the Pitt 33: The Relational-Orientation of God

As I mentioned last time, I think we can all get "off" sometimes - maybe a little Lost?  Leaders can certainly get into the habit - as John Wimber was famous for warning - of majoring in the minors.  It's not that the "minors' are insignificant, right?  It's just that the majors are the majors.  And I - for one - think that one very neglected "major" is the relational.  In fact, I want to go so far as to say that the relational-orientation is primary in mission.  Neil Cole has been helpful in pointing this out:

"Our relational orientation is a reflection of the image of God in us. God Himself is relational and exists in a community—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is love because God is relational. To the Christian, God is love because he has always existed in relationship. Is love possible without someone to love? This should be the defining characteristic of our faith. All men should know that we are Christ’s disciples by the love that we have for one another."

Because God is Love, and God is relational: God takes risks.  This has to be seen as part of what scholastics and monastics like to talk about when we say Missio Dei.  God takes risks everyday with me, that's for sure.  I'm prone to dropping Him when some new and great idea occurs to me.  I have to sort of, I dunno, guard my heart and be discerning.  And yet I know He wants me to take risks too, for the sake of love, just like He does with me.

 

Of course, many of us know the risky love of God through the extravagantly mysterious, yet fundamentally loving act of God: Incarnation.  One of the most beautiful and clearest references to this in scripture is in the book of John, chapter one: "...And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us..." or as Eugene Peterson lovingly translated it: "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.  We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish."

Dwight Friesen, in his article Living Incarnationally, describes what we aspire to as we foster and cultivate a loving incarnational faith community in urban Pittsburgh:

"When Christ is incarnated through you and me, we will be looking for ways to empty ourselves in the service of the Father by serving others as the Holy Spirit guides us. We become active participants in a divine dance through which all of creation is being reconciled to Christ. This is a dynamic faith process that will always find unique expression through each follower of Christ and each cluster of Christ-followers."

Thus our dream - perhaps not so unique, but the discovery and expression if it will be - is of hitting the 'sweetspot' where (1) the Father is already at work, (2) the World might be missing it, and (3) the Church is out there doing it's best CSI-imitation living and seeking to discover God at work in the world and surprisingly connect the two.

All this happens in actual, abiding relationship, just as branches abide in the Vine, right?  The goal of our doctrine, the goal of our theology, our prime directive is knowing God, not just knowing about Him.  But in order to abide in relationship, we have to restore this relationship, because God's objective is restored relationship.  But restoring broken relationships can be difficult to bridge, as Archbishop Tutu can certainly witness.

Jesus advocates the audacious relational-approach to God by modeling for us how to address our Father in heaven.  He says:  "Abba", which is basically "Dada."  "Poppa."  These are beautiful, relational terms that a child uses to identify and seek their loving Father.  It speaks to the depths of an intimate knowing and a simple trusting. 

I also think this relational-orientation inaugurates Kingdom breakthrough, where we see amazing things happen when we are out seeking to reconcile and restore relationships.  For those of us in the Vineyard movement, this is deeply significant.  We see Jesus doing  signs and wonders that restore relationship and telling stories about this over and over again.  In one of Jesus' most famous stories - known popularly as the Prodigal Son, he points to how things are in the Reign of God (BTW - this is the case in all the "Lost" parables - Lost sheep, Lost coin, Lost Son - and how they all end with throwing a party - which is a relational gathering, or perhaps even a gathering that fosters and cultivates relationships!! )

Back in February, I had this really great conversation at dinner one evening while I was attending the Society of Vineyard Scholars conference.  I ended up sitting next to my new friend Andy Kaminski.  End's up, Andy was presenting a paper the next day on - you guessed it - the relational understanding that undergirds scripture.  The key criteria in scripture regarding how we live our lives and what we do with them isn't "have we acted rational" but "whether we have acted rightly in our relationships."   Scripture is also clear that (warning: loaded term) "salvation" isn't merely about God rescuing us from the awful world, but the rescue of the world itself through the restoration of relationship with God, all of which is happening through His People connecting more and more people to Him.  But it doesn't stop there, right?  As my friend Bill points out, this connects them to "us" as well, in a life lived together.

When we abidingly seek to be in relationship with God, we tend to get on His Agenda...and when we do that, it changes things...significantly, at what we might think of as a plate-tectonic-level.  Michael Frost goes into those things so well, that I might as well just let him say them: