The following post is our first from Robin Howard. Robin studied anthropology in college, works as a freelance writer and teaches yoga. She’s also just an all-around cool person, and we’re glad to share her unique perspective.

Deus ex machina (god out of the machine) is a plot device used to resolve seemingly unsolvable problems through sudden, unexpected intervention. For example, in Lord of the Flies a Navy guy shows up out of nowhere, rescues the kids and abruptly ends the tension. The kids didn’t have to save themselves, in other words. Scooby Doo cartoons never use this device. The perp is always someone we’d met in the beginning of the show and Shaggy and Scooby always solved the mystery; the Power Rangers never swooped in and saved the day for them.

Deus ex machina is a hateful phrase among writers – it implies lazy writing or lack of creativity. Aristotle hated the device, saying all resolution had to come from characters and situations already in the story – not from anything “beyond human knowledge”.

It is a crappy device. It frustrates readers and moviegoers and never fails to elicit eye rolls. We don’t want LeAnn Rimes to appear out of nowhere, jump up on the bar and save Coyote Ugly. We want those sassy girls to figure it out for themselves!

We hate deus ex machine in fiction, but most of us live our real lives that way. When we have a seemingly unsolvable problem, we think we have to resolve it ourselves using only the characters, props and situations that already exist in our private story line.

Which is ridiculous and also no fun.

Why not allow room for a new literary device – deus in machine – God in the machine? Why not make way for helpful strangers, being at the right place at the right time, luck, mercy, grace, rescue, windfalls and all that? Unless you’re writing a novel or a movie, there’s no reason you shouldn’t believe in help and rescue that maybe outside of your knowledge.

Soul
Searching

By Stanley Abell

{prologue} Prior to leaving for Haiti, my son asked me to find a suitable project he could help support.

Is there anything that a ride in the back of a pickup truck can’t fix? I think not. Today I took a trip through Jacmel, Haiti hanging on for dear life in the back of Cyril’s (our Haitian friend) pickup truck. Stress, bad karma… poof, gone. I’m firing my therapist.

Being from Indiana though, it amuses me that we can smoke in public spaces, but can’t ride in the back of a pickup. I really feel riding in the back of a pickup truck as is one of the unalienable rights declared long ago. I digress though…

Yesterday I met a young man named Jonas at the Faith & Love Orphanage in Jacmel. I was drawn to him as he was shooting hoops on a goal reminiscent of something you might have seen in Hoosiers. Instead of a goal affixed to a barn, the goal was affixed to a palm tree and rough gravel mess was the court.

I took a photo of Jonas and sent it to my son Harry to let him see that they play basketball here in Haiti too. I had shown a picture of Harry playing basketball to Jonas. He said, “We should be friends.” I said that would be great.

So, when Harry got the photograph, he immediately emailed me back and said, “Dad, I want them to have a proper basketball goal and court that is durable and will last… and I want to pay for it.” There are tender moments in life… I’d count that as one of them.

Anyway, the trip in the pickup truck today was back to Faith & Love Orphanage to meet the director to share my son’s proposal. As it turns out they were looking to build a multi-sport court for the kids to use… soccer, basketball. So, the ball is rolling now… looking forward to a partnership of Hoops in Haiti!

Soul
Searching

By Stanley Abell

But in silence there is truth
There is beauty, there is love
There is nothing in the silence
To be frightened of.

“Nothing In The Silence” ~Belle & Sebastian

Nestled somewhere between the clay court that Petionville Country Club used for championship matches, and the first tee of its breathtaking hillside golf course is the entrance to Pétionville Camp. Petionville Camp is a tent city that is home to 20,000 victims of the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti in 2010.

What was once rolling hills covered with sand traps and water hazards is now a network of tents as far as the eye can see. As we wound our way through the tents to the far end of the camp, now, I realize, we must have looked pretty ridiculous to the many curious onlookers. With our yellow rubber gloves, white surgical masks and odd assortment of tools, we looked as if we were filming Ghostbusters 3.

Our task for the day was to move a mound of trash from a site that had been closed to a new site about 200 yards away. Permit me to be honest, we were shoveling crap… literally and figuratively. We were resolute in our work though; we assembled teams of three… one shoveling, two holding the bag (as it were). This was a big festering mound of refuse with a majestic mountaintop view of Port au Prince to the west, and a mind-numbing view of the tents to the east.

As we got to the end of the fist two rolls of trash bags, a natural work break. One of the women on our trip, Suzanne Stirling co-founder of Off The Mat Into The World, picked up an old bleach bottle and began using it like a bongo. She started singing the refrain from a song we’ve been sharing with our Haitian hosts all week… “rise up, rise up; rise up, rise up.” The group began rhythmically clapping along. I found an old bottle and a stick and provided backbeat. Someone else found two rusted tin cans. Before you know it we had a band.

Before you know it, we had attracted the attention of 15-20 of the folk living in the tents just across the fence line. One by one they began asking for gloves, masks and bags. Before you know it our team had doubled until all of our trash bags were full. The Pied Piper had done her work.

That’s kind of a nice story I suppose, but that’s not really the story… that’s just the backdrop.

As I stood there marveling at the collaboration, Seane Corn, the other co-founder of “Off The Mat Into The World” (http://www.offthematintotheworld.org/) came up next to me and out of the blue said, “Do you want to hear about the first time I met God?”

She shared with me that when she was 17 she had moved to New York City in the mid-80s. She was an angry young woman. She said she was an atheist. She said her angel was a guy named Billy, who came to the club cruising for men, but would often just sit at the bar and talk with her if she wasn’t too busy. She said, “God showed up for me in a sex club. He arrived in the form of a middle-aged, homosexual, African-American man (in red leather pants),”

There is much more to the story, much more. We’ll repost it very soon. Seane gave me permission to share the first time I met God (really met God). I was in Kenya in an HIV/AIDS hospital where people brought their family members to die. They quite literally would drop them off at the doorsteps and walk away because they simply couldn’t care for them.

One afternoon, I was with a young mother as her baby died in her arms. I saw God in that baby… I saw God in the agony and tears that rolled down the mother’s cheeks. There… there was God.

That’s kind of a nice story too, I suppose, but that’s not really the story… that’s just the backdrop.

As Seane and I were standing there, I had such a powerful spiritual experience it almost brought me to my knees. I reached out and put my hand on Seane’s shoulder, she reached out and put hers on mine. We stood there in silence for what seemed like 10 minutes. There… there was God. In a shared experience of truth, in the trash… in the crap, there was God.

By Ned Steele

I attended the Memorial Service for my friend Jon Walters. In the remarks made by those who were reflecting on Jon’s life and ministry, I heard this:

Jon once preached a sermon in which he said that Jesus only knew four words… and Jesus repeated them over, and over, and over again. And those four words were: “Come Dance with Me!”

Now, of course… Jesus most likely knows more than four words… and Jon was just doing what we preachers do: Using hyperbole to make a point.  Come Dance with Me!  Imagine that…

If you are one, two, four, or more… if you are single, or if you mingle… I will be your partner: Come Dance with Me!

If you want to trade threat for relationship, trade requirements for transformation: Come Dance with Me!

If you want to feel love instead of righteousness, feel justice instead of reward… I am here for you: Come Dance with Me!

If you want to know a love that creates value, instead of seeking value: Come Dance with Me!

If you want a partner who believes you are valuable, even when you don’t believe you are successful: Come Dance with Me!

Do you want to know if grace is true, love is true, forgiveness is true: Come Dance with Me!

Do you have some guilt that haunts you, some past failures you are afraid of, some secret sin you just can’t shake: Come Dance with Me!

Do you long for diversity not division, opportunities not opposition, advantages not adversaries…I am here for you: Come Dance with Me!

When you want to know whether life is a collection of things, or a collection of experiences: Come Dance with Me!

When you want to know whether faith is a collection of beliefs, or a collection of experiences: Come Dance with Me!

When you want to know what it is like to, as the old-timers say, practice the presence of God… I will be your partner: Come Dance with Me!

When you want to know what its like to protect those who can’t fight, love those who are lost, stand beside those who’ve been pushed aside, and forgive those who need it… not only those who deserve it: Come Dance with Me!

When you are ready to move your feet to the music of Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound… ’Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far, and Grace will lead me home…I am here for you: Come Dance with Me!

When you hunger and thirst for righteousness… and purpose… and my presence in your life: Come Dance with Me!

Thank you, Jon, for putting those four words in the mouth of Jesus… I can actually imagine him saying them over, and over, and over again.  

So how are the New York Giants preparing for tomorrow’s Super Bowl? Yoga! The Giants have been hitting the mat all season with yoga teacher, Gwen Lawrence.

Gwen has been working with the Giants for eleven years and tells FOX:

“These are pretty active, high intensity classes. We do a lot of long, deep holds, some vinyasa…. In-season, I come in on Mondays and do post-game restorative work with the players… I can’t just go in there and kick their butts and expect full-body participation.”

Click here to read more from the source at MindBodyGreen.com.

Soul
Searching

By Stanley Abell

And I say this to the night
Let us not forget
There is hope
There’s hope!

“Keep Hope Alive” ~The Crystal Method

I live in Indianapolis. Indianapolis is hosting the National Football League’s (NFL’s) Super Bowl this Sunday. Indianapolis is bursting at the seams. Indianapolis is full of energy… and Patriots fans, so, I’m going to Haiti.

I really am going to Haiti. Not for any of the aforementioned reasons, rather, someone (I won’t say who even though I could) scheduled a really cool service trip to Haiti when he or she knew darn well Indianapolis was hosting the Super Bowl this weekend. Oh well, it’s not like I was going to the game anyway.

This will be my second trip to Haiti; I went two years ago just after the earthquake. My endearing memory of Haiti from that trip was the genuine faith and hospitality of the Haitian people. In the shadow of a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that shattered families, homes, hopes and dreams, to a person I met, Haitians were hospitable to a fault.

We brought everything with us so as not to be a drain on their already stretched resources. We brought our own food, water, supplies and tents. The first evening on the ground, and every evening thereafter, our hosts demanded we eat with them and share their food. Being a city boy at heart, I’d never seen a chicken go from the yard to the boiling pot to the table.

That’s just how it was.

As I think about what my return trip two years later will be like, stories have begun to surface in the media asking where has the money gone? As in, Haiti: Two years after the earthquake, where did the money go? It is estimated that Americans alone (government, NGO’s, charity groups and individuals) gave in excess of $3 billion in aid money. Many are rightfully asking, Where Did Haiti’s Aid Go?

These questions are fairly asked and should be asked. The lack of accountability and transparency in any institution is an invitation for calamity. All of our favorite targets are sterling examples: The Government, Private Enterprise, The Church, Penn State… Haiti.

So, in my view, there is choice. There is a choice to continue to hope, far beyond the point where hope should exist, that progress will be made, and the Haitian people can be empowered to pull themselves from the mire that preexisted, and was only exacerbated by, the earthquake. On the other hand, there is a choice to believe that because circumstances are challenging, dicey and messy, we give up.

Do you remember the story of Lazarus in the Bible? It reminds me of Haiti a little bit. The story is a tricky one to sort out. Jesus, you may recall, raised Lazarus, from the dead. It’s tricky in that there is scholarly disagreement about the story. Of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), only John elaborates on Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. The other synoptic Gospels (Mathew, Mark and Luke) don’t mention it.

The importance of John’s version of this story can’t be understated relative to traditional understanding of Jesus’ power of life over death. How though, others ask, could something so foundational to our understanding of Jesus be left out of Matthew, Mark and Luke? Which, by the way, were written first.

This is where the story of Lazarus is like Haiti, we’re so focused intensely on the details of the story we might miss the point of the story. Was Lazarus actually dead? Some say yes, some say no. Did Jesus literally raise a dead man from his tomb to life? Some say yes, some say no. While important, these details obfuscate the deeper meaning of the story.

What if the deeper story of Lazarus is one hope? Hope in abundant life. For Lazarus and his family, things were challenging, dicey and messy. For them, Lazarus was dead. Really, there should have been no hope. Nonetheless, they hoped.

I choose to believe that Haiti is a story of hope. Instead of focusing on the details… details like two years later, large-scale improvement has been elusive. Hundreds of thousands still live in tent cities suffering dire sanitation challenges. Money has been misappropriated. And, quite literally, Haiti died. Yet that’s not what the story of Haiti is about. The story of Haiti too, is one of hope. In the midst of dicey, messy challenge… there is hope.

I hope you’ll follow us here on The Bluevine Collective while we’re in Haiti.

Soul
Searching

By Stanley Abell

Money
It’s a crime
Share it fairly
But don’t take a slice of my pie 

“Money” ~Pink Floyd

Very sadly, the window of opportunity for me to talk relevantly about Tebowing (post touchdown prayer celebration) has closed. Consequently, I cleverly snuck Tim Tebow in the title of today’s post figuring people that see it would assume there is some new morsel to devour about the affable quarterback from Denver whose transmundane play riveted friend and foe alike.

Now don’t get me wrong, I was tempted to enter the fray amidst the excitement of Tebow throwing for 316 yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He didn’t just throw for 316 yards in that miraculous OT victory, he averaged 31.6 yards per pass, and the Bronco’s time of possession for the game was 31 Minutes 6 seconds. Clearly, God chose sides, and God is a Broncos fan. That’s something to talk about.

In case you’re wondering why all the fuss over the number 316, it has been cited as proof by many of God’s favor on Tebow.  It refers to the foundational scripture from John 3:16… “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Just, though, as I was about to put fingers to keyboard and weigh in, it was all over in an evil instant. In the vein of how does God let bad things happen to good people, Tom Brady and the vile New England Patriots bested Tim Tebow and the Broncos. How could this happen?

This surly turn of events in the now divinely guided world of the National Football League leaves us searching more for answers in, perhaps, Job than Matthew. I mean, clearly things worked for good the week before when Tebow bested that sloth Ben Roethlisberger evidencing God’s willful intervention for good in our humdrum worldly affairs. What, however, had Tebow done in the following week to warrant this reversal of favor?

If ever the forces of good and evil were clearly drawn and defined, this was it… 333 (Tebow) vs. 666 (Brady). AND, evil won! I thought to myself, I really should write something about this because people of faith everywhere are probably feeling a little unsettled. I did do some checking worried that Brady might have thrown for 666 yards… thankfully not, only 363. And, there were no clever scripture references to the game’s score 10:45, or 45:10 (there was one about circumcision, but it didn’t fit so well).

There actually has been some thoughtful conversation from both sides of the Tebowing frenzy. The question at the center of the conversation seems to be should Tim Tebow pray so publicly and intentionally after he scores? You can just imagine the clear battle lines on this one. Some Christians say “of course.” Other Christians and non-Christians have a range of uneasiness with his celebratory practice.

Somewhere in the midst of the blogosphere and shouting back and forth about to Tebow, or not to Tebow, a Bible passage from Matthew crept out of the woodwork:

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:5-6 (NRSV)

This mostly got the “Other” Christians and non-Christians whipped up into a proof-texting frenzy usually reserved by “Some” Christians for things like condemning gay people. I thought to myself, “My, my, a little literalism goes a long way, doesn’t it?” I thought, “How about a little historical context?” Just like the word homosexual (or gay) didn’t exist in the context of Jesus’ time, neither did American gladiator football.

So, no, Jesus wasn’t talking about football players praying after touchdowns. He was specifically talking to his fellow Jews about prayers that attempt to flatter God and themselves—Jesus used the anecdote of praying behind closed doors as a figure of speech. Hey look, I’m not particularly keen on Tebowing, but then again, I wasn’t particularly keen on the Icky Shuffle either. How about just handing the ball to the guy with the black and white striped shirt.

Anyway, like I said, it’s too late to get in on this conversation about Tim Tebow, and thank goodness, because whether NFL players should pray in public or not isn’t even the most interesting thing Jesus talks about in Matthew 6. The most interesting thing is where he talks about the effective tax rates of presidential candidates!

Aha! Finally, the tax rate connection! Seriously though, check this out:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.” Matthew 6:19a (NRSV) Now, how on earth did Jesus know about effective tax rates and Swiss bank accounts? That’s really what I want to talk about, and the related topic… when is enough enough? I’m afraid though, this might need to wait for Tim Tebow and The Effective Tax Rate, Pt. 2.

By Ned Steele

“Christianity is, I believe, about expanded life, heightened consciousness and achieving a new humanity. It is not about closed minds, supernatural interventions, a fallen creation, guilt, original sin or divine rescue. I am tired of seeing the Bible being used, as it has been throughout history, to legitimize slavery and segregation, to subdue women, to punish homosexuals, to justify war and to oppose family planning and birth control. That is a travesty which must be challenged and changed.” ~ John Shelby Spong, Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World

I posted just the first two sentences on Facebook recently. I did it because I had just read several other FB posts that seemed to me to represent the kind of “closed minds” Bishop Spong said were not a part of Christianity.

I heard from several folks supporting the position taken by the Bishop, and a couple of folks not supporting the position. All responses seemed to me to be thoughtful, responsible, and well-supported. How can that be?

How can it be that folks from the same faith can support opposing views on the same topic? Well, for one thing the opening sentence of the quote is not so much about faith, or A Faith, as it is about stuff we pretty much could all agree on as being nice goals for humanity. For another thing, the second sentence only vaguely touches on hard theological issues. So really, not much was at stake.

However, had I posted the rest of the above quote, then we would have gotten down to the nitty-gritty. Down to the stuff we really disagree on. Down to actually putting what we believe into the acts that we engage in, and into the causes and positions we support. Then there would have been some serious disagreements… maybe even some name-calling. Too bad that it gets to that point, I think; but very often it does.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1).  Or, as Eugene Peterson puts it, in The Message: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”

That’s where the discomfort starts: When something of God takes on flesh and moves into the neighborhood. The neighborhood gets a little creeped-out.  People take sides.  People take exception.  Sometimes people take off for other neighborhoods.  If you wanna start a good ol’ fashioned theological debate just point to where you see God taking on flesh in the neighborhood!

We invite you to check out the trailer and if you’re interested click here to rent or buy the film on Amazon.

Soul
Searching

By Stanley Abell

These are just words and words are okay
It’s what you do and not what you say

“Peaceful World,” ~John Mellencamp

So, my family and I went to the Madame Walker Theater on Monday for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration. It was a truly uplifting, yet challenging and though-provoking affair. Local, state and national dignitaries reminded us of King’s body of work. They reminded us of non-violent, peaceful resistance. They reminded us of his legacy.

One speaker, though, didn’t sugar coat a possible reality of MLK’s legacy… he threw down the gauntlet. He said, “If we do not act upon the legacy and principles of justice and peace Martin Luther King, Jr. died for, then he has been reduced to nothing more than series of sound bites.” Whoa!

MLK, just a series of sound bites. Long, silent pause. Uncomfortable shifting in the seats. Silence broken by the beautiful, rhythmic cadence of call and response… “Say it now! Preach it! That’s right!”

I got to thinking about that… MLK, just a series of sound bites. Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere have certainly been awash with Dr. King sound bites recently, that’s a fact, including yours truly.

If we do not act… “Acting” for justice and peace, what would that look like? In some small way, posting on Facebook is an action, I suppose. My guess is Martin Luther King, Jr. would have found social media as a powerful tool to carry his message of equality, justice and peace for all. However, at some point though, we have to act. Again, what would that look like?

Far too often, historically, peace has been imposed through domination and force, which begs the question that Tom Shadyac asks in his new must see documentary, I AM, “Is this just who we are… are we basically just greedy, aggressive and violent creatures wreaking havoc on the planet and each other?”

If this is true, was Dr. King’s principle of non-violent, peaceful resistance doomed to fail from the start? What if, as I AM goes on to ask: “What is humankind’s basic nature… Is the essential nature of humans to cooperate or to dominate?”

This is an age-old debate about who we are at our core—very John Lock and Thomas Hobbes-like. To Locke, humankind was inherently pleasant, good and peaceful. To Hobbes, humankind was nasty, solitary and violent.

Though not always pleasant, I choose to believe, deep down, we were created for peace. Aggression, violence and dominance that produce racism, sexism and classism are products of our brokenness; they are products of our human-created separation from God. We got ourselves into this mess, we can get ourselves out of this mess.

Think globally, but act locally… very locally, personally. There is a prayer I stumbled upon Christmas Eve that I hear as a call to action for justice and peace. It is “acting” that aligns with Dr. King’s idea of action.

“Prayer for Peace”

If there is to be peace in the world,

There must be peace in the nations.

If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.

If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.

If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.

If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.

Perhaps this too is just another sound bite? I don’t think so, though. The requisite, critical action for peace is there in that last sentence. There can be no peace until we end the war within. In the spirit of the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., upon this principle, we must act.