Wouldn’t it be great to find Jesus minus all the ‘evangelical sales hype’ it would be a little like travelling through Bangkok’s CBD without any billboards, no mega-phones no pamphlets, no in your face ‘buy now’ or else. No flashing lights, no for sale signs no manic need to ‘offload goods’ no agenda’s no nothing. Imagine how it would be if the emphasis was placed on creating an environment where searching and seeking were possible. In my youth ‘evangelical rally’s’ would inevitable include the mandatory scripture that lead one to believe that today was the day and that you might never have this opportunity again, in modern day terms this is called ‘the close’

I went along to a meeting a few years ago at City Life a special speaker had been brought out from the states, and at the end of his talk he said ‘ if there is anyone here who is only 99.9% sure of his salvation he needs to be down the front to find absolute assurance, otherwise you might find your self lost for eternity” much could be said about this type of hype at best it carries with it a threat, at worse I had the distinct impression that he ‘needed results for the night’ I went forward more out of fear than any other conviction. This sort of language has nothing to offer those who need a place for quite contemplation of the facts; this is the equivalent of a salesman looking for a sale and needing it at any cost. We need to be reminded that God is patient, just look at the children of Israel. Now having said that we do need to make a decision at some point, but this decision is not limited to a month a week a day or any hour.

If anything this stuff keeps people away, it keeps them from a deep sense of curiosity, it keeps them away from the centre, it will always be focused on the fringe, it will always encourage a spectator response. If deep calls to deep, its only fair that shallow appeals to the superficial. Put people in a place where they can discover a God of their understanding and most other things will be considered a distraction. 

The manic need to tell everybody about our version, is a like my little brother who would open up the Christmas presents (before Christmas day) and then proceed to tell me (without my asking) what I had for Christmas.

Long before we find him, long before we have had any chance whatsoever to find out who and what this Jesus is, we are over loaded with one-dimensional views, one-dimensional biases. I remember reading this in the gospels it’s a very simple but it’s also the real cry of ever man women or child who has ever thought to themselves who is this Jesus?

In the book of Mark it says this ‘We would see Jesus’ I must be honest, I don’t think I’ve met him yet; my capacity for bias, and half-truths, and misrepresentation and wrong judgements has been well and truly abused. It’s a little like trying to get through the opening day sale at Myer, fighting through the crowds, through all the mind numbing hype through all the for ‘sale seekers’ that have little or no use for most of the stuff they buy, this is a life threatening process imagine if you would Jesus going about his business somewhere in the back in the shadows, not wanting, not wishing in any way to be part of the cheap, nasty consumerist mentality. This so called Myer sale represents the wholesale greed of those who have a manic need to offload there half –theological truths about this man. On one hand we have painted him as a whitewashed shepherd with nothing better to do than walk around with a lamb around his neck; on the other we have painted him as a hater of all non theological certainties, we have painted him as psychopathic king who will one day return and give everybody there due, those in particular who don’t see things the same as us, we have painted him as a bigot, an idiot, a simpleton, one who is completely removed from the life that I happen to live. One who walks around quoting irrelevant truths, like a broken down toy stuck on some pre-programmed data.

I for one am a little sick of all the

If you happen to find him, I’m sure he’s in hiding by the way, please, please let me know, and maybe we can make arrangements to meet out the back of the Myer first day sale maybe in that section that’s called ‘no sale’ ‘no specials’

Maybe we should lead people to him in hushed tones, scared somehow that my limited edition version may spoil any further possibility, in the Old Testament the name of God was to sacred to speak the title YWHY was almost impossible to hang any thing on, to do this was to be guilty of idolatry and dangerous familiarity. Try getting a handle on “ I AM”

For the Lord is God of justice (Isaiah 30: 15)

“We thought we could manage the nature of love, Gods love cannot be managed’

 (Richard Rohr)

Justice; treat fairly, justness, fairness, due allocation of reward of virtue or punishment of vice (oxford dictionary)

Justice; anger, wrath, vindication, predetermined verdict, judgment, eternal punishment and torment (evangelical definition)

A casual glance in my strong’s concordance and I see that the word justice and judgment are closely linked in many verses they are inseparable, truth be told there is no distinction, evangelicals would have you believe otherwise, judgment without justice is a contradiction in terms.

When I think of Judgment in the traditional s sense of the word I don’t think so much of the guilt or innocence of a person, but rather the process of pursuing the truth, this by far is a much more objective, and more importantly the only system that can ever be described as just. To attempt to establish the innocence or guilt of the individual alone would appear to be much more subjective one that is fraught (potentially) with multiple agenda’s

‘Once you talk of God and eternity love and mysticism, dualism falls hopelessly short”

 (Richard Rohr)

The evangelical church presents Judgment in a far different light, one where the outcome has already been decided, if you take this fundamentalist view to its extreme, the only thing that remains (a little like a court order summons!) is to serve the summons, much like a sheriff would. In this scenario the time lapse between the sheriff ‘serving’ the summons and the time that the offender ‘receives’ it, this could mistakenly be described as a ‘time of grace’ this is folly indeed, this would be akin to a man falling out of a plane at a great height, and feeling that the danger is now over, because moments ago he ‘fell out and nothing happened’ the correlation and impact of any event is in direct proportion to its timing.

Imagine walking into a courtroom, you are called to appear before the chief magistrate or judge, and before you can open you mouth the verdict and the sentence are pronounced

Most people at best, would describe this as a kangaroo court, even the suggestion is outrageous.

The evangelical church has so embraced scientific rationalism that it is now guilty of irrationality and reductionism, one that’s based entirely on blind faith, which is the kissing cousin of deductionism and propositionalism. 

The so called ‘sinners prayer’ is a dangerous dichotomy it is rampant dualism.

Its theological foundations are a few obscure references in Acts and Romans, taken to an extreme it is a ‘get out of jail free card’ all one needs to do is wave it in front of this unholy, unscrupulous judge, and rather reluctantly you are allowed to roam free

If by chance the person standing in front happens to drop this ‘ticket’ and you then by chance become the new proud owner of this free gift, you to can pass ‘go’

Its very difficult to marry this concept with the John 3:16 description…God so loved the world’

This is not some nameless faceless world that God happens to love, its like you saying you love your family, for you the family consists of your wife and four children, each one known and loved intimately for who he or she is, now put this family in the world and lets imagine for the time being that no one else exists, you to would say exclaim ‘I love the world’

“Dualism is the process of affirmation and denial”

 (Richard Rohr)

Reductionism reduces things to the same level as a sales transaction. An autistic accountant must have first preached this sort of ill-founded intelligence, clipboard in hand boxes to be filled out, the great danger with this theology is that it is so out of touch with common reality and common sense that the only place to go is the way of the clinician, no longer is this theology about people it is more to do with black and white absolutes. At the Nuremberg trials softly spoken academics were put on trial… ‘How could you have sent thousands to the gas chambers’ I was just following orders, so far removed from real life that the whole thing became an academic exercise, in a similar way our theology can be guilty of the same. 

We speak of Gods love being unconditional within this context is very conditional indeed, brittle and inflexible

‘We find a subtext starting in Isaiah with the word ‘all’ the Greek word (apostasies) translated means ‘universal restoration’ if grace is true we have to take it to its logical conclusion’ (Richard Rohr)

We speak of those who have ‘heard the gospel’ and those who have not, what do we mean exactly when we once again are bound by futile dichotomies, what is our definition of ‘having heard’ many people hear the gospel and have no idea to its real meaning justice and judgment are only fair when motives are taken into consideration.

In August 2004, 5 men from different walks of life came to live at the Benedictine monastery in Worth (Sussex, UK) for forty days (the Australian ABC series called the ‘Abbey” took its start from the same program).

Like the Abbey these men came from very different backgrounds, of all the men Tony Bourke (by his own admission) had no religious background at all. His time at the monastery is very illuminating. Having seen the series I (like the Abbey) found it profoundly moving and personal, of the five men two stood out in my mind and of the two Tony wins the day, his honest, no frills, brutal approach to God and spirituality are amazingly refreshing, he arrives at the monastery as an atheist with borderline tendencies to agnosticism. In the following he gives and account of what his time at Worth represented to him and the shape it took in his life, he journey is difficult and frustrating, and the end of his stay something quite unexpected happens.

“I arrived at Worth without a clue. That’s to say, without a clue as to what I was expecting. Later on, it became obvious that I was without a clue in other areas of my life up to this very significant point.

Monasteries are dark, damp and oppressive places. Monks are grey, humourless weirdos who don’t say very much and wear black dresses. Yes?

Not really. My first impression of Worth was its modernity. On my first glimpse of the church, I thought I’d come to the wrong place. It looked more like air traffic control just up the road at Gatwick, than a place of worship.

So walking through the gates and down towards the church, with a TV camera shoved in my face, my mind was doing somersaults as already some of my rather dusty, white-haired pre-conceptions were being replaced with the reality of a modern monastery.

It was a lot to take in. I was faced with the prospect of six weeks in this place. Bearing in mind I’d only been told where I was going an hour beforehand on the train from London.

My religious background is simple. I haven’t got one.

Apart from school concerts, weddings and funerals and the occasional drunken teenage trip to midnight mass, I’d had no exposure to organised religion, let alone serious I’m-dedicating-my-life-to-God-and-I’m-going-to-wear-a-black-dress-while- I’m-doing-it religion.

I knew nothing of Roman Catholicism (other than it being seen as slightly controversial, a bit rock ‘n’ roll and it involving The Pope) and knew even less about Benedictine traditions or any others for that matter.

So I arrived and was instantly introduced to my four co-participants in this television programme-making process. I also met my first monk, Father Luke.

Luke had the look I’d been expecting. Quite severe. Quite pale. Stoic. However, he came armed with a wonderfully warm sense of humour and a genuine kindness and goodwill, which I’d rarely, experienced in a man before”

Another misconception had been laid to rest.             

…To be continued

(In the next chapter he explains his very dim view of God and all things religious)

Interviewed by David Hardin

David Hardin: Richard, to many people I know, the Center for Contemplation and Action is almost an oxymoron. They view contemplation as a kind of avoidance of life or action.Richard Rohr: Yes, I think that is why we chose the title. Even though it is a cumbersome title, we knew these classic polarities had to be put together because they are too often separated. I think it produces schizophrenic Christianity if they are not put together. We put it in our title to hold ourselves to it.

Hardin: You are talking about the schizophrenia being contemplation on the one hand and social action on the other.

Rohr: That’s right.

Hardin: Why are they each necessary?

Rohr: I think they are un-whole without the other. I have often used the metaphor of the spring and the stream — contemplation perhaps being the spring and action being the stream. If you just stay with the spring and it doesn’t flow out, it becomes dead water after while. There is, of course, nothing to flow if there isn’t some action. They really necessitate one another. It is like breathing in and out. You can’t do one without the other.

Hardin: A wise friend of mine said that you can’t give what you don’t have. You get the skills and the strength from meditation that perhaps you can then use in the world. What kinds of problems does the Center address?

Rohr: We are probably somewhat unusual, at least in the American church, in terms of training lay people who are working with the disadvantaged, working with refugees, working with a battered women’s shelter. They come to us from all over the country and really the English-speaking world. They live with us for six weeks. In the morning, they work maybe at the homeless shelter, at the jail where I am the chaplain.

In the afternoons, we give them classes on contemplative prayer, Liberation Theology, scripture, spirituality. They have a spiritual director and they live in community while they are there. The community experience itself is sort of the matrix where all of this can happen.

Hardin: Who are these people?

Rohr: They are usually people in the middle of life. Most who apply to come are people who have already gotten in the fray and realize how hard it is. You can romantically idealize the poor, but when you are actually running the soup kitchen, you see the dark side of the ministry.

Often they are people who are losing heart or losing the vision, or who maybe haven’t learned how to pray yet. They come to us wanting to put those together.

Hardin: You mentioned that you work with the people in the jail. There was a horrendous riot in the New Mexico Prison not many years ago. What can we do about people in prisons? What is your prescription for a really healthy prison system?

Rohr: Our assumption is, of course, whatever this means in our minds, that they are bad people. I have been chaplain there for five years. To be brutally honest, the only completely communal thing I have seen is that most of them are poor.

Secondly, most of them did not have good parenting, were not believed in, were not loved. What I would primarily advise is some kind of prison system that really seeks to give these men and women back their humanity. Give them back their dignity, back themselves, back their soul as we were saying in this talk. Merely incarcerating them doesn’t do that.

Hardin: We almost take their humanity away in prison.

Rohr: I’m afraid we brutalize them and we really are not resolving the problem at all.

Hardin: I think we are afraid of being soft, or something like that.

Rohr: There is a bit of a punitive attitude in a lot of us who think that punishment is going to achieve holiness or goodness or reform.

Hardin: Thank you very much for being with us.

Rohr: You are welcome. My delight.
  

One of the things I’ve always struggled to do, or maybe I should say struggled to ‘be’ is myself, even today I still carry this legacy from a broken past.

The thing that I’ve always admired (grudgingly) is that some people can just be themselves ‘anywhere, anyplace, anytime’ with little or no thought whatsoever as to the consequences. In the back of my mind is the thought that who I am, and more importantly what I am will just not cut it. Some people in being themselves cause great offence, but at the same time they live in a great space, one that’s largely free of the insecurities, frailties, and neurosis that I may feel.

Parker Palmer describes most people as ‘shy souls’ only coming out when the coast is clear, when there is no sense of danger, or harm sadly most people never find this place.

Now I have a number of friends (a small number) who have understood this about me (intuitively) and its has created an environment, where I feel safe to bring out the real me, the one who is always hanging about in the shadows waiting for an invitation, this invite by the way is never verbal. Creating the right environment is no small thing, it’s not a place that most would even consider, it’s not for the brassy, the bold, the outspoken, it’s a place of gently embrace, one where I and you, are really and truly heard, where we are given unconditional space and unlimited time.

This is the picture that Jesus brings to my mind, time and time again through some of the beautiful, touching, intimate connections he had with people, think of the ‘women caught in the act’ when he had managed to ‘rid this space’ of those who had no idea, from those who had not the slightest understanding of any warmth, or connection, they are the tyrants of every era, look a little harder you will find them in your church, they create the walking wounded.

Lets continue with the story; moments after this space became a ‘sacred space’ the dust settled, the noisy throng had disappeared, he draws along side her, giving her plenty of space and plenty of time, words were not needed (a new concept !) looking into her eyes, making sure that she was fully present, making sure she was with him, if not he would have waited, he simple says; “ neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more’ this was a gently loving suggestion, not some command that was barked out at her, she was heard, and in being heard, she was also liberated. Make no mistake whatsoever, that this was conveyed through every fibre of his being, she understood this long before these words were spoken.

Jesus creates a place a ‘sacred space’ where you and I can be ourselves, not only does he make this possible, but he creates a space where we can for the very first time discover the real me, the real you, and for most of us, this is the greatest discovery of all, because in finding myself, I find that he has been there all along, just waiting and longing for me to come home.