This week, a small group of us from Providence will begin meeting together to explore Bruce Epperly's book, Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living. Several people, both in the church and from far away, have told me they would like to be part of the study, but due to scheduling or sheer distance, are unable to do so. Over the next six weeks, I would like this blog to be your point of entry to the conversation. If you do not already have the book, you can order it here. Whether or not you agree with everything it says (and most of us will find some points of contention), I believe it is well worth the read. After a brief introduction, it is divided into daily readings that will take no more than 20 minutes or so of your day.
Even if you do not have the time or inclination to read the book, I still invite you to participate in this online conversation. Epperly's book raises some interesting issues related to the way we think about how God works in the world and how we are a part of that. Many of us have been raised hearing about "God's sovereign will," a plan laid out before the creation of the world in which God had everything decided and nothing was left to chance. Our job, many of us have been told, is to find God's will for our lives -- the purpose God had already decided on for us -- and make sure we are obedient to that plan. Epperly takes a different view of things. Recalling the story of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis chapter 12, he proposes that God calls us beyond predictability and predetermination to adventure.
"To see your life as a holy adventure that includes not only yourself but also your loved ones, the entire planet, and God, broadens the horizons of your life and influence on the world. Though the present moment and the immediate future are shaped by our previous decisions and a multitude of environmental factors, each choice we make can be the tipping point between health and illness, love and fear, and life and death in the unfolding adventure of a day or a lifetime. As spiritual children of Abraham and Sarah, we are called to listen and then say yes to the movements of God's holy adventure within the ordinary moments of our own lives." (pg. 8)
Epperly refers to the legend that ancient European maps were inscribed with the words "Ne plus ultra" at the edges, meaning, "There is no more." After the voyages of explorers like Columbus and others about five hundred years ago, the mapmakers instead began writing, "Plus ultra." They didn't know exactly what was out there, but they knew there was more! It can be frightening to travel into the unknown, and following God on the holy adventure means going off the map. Epperly points us to the story in John chapter 5 of Jesus healing a man who had been paralyzed for nearly forty years. All he knew was sickness, when Jesus approached and asked him, "Do you want to be well?" It must have been a scary proposition, something totally foreign to him, but he made the choice to trust Jesus and embark on his own holy adventure.
Notice I said he made the choice. Could he have chosen not to be healed? Could he have said "no" to Jesus, possibly changing the course of Jesus's ministry? Epperly believes so, and here is one of the points at which his ideas are so different from what many of us from traditional evangelical backgrounds have been taught. The following paragraph from his introductory chapter is a good summation of where the book is headed.
"When we choose to become partners in God's holy adventure, our world truly changes. . . We discover that God doesn't have everything planned and that the story of our lives is open-ended. We discover that our adventure is part of a vastly larger spiritual adventure, for the universe itself is also open and unfinished. Yes, there are plotlines, shaped by our families of origin, genetics, culture, faith traditions, economic backgrounds, race and gender, and planetary history, but these do not tell the whole story. God is at work in our lives and has transformational visions for our futures, but these visions of the future are constantly shifting as we choose one path or another. Our choices partly shape God's next movements in the dance of life. God loves us too much to treat us like puppets who cannot shape our own destinies. Our input truly matters -- to God and to the world -- today and for generations to come! . . Yes, God has many visions of your possible futures and the futures of this planet. But God . . . has left many details and outcomes open for your creative input. God rejoices in our creativity and wants us to be willing partners in the creation of worlds to come." (pgs. 13-14)
How does this idea fit with what you learned as a child or even as an adult in church? Can you think of biblical stories or events from your own life that shed light on this subject? Believing that our choices have real and lasting consequences, not only for ourselves but for other people, the entire creation, and yes, even God, is a sobering thought. Many of us have learned that God is immutable, that is to say that God never changes. This, too, Epperly calls into question. He believes that our decisions and actions affect God's way of working in the world, and even God's experience of the world. Is it strange to think of God as having feelings, as experiencing sadness or joy? For some of us, it probably is. We have been given an image of God that is so far removed from human experience, so distant and alien, as to be unreachable, immovable. (This is in spite of the gospel accounts of Jesus showing anger, sadness, fear, and other emotions, but we will get to that later.) Perhaps you have often thought of God as a stern authoritarian, watching us from far away with a scowl. Instead, Epperly sees God as an artist, taking pleasure in creation and watching with eager anticipation to see our next move.
"Like a poet or artist, God works with the materials God constantly receives from the world in order to help us become the poets and artists of our own lives. . . In the immensity of the fifteen-billion year cosmic adventure, God works gently, creating and re-creating, choosing one path and then taking another, pausing for a sabbath moment simply to experience the wonder of galaxies and quarks, dinosaurs and black holes. God has a vision for each moment as well as for the vast cosmic journey but trusts the universe enough to 'let go' of the minute details of life in order to experience the process along with us." (pg. 17)
Does such a vision of God make your heart race? Do you long to get to know this adventurous God better and be a companion alongside God on the journey? That is the invitation Bruce Epperly's book gives us. I hope you will join the adventure, by reading the book, contributing to the blog conversation, or both. Each week, I will post a new blog entry giving you a taste of that week's readings along with some questions for discussion from Epperly's small group guide or the chapters themselves. Here are some things to think about and discuss this week:
- As you read the introduction to Epperly's book or the selections quoted here, what words or phrases were most meaningful for you?
- To what adventure is life calling you these days?
- What spiritual practices or disciplines give shape to your holy adventure?
- In what ways do you see God as personal? as impersonal?
- When and where have you most fully experienced God's adventure in your life?
Now as we embark on this holy adventure together, in the words of a benediction I once heard, may the Lord bless us and surprise us!
3 comments:
First of all, I feel like there is an unavoidable weakness in language and espressions for God's attributes in this type of discussion. But that certainly won't stop me from trying!
I think that I would best describe what I hear the process to be in the paradigm of a job search. Let's say that I'm looking for a job, and I am 'searching' for God's will too. I could sit on the couch and just pray all day that God would bring me the perfect job to be able to make a living and to honor him.
Or, I could get out there and be active in pursuing opportunities that interest me and that I would be gifted in.
God calls us to be active, even risktakers in this adventure of life. Even if God is omnisicent, we can't live our lives like the story already has THE END stamped out. We have to live the action and be a part of the plot. We have to be RELATIONALLY active with God.
I like Sara Jane's comment: "Even if God is omniscient, we can't live our lives like the story already has THE END stamped out." If we live like we know the ending, what happens when we get there? What is the sense to keep living?
For a long time, I told myself I believed in God's omniscience and omnipotence, but had to live like it wasn't true. Today though, reading through the quotes and ideas proffered by Epperly, I was so excited to think about the God who is creating with me, not the God I pretend doesn't exist so I can live my life.
Thanks Stacy!
Sara Jane, you're absolutely right that any metaphor for God quickly breaks down. Still, I like yours about the job search, and thinking of our lives like a storybook that doesn't have "THE END" already written. In the book, Epperly uses the example of "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, which were popular when I was a kid. The ending was determined by the choices the reader made as well as the options set out by the author. I liked that example.
Trevar, I'm really excited by the idea of being a co-creator with God, too! Epperly says, quite rightly I believe, that God wants partners, not puppets. Following a God who doesn't have our every step planned before we take it may be less sure than the alternative, but I think it's also more true to the human experience and the testimony of scripture really. Whether God doesn't know everything ahead of time, or chooses to limit omniscience in order to experience the adventure alongside us, either way it's a very exciting way to think of God!
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