Bp. Zac Niringiye at CCA

Some thoughts from Bp. Zac at Christ Church Anglican during Tuesday’s lunchtime teaching.

Framework:
Why do we not get it? Why is there such a dissonance between what we read about Jesus in Scripture and what we see in ourselves? As a start, how do our experiences stack up with Colossians 1:15-20?

Story:
Luke 24:13-35: Jesus appears to Cleopas and his ‘friend’ on the road to Emmaus. They cannot recognize Jesus because their dominating story of a liberating messiah ended at the crucifixion. The possibility of resurrection had never occurred to them. They had a crisis of imagination – they couldn’t conceive of what God was doing because they were so focused on what they ‘knew’ God was doing and what the messiah should be. “We had hoped…” are the three words that, for Bp. Zac, reveal this tragic posture. They could not see the real messiah because of their story.

But Jesus says, “How foolish you are…” Jesus then reads them the Scriptures they already know but illuminates them by giving them a different framing story so they can see what the actual messiah had accomplished. Jesus re-frames the narrative.

Reflection:
“It is time to engage with our foolishness. Is it possible that when we are sitting in church, we are worshiping a Jesus of our own making?”

Bp. Zac has a friend who calls our love of religion “Christianism.”

So what are some of the foolishness-es of this culture?

1. Christianity as a religion – All western missions has been built on the idea of ‘exporting’ the ‘goods’ of religion. In Africa, it used to be the three “C’s” of missions: Christianity, Commerce, & Civilization.

2. Compartmentalization – Christianity being placed alongside other disciplines as if it were a separate subject. Part of this is Dualism: sacred/secular, minister/layperson, sacred/secular space. This is all ‘religiousness’. We have convinced ourselves that Jesus must be a Christian. We claim him as ours – but this is a mistake.

3. The ‘ME’ narrative – We make ourselves the most important concern. We ask “What is God’s will for me?” and think that is a very spiritual thing to ask. But we should ask, “What is God’s will? (period)” We say, “Prayer changes things.” But who is praying? We are! So we are still putting ourselves at the center.

4. Consumerism – God is not for us. We (and everything else) are for God. (Col. 1).

Some additional thoughts:
“God is doing amazing things! We don’t see them because He is not doing them in church!”

“Seek discomfort. Idols only work in familiar space because they are created by you to work in that space. When you leave familiarity, you notice God.”

“Evangelism is not doing God a favor. We can’t know God unless we do evangelism. Jesus said, ‘I have many sheep who are not of this flock.’ Evangelism, then, is about finding our brethren.”