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Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief

Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief. 2. The Risk of Love (maker of heaven and earth). Sunday, February 1, 2009 10 to 10:50 am, in the Parlor Presenter: David Monyak. Primary Reference.

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Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief

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  1. Tokens of Trust:An Introduction to Christian Belief 2. The Risk of Love (maker of heaven and earth) Sunday, February 1, 2009 10 to 10:50 am, in the Parlor Presenter: David Monyak

  2. Primary Reference • Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief, Rowan Williams, Westminister John Knox Press, Louisville, London, 2007

  3. Primary Reference • Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief, Rowan Williams, Westminister John Knox Press, Louisville, London, 2007

  4. The Most Revd. Rowan Williamsis the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury. He was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 27th February 2003

  5. Born 1950 • Studied theology at Cambridge • DPhil at Oxford 1975 • Priest 1978 • 1977 to 1992: taught theology at Cambridge and Oxford • 1986: Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity at the University of Oxford • 1991: Bishop of Monmouth in Anglican Church of Wales • 1999: Archbishop of Wales • Dec 2002: confirmed as the 104th bishop of the See of Canterbury • Considered by many the best Protestant theologian in the world today • Also a noted poet and translator of Welsh poetry

  6. Tokens of TrustAn Introduction to Christian Belief • Jan 25. Who Can We Trust?(I believe in God the Father almighty) • Feb 1: The Risk of Love(maker of heaven and earth) • Feb 8: A Man for All Seasons(and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord) • Feb 15: The Peace Dividend(He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again) • Feb 22: God in Company(And I believe in one catholic and apostolic Church) • Mar 1: Love, Actually(I look for the resurrection of the dead)

  7. O heavenly Father, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. • For Joy in God’s Creation, Book of Common Prayer, p. 814

  8. Last Week:1. Who Can We Trust?(I believe in God the Father Almighty)

  9. 1. Who Can We Trust?“I Believe” • When we say “I believe” in God the Father Almighty,” we are proclaiming: • I take refuge in God the Father Almighty • I put my trust in God the Father Almighty • God is where I belong • God is who I have confidence in to keep me safe • God is where I find the anchorage of my life • God is where I find solid ground, home

  10. 1. Who Can We Trust? A Trustworthy God • We can be confident God is a trustworthy God because: • 1. The testimony of the scriptures tells us so: • Through Jesus and the events around Jesus’ life, God has at last made his purposes clear • God has shown us God’s agenda • 2. God is the creator: “God is, in simple terms, sublimely and eternally happy to be God, and the fact that this sublime eternal happiness overflows into the act of creation is itself a way of telling us that God is to be trusted absolutely, that God has no private agenda”

  11. 1. Who Can We Trust? “An Almighty Father” • “Almighty” applied to God means: • There is no place where God is absent, powerless or irrelevant • There is no situation where God is at a loss • “God always has the capacity to do something fresh and different, to bring something new out of a situation” • God’s “love never exhausts its resources” • Therefore there is no situation in which we cannot rely upon God: we can trust God as we could a loving parent

  12. 1. Who Can We Trust? A Real God • Faith often begins with “belief,” trust in the lives of some believing people. Some people do take “responsibility for making God credible in the world” through their lives. • Example: Etty Hillesum, a young Jewish women captured by the Germans in Holland in 1941, who died in the gas chambers at Auschwitz in November 1943 at the age of 29 • In the darkest of times, Etty felt called to “bear witness to the fact that God lived,” to “commend You [God] to the heart of others”

  13. This Week:2. The Risk of Love (maker of heaven and earth)

  14. The Idea of “God”

  15. The Idea of “God”Why Take Seriously the Idea of “God”? • Taking seriously the significance of a life such as Etty Hillesum’s may point us towards God – if we’ve already accepted the idea there might be an entity called “God” • But why should we take the “language” about “God” seriously? Why should we take seriously the idea there is such an entity as “God”?

  16. The Idea of “God”Arguments for God’s Existence • Arguments for God's existence usually invite us to look at the world as a single “whole” • 1. We have a stubborn intuition that it is a fair question to ask where it “all” comes from. • 2. Modern science tells us that there is a “first event,” a point from which the universe (as we know it) begins as a whole to expand

  17. The Idea of “God”Arguments for God’s Existence • “If there is an apparently endless line of dominoes knocking itself over one by one ... somewhere there was a domino that was nudged!” - George, the philosophy professor in Tom Stoppard’s play Jumpers • In our complex world of continuously changing energy and movement, cause and effect, • What ultimately energizes? • What keeps the world from collapsing into incoherence and randomness?

  18. The Idea of “God”Arguments for God’s Existence • Trying to answer such questions gives rise to the idea that our universe is a related to another reality that: • Holds or includes our universe • A reality so utterly consistent with itself, so unaffected by other activity, that this reality is its own explanation, its own “cause,” eternal and unchanging: God • Asking “If God made the world, who made God?” in this other reality of God makes no sense

  19. Not A “Clockmaker” God

  20. Not A Clockmaker GodCAUTION • CAUTION: thinking about God as: • The one who long ago nudged the “first” domino and is sitting back watching (or yawning) as the domino line continues to fall; • The “watchmaker” who long ago made a watch (= the universe) and is now busy elsewhere; • The “brilliant academic” who wrote great works long ago (=our universe) and is now in retirement Is NOT biblical. It is not what Christians believe (or Jews and Muslims).

  21. Not A Clockmaker GodCreation is On-Going • Creation is on-going • The “beginning point” was the beginning of active relationship that has never stopped. • “For God to create is for God to ‘commit’ his action, his life, to sustaining a reality that is different from him, and doing so without interruption.”

  22. Not A Clockmaker GodThe Current of Divine Activity • Analogy: • The universe: a glowing light bulb • God: the electrical current that is flowing here and now to keep the bulb lit • The “current” of divine activity is here and now making us real. • If God’s attention slipped for a moment, creation would disappear.

  23. Not A Clockmaker GodThe “White Heat” At the Center of All • God's action is on-going, a “white heat” at the center of everything • Implications: • each one of us is already “in a relationship” with God before we've ever thought about it • every object or person we encounter is “in a relationship” with God before they're in a relationship of any kind with us.

  24. Not A Clockmaker GodGod Versus What is Not God • “Creation is an action of God that sets up a relationship between God and what is not God. Eternally, there is just God … And time begins when God speaks to call into being a world that is different and so establishes a reality that depends on him. It depends on him moment by moment, carried along on the current of his activity”

  25. Not A Clockmaker GodAn Outpouring of Life From God • “We may look at something that seems unmoving and unchanging, like the pillars of a cathedral or the peaks of a mountain, but what is within and beyond it is an intense energy and movement. The scientist … will tell us that at the heart of every apparently solid thing is the dance of the subatomic particles. The theologian … will want to add that at the heart of the subatomic particles is an action and motion still more basic, beyond measure and observation — the outpouring of life from God.”

  26. Not A Clockmaker GodSeeing Everything in Relation to God • “Creation isn't a theory about how things started; as St Thomas Aquinas said, it's a way of seeing everything in relation to God.”

  27. Not A Clockmaker GodCAUTION: Not Pantheism • The idea of God as the “white heat” at the center of everything may make it seem that there is no real difference between God and the world (= “pantheism”) • God is distinct from God’s creation: • God makes what isn't him and sets up a free and loving relationship with it all • If there were no creation, God would be the same God, no less in glory and beauty

  28. The Problem of Evil

  29. The Problem of EvilSuffering and Disasters • If the “white heat” of God is at the heart of everything – every object, every process – why does God allow – and sustain – suffering and disaster, cancers and tsunamis? • It is a fair question, a justified protest: • Human pain must be taken seriously • No one’s suffering is insignificant, just a statistic

  30. The Problem of EvilA World of Regularity and Change • Some points to keep in mind as we try to approach some partial answer to this question: • This world is different from God. It is a world of regularity, but also complex interactions, interconnections, and change • Innumerable interactions and interconnections mesh to make things happen • “The Butterfly Effect:” the flap of a butterfly’s wing in Asia can contribute to a whirlwind in Europe • In such a universe, the processes of change may not always be smooth or gradual; there may be cataclysms, ‘violent moments when the interactions are explosive.

  31. The Problem of EvilA World of Regularity and Change • Some points to keep in mind as we try to approach some partial answer: • This universe of regularity, and also interactions, interconnections and change has brought into being a world of natural wonders, – and with life and intelligence • If God had made a universe with little interaction, little interconnection and change, a world of “isolated systems” where cataclysmic interactions could not happen, could the universe have given rise to its present wonders, to life and intelligence? • If God had made a universe with a “perpetual safety net,” could we call it a world at all, a world with it own integrity and regularity?

  32. The Problem of EvilFacing Tragedy • These points do not make tragedy easier to face. • Yet in protesting “Why God do you allow suffering?” we must also: • Imagine what kind of world it would be if God simply aborted any process that might pose a risk to living creatures. • Not forget to take seriously lives like Etty Hillesum, that witness to and make God credible to the world, even in the midst of the most horrendous suffering

  33. A Risky World

  34. A Risky WorldGod’s Purpose in Creation • So did God make a “risky” world? • Yes! • And God takes the riskiness to an extreme point in making a world in which creatures with minds and freedom emerge • God's purpose in creation is to bestow as much of his being and life and joy as is possible — and that includes pouring out his freedom. • A God who poured out all aspects of his being and life except freedom would be a God who refused the challenge of real difference at its toughest level.

  35. A Risky WorldGod’s Purpose in Creation • Thus, as the Bible tells us in Genesis, creation reached a climax point when beings who reflect him more fully than anything else — beings capable of choice and of love — emerged. • In other words: beings who reflected the “image and likeness” of God

  36. A Risky WorldAn Even Riskier Creation • When beings reflecting the “image and likeness of God” emerged, the riskiness of creation took on new heights. • Not only are there now threats from natural processes, but in addition, there are threats from human choices: • both stupid choice, and • choices deliberately hostile to God

  37. A Risky WorldTrusting God in a Risky World • The fact that God has created such a risky world with beings who show something of God's liberty, God's love, God's ability to make new things and relationships, shows how “serious” God is about creation. • God does not guarantee our safety in this risky creation, but God is always present, free to move things on even in the most desperate situations. • In the Old Testament, Job was aware of God’s presence, when, after suffering indescribable loss and anguish, he says, “If he kills me, I shall still trust him” (Job 13.15). • Today there are people in similar situations saying similar things.

  38. Prayer and Miracles

  39. Prayer and MiraclesAn Almighty God • Doesn’t the Bible seem to show a world where God is almighty, can perform “miracles,” imposing his will whenever and wherever he wants? • If so: • “Why does God intervene there, and not here?” • “Why are some prayers apparently answered, and some not?”

  40. Prayer and MiraclesAn Almighty God • Recall (from session 1) the meaning of “almighty” = power that: • Is a steady swell of loving presence • Always at work in the center of everything • Opening doors to the future even when we can see no hope

  41. Prayer and MiraclesGod’s Response to Prayer • How the Almighty God does NOT respond to prayer: • Receives prayer as an application on which he makes some marks, then forwarding it on for major action (AKA miracle) or minor action by an angelic civil service. • Or throwing into the trash bin. • Can be battered into answering (finally!) by a heavy campaign of praying • Can be influenced by a salutary turn of phrase or inside connections (prayers to saints in heaven who can intervene on your behalf)

  42. Prayer and MiraclesGod’s Response to Prayer • How then does God respond to prayer? How might God “act” in the world? • St. Augustine: miracles are really just natural processes speeded up a bit, “fast-forwarded” • If God is actively sustaining the universe: • the “white heat” at the heart of everything, • the “divine current” that keeps the universe in being then perhaps we should not think of God’s miracles and answers to prayer as things in competition with God’s sustaining of the universe

  43. Prayer and MiraclesGod’s Response to Prayer • God is always at work, but it is not always visible. Sometimes the world's processes go with the grain of his purpose and sometimes against it. • At times the processes of the world can come together in a way which: • Makes the world more transparent to the underlying action of God • Gives God extra freedom to maneuver in our universe • Perhaps something we think, say or do, an intense prayer, or a holy life, can open the world up a bit more to God's purpose so that unexpected things happen.

  44. Prayer and MiraclesGod’s Response to Prayer • This picture may help a bit in understanding why some prayers are “answered” and others are not. • We can never know all the processes present in a given situation that may open the door further to God’s action – or close it further. • But our prayer, or some act of love or devotion, may be one of the innumerable factors in a situation that shifts the balance of events and open the door further to God’s action.

  45. Prayer and Miracles Jesus’ Miracles • Do we explain the miracles of Jesus in the same way? • In Jesus, we have prayer and holiness in unique intensity, so “the door” to God’s action is always more open in the vicinity of his human reality • However, even Jesus couldn’t do anything he wanted: • Jesus noted he needed to have the trust of people to cure them. • Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. (Mark 6:4-5 NRS)

  46. Prayer and Miracles Jesus’ Miracles • Jesus’ miracles happen when: • his boundless compassion comes together with • other elements in the situation, such as the trust of the suffering person, or of their parents or friends. • The miracle is: • 1. the action of God, and • 2. the fruit of making room for God in the world by prayer, confidence in God, and receptivity to God.

  47. Prayer and MiraclesMiracles and God’s Active Presence • God has mysteriously made a world where the processes of the world, and in particular, human beings, can help – or hinder – God’s purposes. • Our prayers and good thoughts, a holy life can help make the world more transparent to God’s purposes, and then unpredictable things – miracles – can happen. • To reject the possibility of miracles may reflect a rejection of God’s active presence in creation, a belief in a “watchmaker” God who is no longer actively involved in the world.

  48. Prayer and MiraclesMiracles and God’s Active Presence • The vision that a young William Blake had on Peckham Rye in 1767 – a vision of “a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars” is closer than we might think to reality: • “God is both invisible and inscrutable on the one hand, and, on the other, almost unbearably close wherever we are and whatever is happening.” • [The world] “may not be secure but is pulsing with something unmanageable, terrible and wonderful just below its surface.”

  49. All Things Visible and Invisible

  50. Things Visible and InvisibleMore Than We Can Grasp • To say we believe in a God who creates “heaven and earth and ... all things visible and invisible” acknowledges: • Creation is more than we can get our minds around. Some of it we can grasp, and some of it we can’t. • Creation has unfathomable dimensions to it, hidden realities, hidden connections

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