A Construction Update

The Treehouse: Conversations About God

Happy New Year, Treehouse people! I thought it was time to give an update on our Treehouse project.

Any theology that is not in conversation with the current cultural moment is not worth the ink that’s spilled to record it. Our current cultural moment has caused me to hit pause and think deeply about what it means to say “I believe…” As I wrote some weeks ago, “ We now find ourselves in a time of ultimate seriousness with regard to what the Christian faith might mean in our country and in our lives. With the drumbeat of Christian Nationalism growing louder by the day (it’s pure, cynical golden-calf idolatry, I said what I said), I feel pressed to discern what is utterly essential.”

As far as the constructive theology goes that we’ve been building, we are just at the point of Jesus having been born. I feel like we have a solid floor — the things we can say about God — as well as erected sturdy walls — the problem of humankind’s broken relationship with God and with each other and God’s attempts at repair by sending the prophets to speak for Them (“Thus says the LORD…”) calling people back as well as forward to the original dream of shalom and well-being and mutual care.

Now, with the Incarnation (enfleshment) of Divine we can say we have added massive front windows and a wide-open door. The new view will become clearer in weeks to come.

That the Creator of all arriving in a helpless baby who could not even hold up his own head is consistent with the a primary aspect of the character of God — Their complete vulnerability in service of Love.

The implications of all of the above lead me toward a more radical and universal love rather than away from it, toward a freer, more lavish desire to build longer tables and take down more walls rather than succumb to the urge to recede into a protective shell.

A theology that worships power and money and embraces injustice while casting aside the hungry and needy has missed the mark entirely. Dark days are ahead, but so is our coming discovery of what the author of John’s gospel meant by “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Next time we’ll talk about the four gospel accounts, the similarities and differences, and the picture they paint of Jesus and his ministry.