The View from Here: Lessons in Perspective and Illumination
So yesterday Serena and my two kids, Autumn and Ezra, and I stood out on our backporch and watched as a bulldozer finished off the last of what had been a large workshop building on the property behind our house. Of course Ezra, being 2 ½, loved it merely because he got to see a tractor, which he pronounces, “shadoo”, working some delightfully intoxicating destruction.
What Serena and I were impressed with was how much the view changed once the heavy machinery finished the job. Suddenly the vista from our backyard was completely different. Only a day earlier, and ever since we had moved in here almost exactly two years ago, that workshop building had been a large part of our view. We didn’t see it as an obstruction at the time. But now, after the fact, I certainly think about it that way. All of a sudden we can see an open field populated by trees, horses, and donkeys, where before there was only aluminum siding. In fact, we can now see beyond the field, all the way to the highway, and beyond that to another field, another row of trees, and houses on the other side of the highway.
So, you’re thinking, “nice story, Darren… but where are you going with it?”. Well, as the dust cleared and our new view came into focus, I couldn’t help but think about how this experience is similar to the revelations that dawn on us as Christians, when we clear out some of our own obstructions. Do you follow? When, for instance, we remove some of the obscuring blocks of modernism, the liberation we experience is not just a result of the blocks being gone - constructions that we always somehow knew, on one level or another, were a little too heavy-handed and one-dimensional to really do the gospel justice - but also part in parcel with the expanded view we now gain as a result. With a new view now available, offering greater perspective, new implications dawn on us; illuminating our experience of God and of the world.
Of course, this kind of experience flies in the face of what many of us from Evangelical backgrounds were told in those large, concert-like youth group events from our teens. In those events we were told that the truth of the world, indeed of the cosmos, could be summed up in one or two short constructions. And we were told that once we had internalized these constructions we would never again want for clarity.
Of course, the implicit teaching here was that one can understand the cosmos, at 16, and never have to revisit those constructions ever again. “Sounds good!” we thought, "Sign us up!" And don’t get me wrong, some of those teachings I still hold very dear today… and they’ve carried me through some pretty tough times- especially in my 20’s. But on the other hand, I see that, as I get older, these block-truths leave a little to be desired. In truth, we grow as we age- at least, let’s hope we do, assuming we’re walking with our eyes open, continually asking God to illumine our vision.
If it were up to me, today we’d tell those teens that God is good, and that, yes indeed, you can experience Him now… But even better, you can grow with Him over a lifetime of experiences. And those experiences, together with the everyday leading of Jesus, will form an ever-growing tapestry of understanding that is as rich in mystery as it is in illumination.
I don’t know about you, but if I were 16 again, I’d sign up for that kind of vision in a heartbeat. Wouldn’t you? The irony is that people think that teenagers fear the unknown. The way I remember it, I saw the mysterious unfolding of life as a great adventure. I think we'd do well to approach it that way in our youth group teaching today. And not just because its an "easy sell" for teens, but because its more in line with reality.
The Problem with Worldviews
Over the last few days I’ve been taking part in the discussion over at the Out of Ur blog regarding a recent dual-review of Tony Jones’ the New Christians and Mark Driscoll’s Vintage Jesus. Now, in my opinion, the review itself was both paltry and unfair – especially to Tony’s book. It was one of those situations when you ask yourself, did this reviewer and I even read the same book? Evidently we did. Which just goes to show how much what we bring to the table can bias our view. That’s true for all of us.
What is clear to me, in reading through the various responses to the original article, is that there is still quite a gap between those who are "postmodernly-informed" and those who are not. Now, please understand, I don’t mean to say this with a superior air. I know it can come across that way- at first glance. All I’m really saying is that the reason why so many of the responses to this review in question fall to one extreme pole or the other has much more to do with one’s underlying worldview than the subject matter or writing style of the two books in question.
In the comment section of this article/review/vent someone asked if emergents think "conversation" rather than "special revelation" was our way to understanding God. My response was as follows: well, friend, it’s just not that simple. It’s not that we (emergents) don't believe in revelation. But we understand that it is always filtered through our lens of understanding (which in turn is a bi-product of many factors - our culture, our familial background, our faith tradition, our personality, etc.)
And that leads to the second point: this knowledge leads (at least, should lead) to a humility of approach in explaining God and His ways. Humility is not just an outward posture. It’s an understanding that under-girds our entire approach to God and to the world.
One could say that humility involves a right understanding of our place in the Cosmos. It just makes no sense to claim humility and then exemplify pure bravado in one’s certainty over one's understanding of God. None. Even if you claim (again, falsely) that this certainty comes from God Himself.
You can't separate the two. You can't say "I'm weak, and biased, and the worst of all sinners”, but “my hermeneutic and my theology is spotless”.
Either humility touches all areas of one's life and understanding, or it’s not really humility at all.
Believe it or not, someone responded to this comment of mine in the following way:
