Daddy, Is Jesus God?

Posted on July 16th, 2008 by Neal Locke

People have started wars, split churches, and even been burned at the stake over this simple question casually posed to me by my three year old son last night at dinner.

“Daddy, is Jesus God?”

It would have been easy to give the quick, standard, unquestionable answer I was raised with:

“Yes, Grady. Absolutely. Now finish your supper and don’t ask any more questions.”

Don’t worry, that wasn’t my answer. But reflecting on things a few hours later, and as a progressive educator, what I *wish* I would have said is:

“What do you think, Grady? What makes you ask that question?”

Of course, I didn’t think fast enough to come back with that response either. Instead, what I actually fumbled through was something more like:

“I don’t know, Grady. Some people believe that Jesus is God, and other people don’t.”

And then I tried to explain why some people do, and others don’t, until I found I was rambling at a level that was probably over his head, and quickly killing an otherwise perfect theological father/son opportunity for dialogue.

If you’re a new reader to this blog, and you’re still in shock over the fact that I don’t unquestionably and unwaveringly acknowledge the divinity of Christ…welcome to my blog, where heresy and orthodoxy share space! (please leave all crucifixes, burning stakes, and other implements of the Inquisition at the door before you enter — we’re a little bit sensitive about that here).

If anything, my two weeks studying Greek at seminary so far have reinforced my belief that we who call ourselves Christians know a whole lot less than some of us are comfortable with. Here’s a case in point: During the second day of class, we were reading the Lord’s Prayer in the original Greek (well…as close as we can actually get to the original, which isn’t really that close), and our professor stops at passage that loosely translates as “give us this day our daily bread.” Only, he points to the word that we translate as daily, and says, “Nobody really knows what this word means. It only occurs two places in the New Testament (both times in the Lord’s Prayer) and nowhere else in ancient Greek literature. The word ‘Daily’ is just a guess.”

So for all we know, Jesus could have said, “Give us this day our raisin bread.” I would certainly appreciate a daily ration of that. Now, I know that some people argue that it’s possible to be certain of the “big picture” despite small translation issues, and minor variances in manuscripts. I myself believe this is mostly true, although it seems to me (as an English major and student of language in general) that sometimes those “little” things can be pretty significant.

Back to Grady’s question. Is Jesus God? A google search on this question quickly turns up five dozen websites that all offer some variation of Josh McDowell’s “Liar, Lunatic, or Lord” proposition — basically the idea that

  1. Jesus “said” he was God, and
  2. for someone to make such a claim, he would have to be
    • a liar,
    • crazy, or
    • telling the truth

Even though I once used that whole shpiel (as a very young youth director), I’ve come to think it’s a ridiculous oversimplification and quite counterproductive. For one thing, I think Jesus actually was just a little bit loopy — as are most talented and passionate people who change history. But my bigger issue with the liar, lunatic, lord proposition is much more simple: Did Jesus actually ever say that he *was* God? In the gospel of Mark (the oldest of the gospels) he does not. In fact, Jesus’ favorite title for himself in all the gospels is not “Son of God” but rather “Son of Man” — in other words, Jesus himself preferred for us to focus on his humanity, not his divinity (well, according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, at least).

The most oft quoted gospel for establishing the divinity of Jesus is the gospel of John, which was written much later, when “institutional Christianity” was already well underway, and after Paul (who came onto the scene *after* the death of Jesus) had already fleshed out the basic theology/christology adopted by the early church.  Even there, the most solid reference (in John) has Jesus saying “I and my father are one” (John 10:30 KJV). But is this the only way to translate that phrase? I haven’t broached this passage in the original Greek yet, but as we learn, I keep running into passages that can be reasonably translated in more than one way, sometimes making a striking difference in the ultimate meaning.  Here’s another translation of that same  passage: “I and the Father are one heart and mind” (MSG). I often think that of my relationship with Grady — despite the 30 years that separate us, sometimes we think and act a lot alike.  One might say we “share a brain.” But I certainly don’t think that Grady is me, and I am Grady. And I think a reasonable person listening to Jesus say these words would NOT have instantly thought him a liar, lunatic, OR even a deity…unless it were someone already looking for words to trip him up with (like the Pharisees).

Speaking of “looking for words to trip one up with” I should probably go ahead and make the disclaimer that what I’m writing here represents exploration and journey for me, theologically — not something set in stone, that I believe unwaveringly, yesterday, today, and forever. (And yes, this paragraph is specifically addressed to my Committee on Preparation for Ministry).

In the end, this is an issue that is far from resolved, at least for me. I don’t judge others who have already settled on an answer to this one — I have good friends on both sides.  Maybe Grady and I can explore this question together.

Later on that night, Grady asked another theological question:

“Daddy, why did people kill Jesus?”

I had a lot more fun answering this one. We talked about power, authority, money, and all the other things Jesus called into question. Whether Jesus was God or not, I AM pretty certain that Woody Guthrie had it right: If Jesus showed up today, preaching the same stuff he did 2000 years ago…we’d crucify him all over again. And by we, I mostly mean Christians.

Posted in Atheism, Christianity, Grady, Ordination, Seminary | Tagged , , , , , | 39 Comments

Do Unto Others…

Posted on July 9th, 2008 by Neal Locke

On my second day of class, I missed the bus (actually it’s a shuttle, but saying I missed the bus sounds more dramatic).  Amy drove me to the seminary, and we got stuck in traffic, so I walked into class ten minutes late.  And then my preceptor (it’s a Princeton thing, I’ll talk about it later) made a remark about punctuality, glancing my way…

But before I feel really sorry for myself, I must note the irony of the situation, and the hundreds of Sunset High School students who  — if any of them still actually read this blog — would be cheering right about now and saying, “Now you know how it feels, Mr. Locke!”

So yeah, I was a bit of a jerk when it came to issuing tardy passes in my days as a high school teacher.  And yeah, I guess what comes around goes around.  I’m ok with that.  Tomorrow I’m taking the early bus.

On the class front, I’m actually starting to enjoy the study of Greek.  Having majored in English, learned French as a child growing up in Belgium, and studied Anglo-Saxon just so I could read Beowulf — I must have a thing for languages, or at least I’m able to convince myself that I do.  We’ll know tomorrow — our first quiz  is over the Greek alphabet, and conjugation of verbs in the Present Active Indicative.  And twelve vocabulary words (mostly verbs).  I’d type them here, but I haven’t quite learned to do Greek characters on my keyboard (anyone?).

I’m far less confident about another thing I’ll be doing tomorrow — playing French horn as part of an ensemble for our first chapel service of the summer.  Not sure how I got wrapped up in that.  Yes I am; I searched out the music director, told him what I played, and volunteered to help in any way I could [what a total band geek!]. I’m playing horn on two songs, and piano on one.  I did practice, and my mind played the horn part perfectly.  My fingers and my embouchure were slightly less cooperative, though.  But I enjoyed the brief diversion from things academic, and might be inclined to make this music thing a habit.

This afternoon, after studying with a few friends, studying on my own, and practicing tomorrow’s music in a practice room, I wandered down to the bus stop to catch my ride home.

And I missed the last bus home.

Again.

And Amy had to come pick me up.

Again.

On our anniversary, no less.

Posted in Greek, Humor, Life, Music, Seminary | 6 Comments

Competitive Greek Anxiety, Ph.D

Posted on July 3rd, 2008 by Neal Locke

So classes start this Monday. Well, one at least — my Greek class. And from what I’ve heard, that should be enough: It’s a ten-week course, and due to the “intensity” of it all, students are highly discouraged from working part-time jobs or anything that might distract. I’ve got my textbooks already:

So far, I’ve met two other students in my class: One of them has taken Greek before at a different school, and the other has been studying furiously all summer long. No pressure.

Actually, pressure is something I’m starting to feel here, and not just about Greek. On one hand, the people we’ve met have been astonishingly welcoming and friendly, going out of their way to make us feel loved and at home. I get the sense that at least here in CRW (the seminary apartment complex) everyone kind of functions as one big extended family. But as soon as the conversations turn to academics, the tone changes, the eyes shift, and suddenly I feel like I’m back in undergrad running for student body president again. Only this time, *everyone* is running. And already ten miles down the road (sorry for the mixed metaphor).

A lot of the pressure seems to be about getting into a PhD program — and apparently there are many students who come here with no intention of going that route, but then get swept up in it anyhow. I’ve been told that to get into a decent PhD program, I’ll need to maintain a 3.8 or higher GPA, which means that A minuses are a bad, bad thing. I’ve also gathered that in addition to an M.Div, I’ll probably need another more specialized master’s degree to be considered by any top-tier school, and that my planned MA in Christian Education might not be “serious” enough for PhD work. Oh, and since I’m in my thirties already, if I wait too much longer to get a PhD, I might have a hard time getting accepted, since a younger candidate would be a better investment and have more years of productive reasearch/teaching in the field.

How much of this is true, and how much is exaggeration and/or hype? I don’t know yet. I was mostly just happy to be back in school again. I remember when I was in high school, there was a lot of peer pressure and competition to get into a good college (yes, I went to one of *those* high schools). And then in undergraduate, everyone seemed to be motivated to achieve so they could get into a good graduate program. Now that I’m finally here (ten years later) this is familiar — everyone is still focused on “what comes next.” To borrow a programming metaphor, I wonder if that’s a feature, or a bug, in our culture? Perhaps both, to some extent.

I talked to my brother, Jeff, on the phone the other night, and he helped me put a lot of things into perspective. Because seriously, who really needs a PhD to start a micro-brewery monastery? I’ve always thought I would go on to get one someday, but if I do, I think it will be on my own terms, and for the sake of the knowledge, not the image. By striving hard to “achieve” and outdo those around me in this competitive academic environment, I would essentially be “conforming” to the process and doing “what everyone else is doing.” And I’ve never been about conformity, now have I?

Time to go study some Greek. Everyone else here may be looking for a grade, a spotlight, or even the ability to read the New Testament a more original form. Not me — I just want to be able to read Homer’s Odyssey in it’s original language…

Posted in Books, College, Education, Greek, Rants, Seminary | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

1st Week in Jersey: Recap

Posted on June 27th, 2008 by Neal Locke
118611851181 Well, we’ve survived a week here in Princeton, and it hasn’t even seemed that difficult (yet).  Of course, Summer Greek hasn’t started yet, tuition bills and grocery bills and other bills haven’t found their way to our new address yet, and we haven’t really looked inside all the boxes stacked against the walls yet.  Still, it’s been a great first.  Someone (I can’t remember who, now) asked me if it felt “surreal,” and that is indeed the best way to describe it.  But I’ve never been one for one-word summaries, so here’s the more verbose version:

  • Friday — After waking up in Baltimore, we drove the last stretch of our Journey past Philadelphia and into Princeton, we picked up our keys, signed our lease, and found ourselves in an empty apartment waiting for our stuff to arrive.
  • Saturday — We slept in, then Grady and I went to the “Dinky” trains station (that’s really what they call it) to pick up my sister, and Grady’s Aunt Emily.  Em treated us to lunch at Chili’s (yes, they have those here), then we went back to our empty apartment, and took turns cleaning and playing with kids.  For awhile, Emily and I sat on the front steps watching Grady play soccer in the front yard with Matthew, a little boy who lives above us.  When we realized how late it was, we rushed Emily back to the train station, explored Princeton a little more, and then called it a night.
  • Sunday — We woke up early in the morning to go to church New York City!  Our first trip on the train was exciting, and when we arrived in NYC, at first we thought we were lost, but it turned out we weren’t.  A subway trip brought us to Columbia University, where our friends John and Annie Feighery are PhD students.  Our kids played with their kids, we all went to play in a water-fountain-park near their apartment, had an excellent New-Mexico style dinner, and then to Central Park for a free concert by French/Israeli singer, Yael Naim.  By the time we got back to the Feighery’s apartment, kids and adults were exhausted and ready to crash.  Click here for the rest of the pictures (taken by Annie) of our NYC trip.
  • Monday — Got up early to say goodbye to the Feighery’s and catch a train back to Princeton.  When we got back, I made a trip to the seminary campus, where I filled out paperwork for financial aid, and then bought my first two textbooks for my Summer Greek course. Cost about $50 for both, which actually is not that bad.  Yet.  That night, newfound friends Andrew and Kristina invited us to a cookout with a few other seminary families. Afterwards, Andrew took me on a quick tour of Princeton and a stop at Triumph brewery for some growlers (1 growler = approx 4 pints), which we enjoyed later that evening with a few friends and some deep theological discussion.  Well, maybe more interesting than deep.
  • Tuesday — Our stuff was supposed to arrive Monday, but somehow got stuck in Pennsylvania, so we spent most of Tuesday waiting for it.  We did make a quick trip to Babies R’ Us to cash in on a present from Amy’s parents: A new play-saucer for Abby (which came in really handy the next day while we were all unloading furniture).  Finally our stuff arrived, and we did a little unloading before it got dark. Some friends we had met the previous night, Nate and Janel, were kind enough to invite us over for dinner.
  • Wednesday — John & Aidan caught a train down from NYC to help us unload, and two sets of neighbors from our building (Chris & Sarah, and Casey & Rachel) also pitched in — making the unloading of the truck complete in an amazing two hours.  Following my mother’s advice, I made sure I had beer for the movers — I would have provided them with some good Texas Shiner Bock, but it seems nowhere to be found here in New Jersey, so I opted for Stella Artois instead (hey, it’s Belgian). Afterwards, the Locke’s took the Feighery’s (2/5ths of them, anyhow) to lunch at the local WaWa.  The What???  Actually it’s a chain of convenience stores.  I know, not too fancy, but apparently they’re well known for their hoagie sandwiches, and we were feeling experimental.  In true New Jersey fashion, you go in, punch your order on a computer screen, and never have to talk to a single person! Later, John and Aidan caught the train back to NYC, and we began the piling of boxes (of which there is no end).
  • Thursday — After a rather whirlwind week, we slept in Thursday morning, and relaxed for most of the day.  Somewhere in the midst of it, Abby spoke what may have been her first word?  We’re really not sure.  She was looking at Grady, and out of the blue started saying “bubba, bubba” (or it might have been bababababa).  The thing is, when we say it to her now, she’ll repeat it.  So it’s reproducible, but we’re not sure if it really has meaning attached to Grady, her brother.  That evening, we made our first family trip to the grocery store, and I discovered Chimay Cheese in the specialty cheeses section!  The trip took longer than we expected, and so we grabbed some Chinese take-home on the way out, and had a late, improvised dinner to finish out the week.

That’s pretty much it.  If you’re still reading, you must either be incredibly interested in our family, related to us, or else in serious need of switching off the monitor. Either way, thanks, and keep checking back for more Locke family adventures in Seminary.  If you don’t want to bother with checking back, just enter your email address in the “subscribe” box to the right, and you can receive email updates on our journey.  If nothing else, it might be slightly more interesting than spam!

Posted in Autobiographical, Beer, Community, Family, Friends, Life, Travel | 2 Comments

Audio Files — My Last Sunday at Faithbridge

Posted on June 24th, 2008 by Neal Locke

It’s been several weeks now, and I meant to do this sooner, but here are the audio recordings from my last Sunday at Faithbridge:

  • My Last Sermon — and my least prepared one at that, too.  I haven’t listened to the recording yet, so let me know if it comes out ok.
  • Shine For You — this is a song I wrote for Faithbridge several years ago, and performed one last time with the praise team.  A lot of kids from the youth group also joined us for this one, playing guitar, bass, drums, and (my favorite) flute.
  • Mr. Preacher Man — this is a spoof of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” written/arranged by Tom Bozarth, and performed by the praise team to “commemorate” my time at Faithbridge.  The words are a little hard to hear, but absolutely hilarious (and all true).

All of the recordings are hosted at the Internet Archive, and (like all my songs) are published under a Creative Commons 3.0 Share Alike License — so feel free to download, copy, distribute, remix, etc.

Posted in Church, Friends, Humor | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Liveblogging GA218 from the Wrong Coast

Posted on June 21st, 2008 by Neal Locke

For Presbyterians, General Assembly is part family reunion, part mega-convention, and part election day. It happens every two years, and decides a bunch of issues and proposed resolutions, as well as elects a Moderator (kind of like a cross between the Queen of England and Ambassador of the PCUSA).

My internet friend, Bruce Reyes Chow, is running standing for Moderator this year, and that fact alone put GA on my radar screen.  I guess it should have already been there, since I’m attending a Presbyterian seminary and am an inquirer for ordained ministry in the PCUSA.  But there’s nothing like a super-hero-rock-star candidate to generate interest in something that sounds like a really, really large committee meeting.

Anyhow, I would love nothing more than to be in San Jose, California right now, attending my first GA.  Except for the whole, “moving to New Jersey to start seminary in two weeks” thing, of course.  So instead, I’m watching the live feed on my laptop in my empty apartment in Princeton.  Thank God for that, at least.  I wonder how many others on this campus (or on this coast?) are doing the same tonight.  One way or another, it’s an important part of being Presbyterian, and the fact that I’m getting all geeky excited about it means that I have crossed that threshold once and for all.  Even more than when I bought a PCUSA baseball cap.

Right now I’m listening to the nominating speeches for Moderator (BRC went first), so I’ll hopefully post an update when the election is over.  My prayers are with Bruce, but also with the other candidates, the commissioners, and the PCUSA as a whole.  May God lead us in a new direction for a new world.

UPDATE:  At exactly 12:28 (East Coast Time), and with 55% of the vote in the second ballot, Bruce Reyes Chow was elected Moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the PCUSA.  I’m watching his family take to the stage now!  It’s a great day for the future of the Presbyterian church!  Way to go, Bruce!

Posted in Blogging, Life, Presbyterian, Superheroes | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

New Home, New Beginning

Posted on June 20th, 2008 by Neal Locke
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(NOTE: for more pictures from our journey to and arrival at Princeton, click here)

We arrived in Princeton today at around 11:00am, found the Seminary Housing Office, and got our keys to our new apartment without much difficulty.  Now, making a left turn anywhere in New Jersey?  That’s difficult.  Our stuff doesn’t arrive until Monday, so mostly we’re camping out in our new apartment, imagining what will go where.  We’ve met several people today, and everyone has been more than friendly, offering help at every turn.  It almost seems too idyllic of a place right now.  Of course, that’s because I don’t start intensive summer Greek for another week or so.

There’s a playground in the middle of the apartment community, so Grady and I made the pilgrimage to test it out, and both of us instantly made friends — kids and fathers, respectively.  I met a guy from Texas named Tyson Taylor — he’s a proud Texan (from Amarillo) who drives a truck and has a son named Cale…and totally reminds me of my friend Trait Thompson (who also has a son named Cale)!  Tyson and another guy I met — Thomas — will both be in my summer Greek class, so perhaps there’s a study group in the making…

Dinner tonight was frozen pizza and salad on the floor.  Tomorrow, my sister Emily will drive up for a visit, and then Sunday the Locke family will hop on a train to NYC to visit the Feighery family for the day, and watch a free concert in the park (we’re excited!).

When we pulled up to the apartment, before we even went in, I looked at this strange new place and told Amy, “In another four or five years, this will be the home and friends that we’ll be reluctantly leaving behind for new adventures.”  I’m not sure she was ready to think that far ahead, but anyhow, here we are.  The adventure begins!

Posted in Family, Friends, Life, Seminary, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments