Westernism, Identity, Diet and Jesus. (Part One)

I've been thinking lately and thought I'd try get these thoughts down in words, one, to express them for others too grapple with themselves, and two, so I have more of an understanding of them myself as well. What I want to do here is confront underlying parts of our culture and bring them into the perspective of Jesus and the Kingdom of Heaven; so today, we are going to look at the Westernism, identity and diet.

So much of who we are and what we do is based on our culture that we have been raised in and around. Our culture is primarily where we source our identity. I will be using the term Westernism to refer to the culture (or in the words of Immortal Technique) "lack of culture" from which people from "The West" find their identity. It has been said that "A fish doesn't know what wet is - and so it is with culture." Someone once said to me that there is no "Western" culture, I replied cheekily, "Yes there is, it is rape and exploit." The truth is, at the core of Westernism is the value system, based around finding value in what we own and in extravagance.

In accepting Jesus as 'Lord' you are doing exactly that, His rule and reign is that which you follow. A big thing about the New Covenant we have now entered into is, with accepting Jesus, we have died a spiritual death and are living in spiritual resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 talks about wrapping the perishable in the imperishable and Collossians 3 talks about setting your heart and mind on "the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand ... not on earthly things." Also, Phillippians 3:20 says "our citizenship is in Heaven". So I guess the point I am laying down here is this: We are citizens of Heaven, here, now, on Earth. We are setting out to follow our King and do what He leads us to do. It is in this; in the person of Jesus, as citizens of Heaven, that we must find our identity. In the broadest sense of who we are we must seek to be centered in Jesus - not Westernism.

From the playground up we are conditioned to fit into society, as the French political philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau said in his work The Social Contract, "Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains." We are conditioned into ways of life, ways of knowing, ways of existing; ways of being. Which it is here, what I call to attention the Western diet which we have been conditioned into. I was raised on the Western diet, roast chicken and veges most nights, or steak with mashed potatoes. "Grandmas sloppy mince" was always a favorite. Also it was white bread with marmite and cheese for lunch with a banana to go with it, or peanut butter and jam sammies with an apple or two. And for breakfast, it was nothing but Weet Bix with cows milk and plenty of sugar on top. Can't forget Milo's when I got home from school, so good, straight up the meanest. I would go around to friends houses for dinner and there was always something similar to what my Mum (or sometimes Dad) would cook, something like meatloaf baked with bacon strips on top (om nom nom!). Upon reflection, we are conditioned into "the norm", which is what our diet (and also identity) is based in.

I'm going to wrap up the first part of this here. What I am hoping people to get from this first part is that culture is conditioned and often we are unaware of it; but it is in our culture that we find our identity. Secondly, as citizens of Heaven, we are too re-arrange all of that and find our identity in Jesus; in Kingdom culture.

Within Kingdom life, our priorities are to be re-organised - and looking into Scripture it is easy to sum up what new priorities look like - they all come back to loving God and loving people. In Part Two I want to bring our diet in front of the Kingdom lens, where value systems shift and anything with any worth is based in the love and God and the love of people.

Will try get Part Two up soon!

Blessings,

James

Late Night Ramblings

If Jesus were here today I don't think he would spend much time in churches. In fact, the time he spent in churches would probably be telling his "followers" to get outside of the church walls and get active in and amongst their communities and the world. He'd eat food with people - maybe even share a cigarette with some, but the bottom line would be this - people, people, people ... and of course God. But that is what it comes back to isn't it, love of God and love of people. So anyway, let's strip away the hypothetical "if Jesus was here today" thing away and get to the heart of it - Jesus is here today - and we, the Church are his Body.

Jesus is the Head and we, the Church, are his Body. The Body exists to go where to Head wants it to go and do the things it wants it to do. We live in such a broken world, filled with pain, hurt and oppression of all kinds - and it pains me that the church often acts as if it is so stoned it can't get up off the couch or as if it is paraplegic or something, just sitting in one place "waiting for Jesus to come back".

The Kingdom of Heaven is not complete; but it is here, now! When Jesus taught the disciples to pray he said "Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth, as it is in Heaven." And you know what? In Heaven there is no oppression in any form; there is no poverty; there is no depression; there is no cancer; there is no drug addiction; there is no broken homes; there is none of it. And this is why there is none of it; because these are all consequences of sin. And when I say "consequences of sin" I don't mean the kind of consequence you get for stealing your Mum and Dads chocolate from their secret cupboard so they send you to your room and you don't get ice cream after dinner for the next week. It is more like this. It is more like you knocked over a vase and it broke leaving shards of glass and wet carpet - now you've got a mess you've got to deal to - and that is what the consequence of sin is more like.

OK, so, my point:

> The Kingdom of Heaven is here but not yet complete and

> In Heaven there is no oppression, because;

> Oppression is a result and a consequence of sin.

> So, to put into practice what Jesus taught us to pray

> That "[His] Kingdom come, [His] will be done, on Earth, as it is in Heaven." would

> Be something that seeks freedom from oppression - in all forms.

This is totally all just late night ramblings - but from here I just want to pray.

God, truly, may Your Kingdom come and will be done. And Lord, as the Church, God, as your Body, may we go where you, the Head, want us to go. God, give us the hearts to muck in and get our hands dirty. Lord, may the Church role up its sleeves and muck in in peoples gardens and get dirty building bridges between people. May we seek to live lives that don't oppress others. Lord, would we start to consider how our lifestyles and cultures need to be assessed and critiqued through the lens of your Kingdom. Jesus, most of all, thank you. I was going to say that 'you're tops' - but language could never articulate the beauty, majesty, love and grace that you created us out of and continue to form us out of. Lord may we never stop thanking you, give us gratitude and hearts and lives of worship. Jesus, more of you and less of us.

In Jesus name,

Let it be.

An Integrated Life

So this is one of my thoughts that are foundational to my thinking: I don't want Jesus to be a priority in my life. I want him to consume all that I am. I don't want different fragments in my life, with my faith being one of them. I want my faith, in Jesus, the liberator, to integrate into every part of my being.

I was baptised when I was about fifteen. It was my public declaration that I am dead to sin but alive to God in Christ. I was baptised at Bethels Beach by my Dad and my youth pastor at the time Jonny Rankin. Earlier this year I was chilling at the beach, it was a summers day, although with the freezing cold wind it really didn't feel like summer. The waves were crashing giant and ferociously and the ocean looked chaotic right out to the horizon. I stood in awe of God. I didn't even have to say anything out loud or consciously to God, it was worship just standing there looking into creation. I was lead back to think of my baptism and what that meant. It drew me into the parts of my life which were still not integrated into my faith. This ended with me praying that God would "baptise my wallet".

A good friend of mine Dave Wells talked to me on a few occasions about being defined by Christ. It is a phrase that has stuck with me and is something that I have really wrestled with. In saying that you are defined by Christ, or that you are pursuing a life defined by Christ you are saying in everything I do I want to, like the moon reflects the suns light, reflect Jesus. I love the term defined by Christ because it talks of the Gospel set out before us, it is the taking off of the old self and the putting on of the new self. Dying and rising a new being. Being a citizen of Heaven here; now. It is a transformation inside out and downside up into the way things God intended them to be.

We live in a crazy world and the last few hundred, heck, the last fifty years has seen things quickly globalised. We now live in a global web of trade, technology ideas - and ultimately - people. All that we do and all that we buy has a global impact. People talk about how polluted China is but often forget that China produces the majority of goods we consume here in New Zealand and around the world. Something that follows on from this is that we live in a disposable society. The model we follow could be simply summed up into produce, consume, dispose, repeat. As a result of China being the work-horse of the consumer world the environment is being heavily polluted which is having such detrimental effect on the people of China and the global climate - and that is just the beginning of the problems for the people that make up our consumer work-horse. It is not hyperbole to say that people suffer world-wide to produce the goods we consume.

I am going to lay it down straight: I believe our consumer model and profit driven economic system are non-synonymous with a faith in Jesus Christ. My hope and prayer is that Christians more and more would look at the day to day things in their life, like the bananas they buy and how they dispose of its skin; or the chocolate they get and whether it was produced in a known child slave labor zone; or about all of the clothing they own whether it was made under harsh conditions and that they would work hard towards making sure how and where they spend their money is influenced by their faith. Spending money is like casting a vote - and often we vote for things that inflict Hell on others - we must look for more just and loving options.

The littlest things make the difference and it is in the mustard seed we find Jesus' Kingdom. It is crazy to think of the mustard seed size changes we can make in our lives, like composting food scraps so they degrade aerobically opposed to anaerobically which on mass scales cause environmental injustice - and I don't talk about the environment in an 'airy-fairy' way - it is a care of mine because environmental issues induce poverty and effect people. People are my concern, in everything I do, I want a love for my neighbor to be shown.

Now, I am in no way advocating an alternate, works driven salvation or way into Gods Kingdom, in fact, I am advocating the opposite. We must let the person of Jesus and his Holy Word sink into every part of who we are. We can't view parts of our days and weeks as "spiritual" such as prayer or a church service and separate the rest as something different. Yes, we may set apart those times in our week - but the reality is that we aren't called to set aside parts of our life or parts of our time for God - we holistically are called to be set apart. Jesus said that all the commandments could be summed up into loving God and loving people; this needs to get into our nerve endings and become integrated into everything that we do.

So, back to where I started: I don't want Jesus to be a priority; I want him to consume all that I am. I don't want my faith to be a fragment in my life; I want my entire life, all that I am, integrated into my faith. I want to live a life defined by Christ and compelled by love of God and people.

Father,
Your Kingdom come, your will be done
on Earth, as it is in Heaven.

My perspective of "Being in the world but not of the world."

The idea of being in the world but not of the world is something drilled into Christians, and for myself, something drilled into me from Sunday School (so, the playground) up. It is a statement and summary of and about the fundamental basis of being a Christian. One, it acknowledges that we, (as Christians), are not of this world; we are born-again. Secondly, it acknowledges that we are in the world. The statement of "Being in the world but not of the world" presents the tension and reality Christians are forced to live and grapple with.

So firstly, I want to look at being "not of the world". I was raised on the assumption that this statement had to do with abstaining from drugs, binge drinking, pre-martital sex, cigarettes and swear words. These were presented as the basic evils of the fallen world that we live in. My attention as a Christian went towards these sorts of things. I used to do things like say "Truck" instead of fuck ... that was as far as being in the world but not of the world went for me. As I started taking the person of Jesus seriously things started to really take on deeper meanings though. I was blessed for a good few years with an amazing youth group that allowed me to ask questions, my time in EZ Company, the Vineyard youth group was hugely formative for me.

Now, to explore the statement "being in the world but not of the world" we have to look at something it says; we are in the world. My understanding of the world I lived in used to be largely dictated by what the black box told me and day to day experiences at school, church and Christians camps ... but hugely what the black box told me. I used to watch so much TV, it was ridiculous. I would watch it from 4pm when I get home from school until bed time, actually. As I started getting that much older I started to see that the world wasn't all the black box made it out to be.

I was shocked that an estimated 30,000 children just like me were dying of starvation daily. All of a sudden things the black box had told me were funny, like how "Everyone has AIDs" were not funny. In fact, after not even watching Team America World Police (which is, for reference still a freaken hilarious film) I was singing along and laughing about how "Everyone has AIDs". Then I remembered how when I was 13 my family visited Cambodia and one day we visited this place where a friend of Mum and Dad's friend worked. This was a place where a lady my parents had mutual friends with worked with young girls orphaned by AIDs. These girls, mainly 13 or so parents had died of AIDs and they were left to provide for themselves and their brothers and sisters. All of a sudden, what the black box was telling me was funny, really wasn't that funny.

As I allowed myself to be confronted by the realities of the world I had to "[be] in" my view of being "not of the world" took on new and deeper forms. In letting myself confront the world and its harsh realities, all of a sudden the Gospel made a whole lot more sense. My comfort preached to me by my black box was disturbed - I could go as far as saying my dry bones were awakened like in Ezekiel 37. All of a sudden things such as the Sermon on the Mount, the Sheep and the Goats, Jesus heart for the marginalised and his address in Luke 4 made a lot more sense. In fact, my understanding of the entire Biblical narrative made a lot more sense. I am a part of the Body of Christ, here to do Jesus work. To bring healing and restoration in the world; be build God's Kingdom.

I just watched Michael Moore's new film "Capitalism: A Love Story" and although I usually enjoy Moore's films for a satirical view on politics parts of this really stirred me, especially one part in particular when he was talking with a few different Priests about the idea of a world run on a system based around profit. The Priests share their views on how they believe capitalism breeds inequality, makes the rich richer and the poor poorer but also how it is the reason for a lot of the worlds poverty. One of them says they believe it is "evil". Moore responds by asking "What would Jesus do if he was here today then?" and the Priest swiftly and sincerely replies "He simply wouldn't take part in it." And although I am not going to get into capitalism here I want to raise the point that maybe that, what the Priest responded with, is a much higher and God-ordained view on "Being in the world but not of the world."

These are just some rambled thoughts - and I think I will expand later - but for now, think about it, mull over it and let me know what your thoughts are.


Luke 4:

¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

A toast, to Jesus and milk!

It's been a long time since I have blogged regularly - or even taken to writing my thoughts with the intention of others reading them - but after a few years of pondering I am going to endeavor to formulate some of my thoughts into some form of blog. I am hoping this will be like a drink that leaves myself, the writer, and others, the readers, filled in such a way that a cup of warm (soy) milk before bed leaves you.

When I last regularly blogged MySpace was still used as a form of social networking by many and Facebook was just something old people used and talked about (which I thought was just so they felt 'with it'), Bush was in power and people probably thought Obama was Osama's cousin, talk of financial crisis was just beginning and I was transitioning from High School to full-time work . A lot has changed and a lot has happened since I regularly blogged so I am hoping there is a lot to write about.

So here, a toast! To Jesus, and milk.