disembodied theology

I’m reading about political theology for my Social Ethics exam coming up on Thursday afternoon. But I came across a statement I thought captured some of the concerns I have regarding my project on psychiatric illness. That is, I’m afraid that an approach we often take as evangelical Christians is to think that failure to obey and live a godly life is simply down to a matter of obedience. It is possibly assumed that the commands and instructions and virtues to live and obey are accessible and comprehensible for all. It is assumed in other similar camps that these are spiritual issues – and at this point, I believe we make the mistake of forgetting we are living in physical bodies.

Anyway, here is the quote, you will have to draw the lines of comparison yourself:

Political theology has set its face from the beginning against a-political theology – that is to say, a theology that simply disinterests itself in the order of social life and the practice of judgment, and presents the Gospel wholly as a realm of the spirit available to solitary individuals.

(O’ Donovan, The Ways of Judgment, 233)

Forgiveness

“Whether privately or publicly, to forgive as we have been forgiven will always be a matter of limping painfully after.

The original act of generosity is God’s alone, beyond replication; yet that should not make us despise the partial and conditioned reflections that we may from time to time be given to display.”

(O’Donovan, Ways of Judgment, p100).

grieving

“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers,

concerning those who are asleep,

so that you will not grieve

like the rest,

who have no hope.

Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

in the same way God will bring with Him

those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord:

We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming

will certainly have no advantage

over those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend

from heaven with a shout,

with the archangel’s voice,

and with the trumpet of God,

and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are still alive

will be caught up together

with them

in the clouds

to meet the Lord

in the air

and so

we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

(1Thessalonians 4.13–18 HCSB)

Never remote

As many of you know, three years ago I lost my dad to a stroke, so I want to acknowledge from the outset that to talk about grief is something we can never do remotely, at a distance. So whilst we need to be somewhat abstract in discussing grief theologically, we must never when we encounter bereaved people, hold the issue at arm’s length. All of theology because involved with the Three-Personned God and his dealings with a world of persons, is always going to be personal.

The question

The apostle says in 1 Thessalonians that the Christian does not grieve as one who has no hope. I want to think about what that might look like. What is Christian grieving, what is the shape of it, what benefits are there for the bereaved when the she is a Christian? Noting the opposed extreme options of inconsolable despair or glib, stoic unfeeling – what is the path available to the Christian? When the bereaved is counseled, as I was, to ‘grieve well’, what are they to expect the substance of this to be?

– this is how I’m planning to begin my seminar next Friday concerning grief.

Prepositions and cookies

So I’m in the guts of second term of my final year. And I’m in the guts of the assessments – I’ve submitted a work on Bribery and Ethics, and I’m currently working on an Advanced Greek seminar presentation I’ll be giving tomorrow, then I’ll turn my attention to the theology behind ‘grieving as those who have hope’ and finally how the Sydney Anglicans responded to the introduction of television in the 1950s.

But for now it’s Greek I’m buried in. In particular, prepositions and the syntax governing their placement within clauses. Helping me get through the final stage of preparing my presentation are some delicious chocolate fudge cookies I baked last night, alongside a well pulled espresso shot.

The cookies may not look amazing but they have slight crunch, internal chewiness, and a real chocolate hit. Yum.

Those lighter shaded chunks are pure chocolate. The espresso cup is my ‘happy-good-morning’ one.

Lines light and colour (Hahndorf, SA)

God’s constancy

A friend of mine over here has some really good and beautiful things to say about love and seasons and Autumn but I wanted to share how he concluded with you:

The constancy of God’s love for us is not that he ignored our sins, but that he forgave them. Forgiveness combines constancy-in-love with clear eyed honesty. Without the honesty, God’s love for us would always be morally questionable, or open to the suspicion that one day he might get sick of the lies and stop loving.

Go read the rest. You’ll be warmed, you’ll smile, and you’ll be encouraged by the way God loves us.

helping people

I’ve been reading a little of ‘Going the Distance: How to stay fit for a lifetime of ministry’ and came across a list of really good tips for helping people who are struggling (in the book it is those struggling with depression, but I think the tips apply more broadly):

• Don’t think, “I can’t do anything–I haven’t had any training”. You don’t have to be a psychologist to say, “I love you”.
• Don’t think, “I don’t have the time to get involved”. If seven people give 15 minutes per day each, that’s a whole week of helping and care covered.
• Don’t say, “I’m here if you need me” or “let me know if we can help”. Some days it is impossibly difficult even to pick up the phone.
• Don’t ask “How are you?” in the church foyer or the shopping centre and expect a truthful answer–you probably won’t get one because of the fear of breaking down.
• Don’t assume help is being given. “Everybody thought Somebody was doing it when Nobody was.”
• Be prepared to meet depressed people in their own home. They feel safe there and know that you really mean it when you say you want to help.
• Don’t try to solve all their problems with good advice. There’s time for that when they are well again.
• Don’t be offended if they appear rude or angry. It is only an expression of the feelings inside them that have to come out somehow.
• Listen to what is being said. It will give the best indication of how you can help.
• Don’t assume that because they are happy and positive one day they won’t be suicidal the next. Highs are always followed by lows.
• Don’t give up! If you do, they might too, because there is nothing worse than finding out your friends AREN’T!

Although to this list I’d add:

Pray for them. You need to remember God loves them more than you do and is more willing to help them than you are. You are limited, He is not.

Don’t expect reasonable words from Scripture will be antidotes to their situation. They might not be of sound mind or at that moment have the capacity to hear reason.

Project Proposal

So I have submitted my rough proposal for this year’s final project. It read like this:

- the responsibility of those with mental illness for their godliness
- a comparison of the approaches to this by Malcolm Jeeves and David Powlison/Bruce Welch, with a view to Biblical wisdom concerning these matters (mind/body, mental illness, repentance, sickness)

Pray what I do helps God’s people think hard and love well as a result.

some poetry

Cheek brimful to bursting

Crinkled one-eye joy

We: onlookers now

- who are these two?

Freshness of first-day joy washed

Reverent, standing, centred on a platform

- faces forward, his slightly turned

To watch from eye-corner, to espy his bride

mental illness, the Bible and people

what is it? how do the labels of psychiatric and psychological overlap and where are their domains?

does the Bible have anything explicit to say about mental illness?

what is mental illness anyway? how do we distinguish it from normal responses to particular events in life?

even after diagnosis, how can we help?

people with broken legs and broken minds alike are sinners needing the transforming grace of Jesus.

how do I navigate this?

i’ll be spending a year trying to sort that out.