Ryan Posts a Post
Tuesday night, after Lander’s party at Avo’s and our discussion about gender roles, I gave Kay a ride home and we talked about many big life things, like heaven and hell, the difference between Christ’s actual message and contemporary Christianity, looking around at what God is doing in “non-Christians’” lives and how God is working outside of (and in some cases, in spite of) the church, and ways that God can work through other religions to bring people to a saving truth about Himself. I have arrived home, and now attempt to type up one the more novel realizations. Be advised that this is all “hot off the grill,” un-thought-through, gushing of ideas, just because I want to try and get it down in writing before I forget it.
Disclaimer 1: The following rant addresses the Native American culture, of which I know next to nothing about, only what I’ve glimpsed in the natural history museums, and the stereotypes I’ve grown up with, but I'm still fascinated by it all, and I beg anyone who knows anything more about anything here to log in and edit the heck out of it!! I’m glad this is just within our little circle for now, as uninformed as it is.
Basically, this is about giving polytheism a little credit.
God was probably very pleased with the Native Americans, with all their different gods – the sun god, the rain god, the wind god, the river god, the animal gods, etc., because they saw all the different ways in which He interacted with His creation. Even though they viewed them as separate gods, the “One True God” was still being worshipped, and in a much more holistic way, I must add, than in contemporary Christian worship. Today we usually just “praise” God for what He’s done in our personal lives, or for saving us from hell, or “worship” Him for some abstract personality trait like love or righteousness, in language that has become worn and cliché. I’m not saying that no one actually worships God these days, but just look at our “worship services” compared to: desperately relying on God for His provision during a bison hunt, or the exhausted relief and overwhelming joy of a downpour after months of no rain, or the quiet, expectant hope of a row of seeds planted in the soil, or the jubilant ritual of drum and dance, or the deeply symbolic arts of face paint, bead work, basketry, dreamcatchers, kachinas, masks, pottery, bone, and leather, or the strong sense of community, or the profound understanding and respect for the ecosystem and animal life. This is perhaps the closest humans have come since the Fall to how God created us to live, in harmony with His creation, interacting with Him and each other through celebration, prayer, and hope, giving weight and respect to even the smallest things, living boldly in the face of the biggest dangers, etc. The fact that they were polytheistic I’m sure did not bother God. He knew they were worshipping Him all the same, and was surely very pleased and impressed that they could find Him in every part of nature, animal, and community life. We have so much to learn from their culture, but sadly most Christians get hung up on the polytheism, which usually translates immediately into paganism, and don’t get any further into exploring the rich, holistic existence of these lovely people.
Disclaimer 2: Of course there’s the issue of tribal warring, etc, which somewhat taints the idyllic picture I have sketched, but Blah I’ll let someone else reconcile that…… this is just a gush of realizations, etc, trying to be captured in writing…..
posted by coemergentco at 8/30/2006 09:35:00 AM
6 Comments:
Ryan i think your ideas about their worship and appreciation of God are still very sturdy regardless of any other information brought in. For instance, though, I think the majority of the rest of that life style included pursuite of appitites and raw desires as evidenced by polygamy, opium, peyote, scalping (that's a stupid one to mention), and also the worshiping of the chief. HOWever, what is preserved with their immature virtues is their faith of a child, which you illustrated so well--as well as its modern absence.
One other thing. I heard a zen buddhist master say that america has made great contributions to the world materialistically. This was a stunning statement. And thinking about it, it is purhaps computers and the internet and writing, and the exchange of information and ideas that has lead to a taming of appetites through refined thinking and spiritual disciplines. So maybe this is a good aspect of today, and that is a good aspect of then (and there).
I just finished Bruce Ellis Benson's book Graven Ideologies and on the last page is this excerpt:
"Actually praise results precisely when the limits of predication regarding God are recognised. That recognitoni leads to a simultaneous revelation: we 'see' both how limited we are and how unlimited God is. It is in this moment of revelation that true praise can take place. Note that, properly speaking, praise isn' usually something that we can make happen. Instead praise is something that happens to us. And it doesn't happen very often. Why not? The answer is that we don't really recognise our own limits most of the time. we may acknowledge them intellectually, but, actually experiencing them - having them placed in front of our face - is rare. Thus true worship, in which we have a keen sense of God's worth, takes place relatively infrequently."
I think this idea of praise is what we might learn from your example. Can it also be expanded to any premodern people who looked in mystery at the stars and the glowing disc in the sky? And following Benson's example, can we also get beyond the modern disease of thinking our knowledge (whether scientific, spiritual or metaphysical) is complete and wake up to those moments where we stare unabashedly at a God that is so saturated with infinity that we must praise?
Seth, what an incredible excerpt! It exactly sums up what I've been thinking about lately - being fascinated with God and His creation, embracing mystery, finding wonder in the smallest things, because everything that is alive is truly a phenomenon, a breathing, growing testament to God's surpassing creativity and imagination. He has woven splendor and mystery into the very fabric of nature; the world is meant to sometimes overwhelm us. So why don't we ever celebrate the natural world in church? Why don't we ever hear sermons about animal behaviour, outer space, of the water cycle? Actually, I'd rather not hear sermons about that stuff, come to think of it. A sermon is much too mundane....
first of all, I really enjoyed the embedded links in this post, especially the grill.
i think it was escher who said, "wonder is the salt of the earth."
the discussion of praise and awe of God is well placed.
this post made me think of the Aché tribe by whom I was deeply blessed a few years ago. their home is the rural area (read here jungle) outside of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. they ministered far more to me in the absolute gentleness of their countenance than I to them. the Aché were, for the most part, already "saved," and this had transformed their community in every aspect. I guess before they were an incredibly ruthless people group. I may post on this later because this comment is going to be huge otherwise.
I think that getting hung up, so to speak, on polytheism is valid.
However, so is the critique that I see embedded in your post on, could we say, "western Christianity" for its history of ethnocentrism and racism.
There is a disconcerting history within missions of which I know you are all aware which seems to ever entail the imposition of Euro-American culture (along Rationalism, the history of Capitalism...etc.) on other peoples...sadly this seems to often be inseperable from their "christianization."
Going along with the critique of polytheism as well as the integration of the whole person in worship, I think it would be interesting to look at the ideas in this post in light of Judaism.
So, lately I have been thinking about why I don't really enjoy going to our church's sermons all the time. Don't get me wrong, the church has challenged me in how I perceive God, but a lot of what I hear in church about faith or having a relationship with God seems to focus on the "ME" aspect. Questions like 'how can God change MY life?' or 'what's going on in MY life that needs prayer?'come up... I guess what I'm getting at is it all focuses around God's creation of "me" (human). Reading this article seemed to confirm a lot of my thoughts about church these days. God has created so much that is hardly referred to in church. I hope this is making sense, it's hard to gather words as to what I've been thinking about. I think a lot about God's creation of the world (like nature, animals..) when I'm out driving. I think about how beautiful and amazing it is, but wonder why we don't talk about it much in church. Our world is so focused on "self" and it seems that the church has become focused on "self" in a lot of ways, too.
Yeah, ok... first time user... the comment that says "coemergentco said" is actually me, Kaia. That's sort of embarrassing...
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