Nothing Surprising from "Surprised by Hope"

Surprised by Hope, N.T. Wright's soon-to-be classic on resurrection, heaven, and mission, was exactly what I expected: very readable, creative and surprising to some, vintage Wright to others, and somewhat long-winded.

SBH is divided into three sections. First, Wright does an extensive (for popular work) ground clearing, exploring contemporary pictures of heaven, describing the environment of 1st century afterlife thought, and then giving the biblical Easter stories. From here, Wright gives his theology of resurrection: The world's trajectory, future judgment and resurrection, Christ's ascension and return, and the afterlife (heaven, hell, and purgatory). Finally, Wright turns his robust resurrection thinking into missional implications for the church.

Wright's thesis is that the resurrection of Jesus took everyone by surprise. Jesus' Jewish followers were surprised by its timing, the Romans were surprised because the resurrection was claimed to be a physical event. This surprising event led Jews to reconsider their thinking of life-after death and spurred Christians on in their mission. All of the sudden, the followers of Jesus became convinced that God would restore justice to this world and that this had started in Jesus. As a result, Paul can write to the Corinthians that they should continue in their work for Jesus because their work is not in vain. This leads to his rejection of contemporary beliefs that the Christian hope is going to heaven when you die or that the soul is the "real" part of the person. Wright does believe in what could be called an intermediate state, but that this isn't the final hope for Christians. (While Wright calls this stage "life after death," he argues that resurrection means "life after life after death.") To stop here is to disregard the doctrine of the resurrection. This means that Wright is looking forward to the final marriage of heaven and earth, the completion of Jesus' prayer. With this in mind, Christians should be about projects of justice, beauty, and hope now. This is the full work of 'evangelism'--living into the future in the present.

First, it should be said, I love Wright. I think he gets it right almost always (I fudge a bit with him on justification--I do think justification is how one 'gets in') and admire that he does serious thinking about mission. He is a leader for the next generation of theologians--biblical theologians who are practitioners. (If this is the case, then the next generation has much potential and many pitfalls.) The book reads a lot like his sermons and I even started noticing the same phrases in this book that he uses in his sermons. Which leads to my one and only critique that the book could be shorter and tighter. Wright rambles at times, struggling with redundancy.

This is a great book for people rediscovering their Christian faith or for people open and interested in a more robust view of heaven. I expect preachers will benefit from it greatly, being especially encouraged by its sermonic style.

Theory U and Church Purpose Statements

At the end of section two, Scharmer lists eight keys to effective learning infrastructures / environments. One key, sharing purpose and principles, is particularly helpful when thinking of purpose statements for organized communities, which includes churches. Scharmer writes that "[t]he quality of purpose depends on (a) its content and (b) its connection to people. A learning community that serves only the future business of its center is a bad example. A learning community that builds on the highest aspirations of all its participants is the counterexample" (226).

Scharmer has made the critical point that language does not simply describe, but creates. Words do not just describe ideas; they are ideas. Purpose statements do not simply capture a church's purpose, they form it. However, this point must quickly be chastened by point (b). Too many purpose statements create nothing because they have no context in the history or personality of the church. One way this gets played out is by being too long. Some purpose statements have no connection to the people because the people have never done everything the purpose statement says this church is about. The flipside of this problem is being about a future that is not yet coming. The purpose statement is really a vision statement in disguise. This does not mean that purpose is disconnected from vision. They are connected. But they are not the same. One's purpose should help achieve one's vision, even in its language, but both from flow from the highest but present potential of the people.

Abortion Laws

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Crystallizing Futures; Being a Faithful People

After accessing that inner spot simultaneously viewing the situation from the outside, one can operate from this place, the Self, to create an emerging future. Scharmer calls this crystallizing: "clarifying vision and intention from our highest future possibility" (192). This intention is captured in community because one needs the reiforcement other people's energy provides--we need momentum. Thus, relationship is the most important "generative feature" in facilitating this kind of atmosphere/context/environment. The responsibility and opportunity of those doing the leading is to be able to envision the future you're working to create and to begin living in it already.

Let me give a case study for this. The small group I get to be part of at our church is planning a Prom Night--for people who have already graduated. We're doing this to practice celebrating even when things are tough for so many people. We entered into our discussion for what this party will look like in a few ways. First, we prayed--thanking God for what he's been doing and then asking God to be active in specific areas of our lives and the lives of those we love. Second, we looked at the story of Jeremiah buying a field when Judah was about to be exiled. Why buy a field? Because homes and land and vineyards will be bought in Judah (Jeremiah 32:14). It was a symbol, but more than a symbol, a practice!, that God would restore Judah and bring them back from the Babylonian captivity. (Amazing how perhaps buying houses today could be a Christian practice in the United States!) With this context established, we launched into planning and brainstorming.

Because the context was set, we were able to live into the celebration before it even arrives. Not only were we planning a party, we were also partying in the planning. Of course, there are things we could do to relate better to one another, but what a great night!

It struck me how this idea of living into the anticipated future is the crux of faith. Faith has two connotations: Loyalty and belief. A faithful friend is one who is loyal. A person of faith is one who believes in something. Living into the anticipated future requires both believing in this future and having a persistent loyalty to this future in the now.