The parable of the shrewd/dishonest manager

Yesterday someone came up to me and asked what Luke 16 was really about. To be honest, this is a really difficult parable so much that the NIV gives it one title and the NRSV almost the opposite. If we look at the following encounters and following parables to the shrewd/dishonest manager this seems to be part of a strand of teaching on material possessions: Serving 2 masters, the Pharisees – lovers of money, and the rich man and Lazarus. But if we look what is before, we find the cost of discipleship, what discipleship is about, who are disciples and why are they accepted. I think we can say that the parable covers the subject of money in the context of discipleship.

Why do I think this? Well there seems to be a key question in reading this parable. ‘Is the master in the parable, Jesus?’ and a second consequential one ‘Why does he approve the manager’s behaviour?’ Lets look at the second. Well the manager reduced the amount of money the people owe and the master approves. Perhaps because we forget corrupt business practices. When you have control of money it is easy to siphon off a part of the profits for yourself. Tax collectors during the Roman occupation seemed to do this. In many parts of the world today a bribe is necessary to get a government official to do something. Was the manager wasting squandering or neglecting his duty as steward of resources and service another master? Perhaps the manager in going around in fact was removing his cut/portion of the debt and therefore giving just treatment to those he has wronged. Perhaps his shrewdness was to right the wrongs he had done to others. Perhaps this is a reasonable understanding and allows us to say yes to the first and ‘because the lost manager has repented and returned home.’

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. Luke 16:10

Don't just look at appearances

In 'Britains Got Talent', the Brit equivalent of Canadian/American Idol or 'America's got talent', there's a new sensation and a shock. See it here. (I can't embed this video) The show was only broadcast April 11 2009!

This whole thing is challenging. Just from the first program of the new season she has sprung to fame and this youtube video has been seen over 16 million times in less than 5 days! There are a number of other versions out there totaling over 20 million viewings. It's not about looks but a voice and an ability to move people. Simon Callow does not compliment easily and its said Oprah Winfrey has already an invite to appear on her show.

"Indeed, a full range of emotion -- first humor, then shock, followed by warm appreciation and perhaps a dollop of self-reproof for anyone who dares to judge others principally by their appearance -- can be extracted from Boyle's seven-minute clip. And that is what makes her story perfect for the Internet, where short clips rule." Scott Collins LA Times

Inexplicably I am moved by her voice and ability to communicate, I am moved by her dream in the face of opposition, I was blessed by Youtube refusing to stream video content and only audio at first so I was spared a level of pre-judgment . But I too am moved in my heart to reconsider how I prejudge. What do you think?

Reading Spiritually About Spiritual Things

Reading often means gathering information, acquiring new insight and knowledge, and mastering a new field. ... Spiritual reading, however, is different. It means not simply reading about spiritual things but also reading about spiritual things in a spiritual way. That requires a willingness not just to read but to be read, not just to master but to be mastered by words. As long as we read the Bible or a spiritual book simply to acquire knowledge, our reading does not help us in our spiritual lives. ...As we read spiritually ... we open our hearts to God's voice. Sometimes we must be willing to put down the book we are reading and just listen to what God is saying to us through its words. Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey

John Stott used to refer to this sort of thing as sitting under scripture and double listening: listening to the Word and listening to the world. On similar lines Søren Kierkegaard used to talk about the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Rather than reading in a utilitarian fashion to use the information for our own ends, reading can be for us spiritual formation where with discernment we can hear the voice of God challenging us or calling to us.

Darkness and a special voice of hope

I am rereading the Narnia stories as I do every 5-6 years. This passage is from CS Lewis' book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. My friends named their daughter God's breath after a passage and at last I think I've found it.

The children and the ship are in a darkness surrounding an island and the darkness is driving them to despair. There's an albatross flying in a shaft of light surrounded by the darkness and it lands on the prow.

..."it called out in a strong sweet voice what seemed to be words though no one understood them. ... 'Courage, dear heart', and the voice, she felt sure was Aslan's, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face."

Darkness can bring paralysis but if we look and look for that glimmer of light our will is strengthened to keep going and virues grown and hope comes and a call for courage. This is the movement from Good Friday to Easter Sunday.

... we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Hope in darkness calls courage. Romans 5:3-5

Here comes the sun

Pathos and hope, blues/folk and classical - Here Comes the Sun in 3/4.

Thanks Melody for this video and your encouragement - I've been reading Marva Dawn's Truly the Community. One of her key themes is the importance of joy in the individual and communal spiritual life. This is not meaningless smile from antidepressants/drugs rather the experience of joy even when you can't find your first job, joy when nothing seems to be going right, joy in the sadness of passing of Auntie Olive. This is tough joy because it rises out of the thorns of life.

Teresa of Avila, one of those medieval spiritually insightful writers, talks about the human soul as garden watered by God. Firstly by hauling up water from a well, then by windlass, then the discovery of streams in the garden and then as rain. But the object is not collecting water revelling in the experience of God but water is for the flowers. The flowers are the virtues which include Faith,Peace and Love - and joy. Even when I can't feel the presence or love of God the virtues are there to affirm the presence of God. This virtuous joy isn't something I can live inside, the way I tend to live in my feelings, but joy like a warm jacket on a cold day.

Hope and Forgiveness

Our most painful suffering often comes from those who love us and those we love. The relationships between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, teachers and students, pastors and parishioners - these are where our deepest wounds occur. ... The great challenge is to acknowledge our hurts and claim our true selves as being more than the result of what other people do to us. Only when we can claim our God-made selves as the true source of our being will we be free to forgive those who have wounded us. Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey

Yet there are always those around to encourage us. To bear us up in the difficult times. There is the greater community and wisdom from those I mentor. Thank you Janice, Wayne, and others. There are the continuing signs that I am in the right place - those internationals who affirm this path for this season of life. I move forwards being careful not to live in the feelings nor the thoughts but the grace of God.

How Can A Good God let Bad Things happen?

I'm continuing to review books and this is my second for Navpress.

How Can A Good God Let Bad Things Happen? by Mark Tabb

Most of us don’t want to admit we can’t figure God out. Instead we try to explain him away. And when we hear someone cry out that God isn’t being fair … we step in with our best God talk and give that person all the answers. (p38)

I wasn’t sure what to expect picking up this book by Mark Tabb. There are so many classic books trying to face down the problem of evil and the problem of suffering and I was wondering "Not another heady intellectual exploration!" I was pleasantly surprised. The problem of suffering is, in reality, neither a theological nor a philosophical problem, it is an existential one. The book comes at issues reflecting on real life and Job’s reflections of life and at the same time holds theological and philosophical insights in tension. Each time as emotional responses came from me to something I read, the following chapter provided a deep insight. This is an unusual book well worth reading because it really doesn’t solve the problem but you feel like yours and Job’s issues have been addressed fairly and realistically. It is a simple book to read without being simplistic about the problem, made all the more difficult when desiring to maintain the notion of the sovereignty of God..

RIP Auntie Olive

After ten and a half weeks in hospital with a slow slow decline, my Auntie Olive has passed away. She looked after me as a small child and told me that she'd toilet trained me and used to also remind me that I ran around her home banging my spoon saying 'Da da da da'. (That was a long time ago!) Also Auntie Olive's family housed my mother with before getting married and she introduced my future godmother. She was an incredibly patient and gentle woman.

It is in loss we only really find what we value. Mentoring and having good role models is something frequently missing in our world. I will not forget Auntie Olive for the model of care she provided for me.

Spiritual gifts and materialism

...many of us encountered evangelical teaching on spiritual gifts in teaching that seemed heavily influenced by various kinds of secular personality theory, especially the identification of various personality characteristics as they pertained to work, relationships and self-understanding. The internetmonk.com

Certain sectors of Christianity assert that spiritual/charismatic gifts ceased in the apostolic era, i.e. ceased after the early church became established. It seems to me that we can generally assert it is a minority and though the absence of a definitive list is a problem, most mainline churches have space for them theologically. I came across Matthew J. Slick's argument again the cessationist position (here) and I find it probably better founded than my own. Most significantly the largest debate seems to be in the reformed community but has quietened down in recent years. (here for a list of links)

Church history right through the church fathers Tertullian and Origen, even supposedly Luther through the Azusa Street revival and 20th Century Charismatic Renewal has confirmed the continuance of charismatic gifts. C Peter Wagner and and others see a critical difference between natural talent and spiritual gifts. Though both might be attributed as gifts of God the latter are specifically given for service of the church and to be exercised accordingly. Thus someone with a natural talent for teaching may in fact be a teacher, however unless they have that as a spiritual gift they are very unlikely to be involved in church based teaching.

For myself to negate the presence of spiritual gifts in our world also frequently negates the activity of the Holy Spirit and is part of a slippery slope that reduces or removes the whole existence of a spiritual dimension to being human. My contact with those educated from Communist materialist countries is a heightened awareness that there is more to life. Yet I meet many Western Christians that can scarcely believe that God actually has something to say to them. (Here I am not giving license to those who claim that God has spoken to them, rather those in community and in discernment seek the voice of God into their lives.)

While I can agree with the internetmonk's recent post about the problem of being preoccupied with possessing a particular gift and failing to gift others in a particular moment, I do think it is the church's preoccupation with getting things done rather than with answering the call of God. I do not believe a need is a call, as ministries need to die sometimes. If the ministry is something God wants then something will eventually happen. What we need is an understanding of the world where God is active and vocal.

Viruses in our thinking

I ran my antivirus on my little netbook and nothing turned up but I ran my anti-malware program and turned up a trojan virus. In my reading and thinking I've wondering more and more how we buy into worldviews without being aware of the corruption. A good example is the church as a company and pastor as CEO, another is programs and good methods are spiritual. Another is because I feel I am spiritual therefore I am. A variant version is because I enjoy playing piano and singing I am entitled to do it in public in front of a congregation.

We are full of viruses in our thinking. Some of the worst are from the Pelagian virus family, sucha as "I will convert people", "we will bring in the kingdom of God" and, "I will make myself a better believer". I remember in my first systematic theology class the professor asked a simple question giving alternative positions and asked us to confirm which we believed and surprisingly everyone had a heretical belief!

We need both good discernment, wisdom and education in community to keep us aware of the viruses that are around.

For The Audience of One- Chapter 9

In this blog I'm going to try and be more of a push and pull technological expression. This will be an attempt to provide some questions for reflection on Mike Pilvachi's book For the Audience of One. Today is Spring and a time of new birth which is partially why Easter is near.

Read Chapter 9 For the Audience of One

How's your prayer life? Is what you're doing in public match your private life? How honest is your worship? Be honest here. God already knows.

1. What touched you in this chapter? What really caught your attention?
2. What upset you? What challenged you?
3. How to you respond to Mike's model of leadership and David's leadership?
4. Be honest, do you want to be a Samuel – Mike's version?
5. “God is less bothered with what I perceive as being the sins of the church and more concerned with my personal, well-ignored faults.” (page 132) Let God speak to you.

For The Audience of One- Chapter 8

In this blog I'm going to try and be more of a push and pull technological expression. This will be an attempt to provide some questions for reflection on Mike Pilvachi's book For the Audience of One.

Read Chapter 8 Creativity in Worship

Monotonous is boring but in fact means one tone, shade, or color. Are you willing to be more colorful, have more varieties and styles?

1. What do you notice about Mike Pilavachi's language in this chapter? How is his image of worship different from yours?
2. What is the difference between creativity and imitation?
3. What is the strongest image from this chapter? Why is it so?
4. Rather than focus on self, can you imagine encouraging other's creativity.
5. Read Revelation 4;11 slowly aloud as a prayer and wait quietly for God's response.