Jesus

Doing some theology – a sermon about the boy Jesus in the temple

Doing some theology – a sermon about the boy Jesus in the temple

Last week an idea came to me. I should do some theology on the Unadulterated Love blog. One morning when I was meditating, the story in Luke’s gospel came to mind, of the boy Jesus in the temple, aged twelve, gone missing. Luke’s Gospel points out the necessity of the hidden years of Jesus’ childhood and adolescence, that he might grow strong in the full experience of a human nature; thus he might be able to bring the Spirit of God into immediate contact with every human area. From the age of twelve, Jesus grew in all ways – physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually – for the work that lay ahead of him – he advanced in wisdom.

The danger of endowing Jesus and his followers with divine powers at the expense of humanity – theirs and ours

The danger of endowing Jesus and his followers with divine powers at the expense of humanity – theirs and ours

When the Church endows Jesus with a divine nature and magical powers and his followers with spiritual powers way beyond anything we are capable of, the result is fantasy faith, the belief that God has and will intervene to short-circuit human emotions and experience. That’s where conflict in the faith of the Church of England resides today.

The difference between the unconditionally loving God of Jesus and today’s abusive, unhealthy omni-God

The difference between the unconditionally loving God of Jesus and today’s abusive, unhealthy omni-God

We are all infected to some degree by what is, in Trump language, a fake God, and as with Trump’s followers who are totally seduced by his manipulative oratory, many millions elsewhere have great difficulty telling the difference between the fake Omni-God and the true unconditionally loving God.

The tunic was seamless, woven in one piece throughout

The tunic was seamless, woven in one piece throughout

My latest blog dwells of John narrative of the crucifixion. It is John alone who adds the detail of the seamless tunic (or undergarment) woven in one piece to his narrative. It is the symbol of what God is revealing and doing. Jesus, in John’s understanding, is saying, “In the new order there shall be no schism, but you shall be one and you shall love one another and be woven together from above.

Abusive unhealthy traditional Christianity, theology and practice

Abusive unhealthy traditional Christianity, theology and practice

Foundational Anglican Christian theology with its reliance on scripture, tradition and reason is responsible for creating and justifying a core theology, an edifice on which and within which abuse has been built. The edifice supports conservative Christian homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, racism, prejudice against other religions and cultures and particular categories of people.gy and culture that underpins abuse in the Church. Abuse has become systemic.

CEEC plot to impose an abusive, prejudiced, discriminatory, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic culture on the Church of England

CEEC plot to impose an abusive, prejudiced, discriminatory, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic culture on the Church of England

The Church is living through a period of great uncertainty as to whether the Jesus we worship and the God he reveals is a model for unhealthy, abusive teaching and practice or a creative, evolutionary model opening us to and drawing us into unconditional love.

Changing attitudes towards life in all its fullness

Changing attitudes towards life in all its fullness

Jesus was processing his life of human experience and emotions and relationships with exactly the same resources as you and I process our lives and experience. One difference between us (not the difference between divine and human nature) is that our experience, if we are Christians, is processed through the constructs of theology and faith that evolved following Jesus’ death and have been evolving ever since. We are programmed in a way Jesus wasn’t.

God is a revisionist

God is a revisionist

Prejudice, abuse, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, racism, are not and can never be Christian fundamentals. Life in all its fulness and God’s unconditional, infinite, intimate love have become fundamentals for me – revisionist fundamentals – for the formation of a healthy personal spirituality and faith and for the evolution of a non-abusive Church. They underpin all progressive movements towards justice, equality and full inclusion, the contemporary foundations of a movement rooted in God who is ontologically, in essence, a revisionist. Revision is integral to the nature of that which we name God.

Did Jesus root his proclamation of the kingdom in orthodoxy and tradition?

Did Jesus root his proclamation of the kingdom in orthodoxy and tradition?

The Christian Church needs to engage with the question: “In what ways did Jesus rely on the contemporary orthodox, traditional Jewish teaching and doctrine contained in the Hebrew scriptures and worship and in what ways did he challenge them?” More importantly, it needs to understand what “life in all its fullness” means in reality for every human being and learn how to live and communicate this transformational truth.