celebrated successes, and has journeyed with me on this voyage of blogging during the world. I love to write, and I thank you for indulging me, and for teaching me how to (gradually) grow as a writer. You help cultivate the life and resurrection which spring up amidst the tombs of my pretensions, my hastiness, and my short-comings.

Looking back over a year's worth of posts, I am astounded at how much I've forgotten that I've written! Yet, one of the greatest graces of forgetfulness is the joy of recollection. Below is a list of my own favorite posts from the first annum of During the World:

1) Confessions of a Hauerwasian (5.15.10) - One of my first and still favorite posts about one of my first and still favorite theological teachers.

2) Defending Constantine, or, the Scandal of Particularity Remixed (11.17.10) - So far, my most widely read post. Which elicits a confession: I still haven't actually finished the book yet! Thank God for the summer...

3) Martin Luther: Fire-Bender - A Brief Excursus on Discipleship (3.25.11) - A meditation on Luther's teachings on sanctification and holiness in light of what I think is one of the most profound children's shows of all time.

4) "Throw Open the Doors of the Church!" - A Personal Remembrance of Peter J. Gomes (4.7.11) - My tribute to a beloved mentor and dear friend in the wake of his departure for glory earlier this year.

5) Reconciliation on Story Hill (10.25.10) - Humbling realizations in the nexus of an encounter with the South through the eyes of some wonderful folk musicians.

6) Righteousness AND Justice: A Truly "Bohemian" Christianity (11.11.10) - A lengthy yet important working out of what it means to pursue a radical faith that is both socially progressive as well as personally committed to holiness.

7) "His Kingdom is Love" - Introducing NFS Grundtvig (4.14.11) - One of the most fun posts to create, introducing one of the most delightful new voices for me to have discovered.

8) A Mass for the Doubters: A Recommendation of Erik Poppe's Troubled Water (11.6.10) - Really, this one rests on the force of the film, which I still hold needs to be seen by every person who's ever considered grace.

9) Foundations Pt.II (1.11.11) - A dispatch from my travels in Malaysia, exploring what it means to honor the traditions of other religions without compromising the Truth of the Gospel.

10) Jealous of Rob Bell, or, On Pastoral Poetry (11.9.10) - I continue to be jealous of Rob Bell; I also continue to strive to make pastoring a poetic act.

SDG.

14: Remember Your Baptism

(Taken at the Riverside Zoo in Columbia, SC - not the last Republican Convention)

It Gets Worse: An Easy Essay

There is a Youtube campaign
exhorting bullied gay youth
to believe and hope that
“it gets better.”
There should be a Youtube campagin
warning baptized Christians
to be prepared:
“it gets worse.”


When Jesus was baptized
he was immediately sent
into the wilderness,
to confront Satan and the wild beasts.
He was reviled, opposed,
betrayed, condemned
and crucified.
In the midst of it all
he warned us that abundant life
meant the same things for us.
When we were baptized
we were killed into a death like His
and also raised into a life like His.
Our newborn eyes
see more sin than before,
our freshborn hearts
suffer for the broken world more,
our strengthened bodies
ache at our failures more,
our enflamed spirits
cannot be quenched by complacency.
We are sent into the wilderness
to confront Satan and the wild beasts.
The one consolation
is that we do not go alone
into this abundant life.

If a gay youth desired to become
a disciple of Jesus Christ
hoping to find peace, love and acceptance,
I would welcome her
with the grace and joy
and acceptance of the Lord,
and then say,
“it gets worse.”
(I have a feeling
she would reply,
“I already know this.”)
Stanley Hauerwas tells young people
at the Duke Youth Academy
that Jesus ruins lives.
The church and the world
already excel at this
in making the empty promise that
“it gets better.”
The True Church speaks, honestly,
“it gets worse,”
while its faithful living,
tireless hoping,
and fruitful loving
testifies to the One
whose presence and promise
has already
made it better.