Feminine and Masculine in Left and Right - the Church in the gap
Just recently Angela finished a book called Crisis in Masculinity by Leanne Payne . It's not a particularly new book but it's still very timely. I just finished reading it myself today. I'd heard a teaching on the masculine and feminine by Gus Hunter about 7 years ago. The whole perspective of "masculine" and "feminine" is so pervasive when it's fresh in your mind but when it's not so fresh, it's easy to miss.
So, the other day, I watched this TED Talk by David McCandless called "The Beauty of Data Visualization." Totally cool stuff that opened my eyes to this new world of "Data Mining + Graphic Design = New Perspectives." Anyway, one of McCandless's visualizations is not strictly based on a data set but his own observations of Left and Right in the political spectrum. Though he's obviously British, it seems that his focus is more on American politics. Anyway, I printed out the full graphic that you can find at: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/leftvright_world.html and was studying it when Angela walked up and said, "that's the masculine and feminine."
Bingo!
It's as if a whole new perspective of what bugs me about American politics just descended from heaven to help me see better.
To understand why, you have back up a bit and understand a bit of what masculine and feminine is, and is not. For example, masculine is not male and feminine is not female. As C.S. Lewis states, "...Masculine and Feminine meet us on planes of reality where male and female would be simply meaningless..." Male and female are labels given to concrete objects or lifeforms which manifest predominantly masculine and feminine traits or characteristics respectively. So, to say, masculine is male represents a misunderstanding of the two concepts, whereas to say male is masculine would be an accurate generality. One "distillation" of masculine and feminine that helps me is: the masculine initiates and the feminine responds. This is a HUGE over-simplification, but I think it holds true as a foundation of understanding this concept. Probably the other foundational truths that are necessary in understanding masculine and feminine are:
So, back to McCandless's (amazing - really spot on) diagram and American politics. Being geographically outside of American politics has helped me see new dynamics that I had difficulty discerning while on American soil and swimming (drowning?) in American culture. My changes in perspective after 10 years abroad have, I think, made my family back home think I've "gone liberal" on them. What I've rejected from my background is not a right-wing political perspective. Rather, it's a rejection of a dualistic, antagonistic and confrontational way of "doing politics." This has led me to rail against the 2-party system as inherently screwed up because of the need to choose half-truths and then justify your choice. The fact that this political malaise is so deeply entrenched in the American Body of Christ (on both sides) makes it that much more disturbing to me.
When Angela labeled McCanndless's diagram as a manifestation of masculine and feminine, I began to rethink this issue of the 2-party system and the spiritual state of America in general. This quote from Payne's book then began to take on new significance for me (strikeouts and bolds mine):
Invariably when a soul nation needs healing there will be an imbalance within of the masculine and the feminine. He or she It is tipping the scales too far toward one extreme of the continuum. This imbalance of the power to initiate and the power to respond can always be healed when a person people forsakes his their vision and will in separation from God (what the Scripture calls dying to the old man), comes into the Presence, and there unites with the incredible realities outside himself itself.
What makes the separation of the masculine and feminine work in humanity is when it's brought together in a complementary fashion. The highest earthly form of this is human marriage. When it works, it's because one is turned toward the other in sacrificial love and appreciation of the other. The result is transcendent! This requires effort and grace based on love. God is the one who empowers it, enabling us to manifest on earth a glimpse of the Trinity. Without this grace and love, we don't expend the effort...at least not with any perseverance. The result is, as Payne suggests, a move toward opposite ends of the masculine/feminine continuum. Remembering our ultra-concise definition of "initiate" and "respond", we can see that initiation becomes domination and masculine is twisted into macho. On the other side, response becomes rebellion and feminine is twisted into feminist. The result is the American political system as you see it today with the Left at war with the Right. The result is also how America is seen around the world depending on which extreme of the continuum is currently "manifesting."
Well, if Payne's quote is right, healing is available, but I for one, have a hard time imagining American halls of power ringing with the songs of worship from a gathering of legislators, judges and executive branch members as they "come into the Presence." Where does that leave us? Well, I think this brings us to the Body of Christ and 2 Corinthians 5:16-20. Just as God has already provided through Jesus complete reconciliation for every individual, and the Church is tasked to announce and minister that reconciliation to all creatures, it radiates out from individuals to marriages, families, communities and yes, even nations and political factions within nations.
My question is, if the Church is focused on political realities and is deeply allied with various political factions, how can it broker heavenly realities and in intercession stand in the gaps created by those political factions?! It can't!
It is the job of mankind to steward God's creation during our time on the earth and by our place on the earth (Genesis 1:28, Acts 17:26-27). This job is distributed amongst people groups and nations who have this stewardship responsibility over particular parts of God's creation. To put it another way, God holds the United States responsible for what transpires on its soil and how it comports itself among the nations. Is He looking to elected officials to actually carry this out? In a measure, yes. Ultimately, however, He is looking to His Body on earth to broker heavenly realities on earth so that the reconciliation that He died for would be manifested on every level and in every sphere. Jesus gave the authority to His Church to disciple nations. So, to restate, God is holding the Church in the United States responsible for what transpires on its soil and how the United States comports itself among the nations. The ability of the Church to do this in fullness requires a reconciliation of the masculine and the feminine at levels that the Church doesn't seem to be realizing right now and for which it doesn't seem to have a grid.
So, can the 2-party system work? Yes it can work, if those two sides "marry" and become one (Genesis 2:24). I think there is a "prophetic possibility" that is tantalizing here to see the masculine and feminine really complementing each other in this context. Can this happen if the Church doesn't understand its role and responsibility to "minister" reconciliation and facilitate this "marriage"? I don't think so. If it did, it would be glorious, and the greatest miracle would be that the Church finally understood its calling!
Technorati : Body of Christ, Church, Crisis in Masculinity, Democrat, Feminine, Leanne Payne, Left, Masculine, Politics, Republican, Right, stewardship Del.icio.us : Body of Christ, Church, Crisis in Masculinity, Democrat, Feminine, Leanne Payne, Left, Masculine, Politics, Republican, Right, stewardship
Bill Johnson's series on the Transformed Mind
In July, 2010 Bill Johnson, the pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California began a series of messages on the Transformed Mind. I've no idea (nor maybe does he!) if this series is even over yet, but here are the teachings that I think are part of this series (he sometimes interrupts his series to teach on something else). If I find more, I'll add them here.
At any rate, this is powerful stuff! One of the things that I like about it is that it is not the transformed/renewed mind message that I've heard so much, which is basically:
Meditate on scripture so you won't think bad thoughts!
While there's truth to that, it's not terribly motivating for the long-haul and frankly, it doesn't make for a stirring message!
Bill's approach, while wide-ranging and deep, seems to focus more on what he terms "pillar truths." These are truths that once they're in place, allow us to properly "triangulate" our way through the rest of the truths (or lies) that come our way so that we maintain a perspective that is godly...things like (not an exhaustive list):
Living with minds firmly established in pillar truths allows us to aggressively filter the other perspectives that we're continually assaulted with and allows us to walk in a different reality that is not just for us but is projected around us.
OK, as the French would say, " enough blah, blah! ", here are the messages:
Transformed Series - Really Saved - mp3 - 20.5Mb
Transformed Series - From Glory to Glory - mp3 - 23Mb
Transformed Series - Gate of Heaven - mp3 - 23Mb
Transformed Series - The Real Jesus - mp3 - 23Mb
Transformed Series - The Power of a Seed - mp3 - 21Mb
Here's the last one in the series...a powerful message about being the Bride. Very interesting to hear the same things from Bill Johnson that I've heard from Mike Bickle and IHOP for years, but from a different perspective. Very good.
Transformed Series - Being a Bride - mp3 - 17Mb
And finally (I think) an added bonus. This is a talk Bill recently gave to the students of the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. It's not specifically in the series nor only about the transformed mind, but it does cover that and is very complementary. Excellent stuff.
BSSM Bill Johnson November 2010 - mp3 - 38.4Mb
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