2016 Synod Study Conference
 |
| Photo credit: AB. & T. Synod website |
From
January 25-28, we attended our annual, Alberta & the Territories Synod
Study Conference in beautiful Canmore. This year’s keynote speaker was the Rev.
Dr. Anna Madsen, a “freelance theologian” who founded the OMG Center for
Theological Conversation in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She holds a Ph. D. in
systematic theology from Regensburg, Germany. This year’s theme was “Liberated
by God’s Grace.”
Here are a few random thoughts, based on my
notes from Dr. Madsen’s presentations. I apologize for any inaccuracies,
distortions, misrepresentations, etc. –Dim Lamp
According to Dr. Madsen, the core of her
theology is Easter. If I understood her correctly, she said that the most
important day of the church year for her is Holy Saturday. I find this
problematic, since I don’t think we can separate the events of Holy Week and
single out one particular day—they are all of a piece intricately woven
together. According to Dr. Madsen, Holy Saturday is about ‘proleptic hope,’ and
Christ is the grounding of it. Holy Saturday is living in the now and the not
yet. Hope is by its very definition proleptic—‘a taking before.’
Hope is at home in the world of the
unpredictable and comes outside of the system; therefore it’s about humility
and gives rise to subversive grace. Death is real, but life is real-er. Easter
identifies Jesus as the Messiah.
Now that you know as Christians that death
does not win—there is more to do with life than to try to preserve it.
Imagination is an act of hope—calling into
being what is not yet being.
One learns about grace by considering its
opposite—dialectic theology. The world craves tangible grace. The human
condition makes us feel that we are in debt. For example, pay your parking fee
before it exists. It’s often hard to find expressions of grace in mainstream
culture. For example, expressions like “you get what you deserve,” etc., are
quite common.
Grace is being what we are called to be and
doing what we are called to do. Grace is doing what you can do. An illustration
of this is the gospel story of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet. We cannot do
all that we need to do—therefore we can do what we can do.
Relationships are fostered when finitude is
acknowledged. None of us are ever complete in our sinful state, yet grace is
possible.
There is the grace of rest. The Sabbath, as
A.J. Heschel observed, connects us with the eternal in time.
In her second presentation, Dr. Madsen spoke
of sin as misdirected trust—trusting in the penultimate rather than the
ultimate. Sin is less about morality and more about mortality. In the human
condition, there are struggles with chemical imbalances—for example, some folks
are victims of their own genes.
Jesus offers salvation through health and healing.
Are you well? is a question of salvation. Relational questions are important.
What happens to people that make them like they are? We are called to be ‘holy
observers’—not to judge others. Those who are suicidal need to respect their
own future self. Hope helps one live into the future.
In her third presentation, Dr. Madsen spoke
of consumption, materialism and individualism. She cited the example of Ayn
Rand’s novel, Atlas Shrugged. Rand’s
philosophy extolled the virtues of individualism. She said, “I am done with the
monster of we.” For Rand, god is I.
The Hebrew word Tzedec, righteous, means to be properly aligned. Faithful
stewardship involves being properly aligned with God, others and the world.
Do we define ourselves in relation to
everything as an extension of ourselves? This definition feeds an endless
desire for consumption and material possessions.
Dr. Madsen referred to Narcissistic
Personality Disorder. NPD is a mental disorder where people have an inflated
sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy
for others. According to Madsen, 98% of NPDs are male. They suffered abuse in
their early years and have no positive sense of the self at all, so they look
for it externally. For example, Donald Trump depends on lifting up the fact
that he’s very wealthy. Dr. Madsen stated that we’re all a bit like Trump
insofar as we define ourselves a lot by our externals—our status, education,
homes, cars, etc.
In view of stewardship, what would Jesus have
us do? We don’t like limits much in North America—we don’t know the limits
regarding materialism. There’s a widely held belief in the credo of
limitlessness in North America; and part of this is related to our large space,
geographically speaking.
Dr. Madsen cited the Danish Lutheran pastor,
Rev. Kaj Munk, who resisted the Nazi occupation and was murdered by the
Gestapo. Rev. Pastor Munk said that sometimes recklessness and a ‘holy rage’
are required in certain circumstances. We may need to rage at the lie.
It’s worth paying more attention to the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit as dunamos—dynamite—powerful.
Do we realize what we are praying for when we pray for the Holy Spirit to come
into our lives? The Holy Spirit is calling us into the way of Tzedec, a way of authenticity.
