Returning to the Garden

Funerals are an interesting part of my work. My experience is that funerals are some of the most sacred and redeeming work we can do. We are invited into the privileged places of other’s’ lives. It is an opportunity to be a loving, compassionate presence of God to some who may never have contact with a church.

I am learning that many who attend funerals have not been in a church for decades and mostly as a result of not being able to comprehend or tolerate the toxic theology of their past.

In my conversations, I encounter people who are surprised to hear about a God of love.

Sadly, many people have been shamed to their core by theologians who have attempted to convince people that they are bad at the core of their selves.

Augustine, one of the greatest and most influential theologians in Church history was a deeply wounded and shamed person. I am convinced this help shape his view of God. As one who suffered immeasurable physical and emotional abuse and was separated from his parents he began to see himself as fundamentally flawed.

I disagree with many theologians who want to convince people that they are horrible sinners and must turn from their sin in order to be accepted by God. I find his theology terrifying and harsh.
It doesn’t sound like anything that Jesus would preach.

The stories in the Gospels portray Jesus as one who restores wholeness and dignity to people long before he addresses the “sin.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if many theologians have suffered from a serious issues of shame in their own lives.. This isn’t to criticize them but to offer a perspective on the root of their theology. I imagine if we opened their closet doors and peeked in we’d find so serious issues of unresolved shame.

As we begin to heal our shame so we heal our view of God.

This doesn’t alleviate or dismiss sin but offers a “healthy” perspective.

Perhaps humanity is not absolute pieces of crap but has been scarred and wounded by a false sense of self.

Tell a person that are pieces of crap and you will find that they act like it; our prisons are full of people who have been shamed to their core. People who are loved and see them selves as the beloved of God are more likely to act like it.

Much theology seems to be about fear, control and coercion and not love. I’ve said before that much of the talk about grace and all the rhetoric surrounding grace is in large part to do with a penal understanding of God and rooted in shame.

We were created for the Garden. Our shame has caused us to hide.
Jesus life and mesage was about a God who comes to return us to the Garden.

Take a hold of his hand.