There is an old Buddhist proverb that Christian Piatt shared with us at our big pub night a few months back – “If you ever meet Buddha along the road, kill him.” Then Christian, perhaps a little shockingly, suggested that we do the same for Jesus.
Granted, Christian wasn’t being literal – his point was that getting to know Jesus is a central and lifelong act of discipleship. The instant we think we have Jesus or God figured out is the same instant we probably need to start over. We won’t ever know all there is know to about the one we call Savior – there will always be something more to learn.
We can’t ever “get” Jesus completely, but we can keep getting closer to him.
It’s funny how we often do the opposite though in our spiritual walk. We put up walls as if we have gone far enough or figured everything out. This might allow us to justify our own behavior or habits as being okay, like how slave masters would use the Bible to justify owning slaves. It also could prevent us from really moving to a place where God wants us to be, being open to a mission project in our community, connecting with a neighbor who might be in need, or sharing our own grief and heartache with a community of support.
I’m grateful then that Jesus didn’t build walls. Even in our scripture that we talked about this past Sunday, Matthew 15:21-28, where Jesus at first throws up this wall to a Gentile woman who is in deep need, that wall eventually gets torn down and a table is put in its place. Jesus’ heart is opened and broken for this mother and God’s abundance is shared. Even if the text says they don’t share a literal meal, they sit at the same feast that the one at the center of all creation invites us to join.
That’s what the Table strives to be about – tearing down walls and sitting around tables – so together, we can figure out who Jesus is and what Jesus is calling us to do with our lives. That’s what I believe church should be about. That’s what I think the world needs more of. What do you think?
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Yes, we’re big fans of Christian Piatt’s vision and work to gather a bunch of different voices and respond to serious, fun, amusing, and unsettling questions that plague faithful life. Did Jesus ever have sex? Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? What happened during the missing years of Jesus’ life between childhood and his ministry? Our Faith in the City pub group loves these kinds of questions – they often lead us down strange, twisting paths, but it’s always so, so good.
Make sure to get a copy so you can follow along on our Facebook group if you are interested. Or, you could always join us at the pub, you know. We’ll be at the Pizza Lounge next Tuesday if you have the evening free.
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We had such a good time last week with our Banned Questions event, that we hope to do it again sometime in the future. In the meanwhile, for those of you who had questions of your own to ask, you might be excited to know that you can contribute questions about Christian’s next book in his series, Banned Questions about Christians, here:
http://list.ly/list/Lc-what-are-your-banned-questions-about-christians#_=_
Get to it.
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Last night, at our big Faith in the City evening of banned questions, Christian Piatt made a bold statement close to this – when people ask those difficult questions of faith, we aren’t always looking for answers. We are wanting to be heard. We are wanting to belong.
Yes.
From Christian’s story of being rejected by bible waving teachers to our own individual stories of being cast out or rejected by people in our lives, he’s right. We aren’t necessarily wanting the silver bullet answer to our internal dilemmas. We want someone to say – hey, that’s a great question – I wonder that too. Let’s talk about it some more.
We want affirmation that questions are okay – that being a Christian is not about having everything figured out or having a theology without holes. We’ll never have things figured out. We can only keep asking questions and keep wondering at the mystery and love of God we glimpse in our lives.
Each week at Bryan Street Tavern, I hope we create a little pocket of space where anyone, whatever questions you carry, can come and find that sense of belonging.
Each Sunday morning at the Table, I hope that radical welcome that says come as you are, just as you are flows freely.
And maybe, just maybe, it won’t stop there.
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We are indeed hours away from the kickoff of our big Evening of Banned Questions at Bryan Street Tavern tonight (around 7:30 PM).
Here are a last few details if you are looking for us -
Bryan Street Tavern is at 4315 Bryan Street, Dallas, TX 75204. Parking is limited in front of the tavern, so you may have to park behind or on the street. Pizza is on us. Any special beverages are on you.
Childcare is available at East Dallas Christian Church, 629 N. Peak St., Dallas, TX 75246. You can go around to the back parking lot. We will have staff positioned there to let you in and get things checked in. Make sure you leave your cellphone number in case the nursery workers need to contact you.
I’ll try to do some tweeting from the event, so you can follow along @tabledallas on twitter.
Afterwards, make sure you join our Facebook group if you want to be notified of other upcoming events. We send out weekly messages reminding everyone about our gathering, topics, and changes. You can find our group here.
See you tonight!
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