Education… moving the ball upward!

In building excellent schools we should be guided by a set of core beliefs in its pursuit of the development of a student that excels as a lifelong learner by being a rigorous Charter Schools (enriching, cognitive, relational). That is moving the ball upward to success! IT IS NOT BY $$$, while it is important all we have to look at Colleges and Universities and see the corruption of what was a great system that the pursuit of money before mission has done (but that is a different post). The  reason schools are in business is to give that hand up in creating a strong outcome of life long learners who are free to give their best into culture through: their careers, family life, pursuits of volunteering, giving to their churches, using their gifts to lift up others and use their minds (thinking cognitive processes) to better our communities, states, nation and other countries.

I believe that the urban/suburban, in-between, and even rural communities have one particular thing in common it is that parents in those communities are desperately in need of strong educational options for their children. What is the mix for success?  School safety is critical, but it is not enough. Parental approval is so very important, but it isn’t the sole indicator of an exemplary education, there are other factors in whole mix. It is that the school value should be determined by a wholistic (well-rounded) educational platform and students’ academic performance that preps them for life, college/trade and most of to excel in life as a citizen of our great country.

The most important questions to ask in striving for academic excellence is: “How are student’s outcomes being achieved? What is the performance level based on those outcomes and are they serving the students in the application of the knowledge gained?” If it is just facts to be learned, then test scores will drive the school, if athletics then only 10% are doing well, if the arts 20% to 30% again are doing well…the list goes on. But outcomes expected on the overall educational environment should be strong enough that achievements are marked from academic rigors, performance, class room environment, culture of the school, discipline, community involvement, educational outcomes clearly stated and owned (by faculty, staff and students plus the board), testing, the Arts, Athletics and staff are all involved to become part of the whole exemplary pursuit of an excellent rigorous Charter Schools (is a mix between public and private)– magnet type public schools, private schools can be a driving force of collaboration of cross pollinating environments.

In more than a decade of experience with the Charter School movement (plus home schools, private and magnate schools), families have the right to choose an excellent character building educational environment where all students have the clear choice to be life-long learners.

I believe that as stated in the above definition that:

A wholistic Academic performance does …

• Drives Leadership: Leaders of excellent schools demand, manage, and support strong academic performance outcomes and community involvement
•  Drives Design: Everything about a school’s design – from its schedule to curriculum to instructional strategies – helps students achieve high academic standards
• Drives Culture: To succeed academically, students need and deserve a culture that is highly disciplined, tightly structured, and motivating of their intrinsic desire to excel.

•  Drives Decisions: Decisions at every level of a school’s operation are based on careful measurement and analysis of student achievement
•  Drives Governance: A Charter School cannot succeed without the determination of its board to hold the school fast to its ambitious standards and provide the resources necessary to meet those standards
•  Drives Academic Performance: Stated standards and testing systems combined with strong internal standards and assessments provide essential incentives and guidance for student academic performance

These core beliefs must be people who are committed to building schools regionally in communities around measurable student outcomes; who embrace strong standards and are willing to set high expectations for all students; and who are prepared to do whatever it takes to help students reach and succeed in elementary school, middle school, high school, in college and beyond as life-long learners. In general, for most students as a school in partnership with the parent (s) if we do not capture their passion of lifelong learning by third grade, they will struggle to gain a solid foot hold in life. A solid charter school etc. that is passionate about its relational, academic position in that child’s life will give them that solid foot hold for life!

In many areas of the USA, Charter Schools (plus home schools, private and magnate schools) provide that best opportunity to close the achievement gap for students in our centers of living.  It’s an absolute fact: an academic gap exists between students in the outcomes achieved in previous decades. Public schools in general as well as colleges are failing in achieving the best for students and families that they serve.  In cities large and small, on both coasts and in Middle America, students have been under-served by our educational system.

I believe that a better focused Charter School (plus home schools, private and magnate schools) can be a catalyst for changing the status of what has been standard for too many schools. If the Charter School has the drive, capacity, and skills to successfully build deep. We have to believe that our children need a challenging, stimulating, and motivating environment to fulfill their true potential if that is true… then we can’t fail.

A steadfast commitment to academic achievement as the primary driver of every aspect of a school’s functioning; I would have the determination to locate, train, and support those individuals who are driven to serve in such a school that has provided the means in seeking to close the gap.

I believe that as school leaders have to be of this mindset if a Charter School is to a triumph:

•  A belief that a wholistic academic achievement drives everything  (language core, music to business eco)
• Have an understanding of what it means to be a college/trade track school
• Strong communicator, strategic scope and sequence thinker and highly flexible
• Relentless achievers – a lifelong learner himself/herself
• Unpretentiousness while not afraid to own and make decisions in a team collaborative spirit (both Admin/Academic/Classroom leaders). This is usually the place where life can be enriched by with longer term solutions.
• To be demanding of themselves and others
• Fund raising, community networking (from both individuals/business and in the case of public sector local government partnerships)
• Entrepreneurial, high-capacity, and non-passive about outcomes with students and with partnered leaders – everybody holds the water not just one group in outcomes. Shared responsibility.

Here is just one step in using a different way of thinking: Such as… we have learned from some of our most innovative companies, the creation of new spaces or re-creation of educational space is truly an exploration of culture. What are the school environments in our community telling us? Telling our young people?

It is time to re-imagine and invest in schools and spaces ripe for creativity and cross-pollination. Through collaboration we could start to imagine what could happen: What if the advanced physics student and the photography student had a meaningful “collisions” (a bit of physics humor) this can be done in all three type schools? What if we did so by design — if their classwork would weave together diverse content and skills intentionally and elegantly? What would young people see as possible? They might come to understand that the lines between music, math, physics, and art are much blurrier than textbooks make them appear.

The Charter School, magnate, private could be the breeding ground for a new millennium of “Renaissance” young men and women where creating something and incorporating it into practical application is an everyday experience and expectation. Studies prove that the more methods we work with information given the better retention there is and the more universally applied it is. That is a strong academic performance outcome!

Here is another step:  This model is deeply rooted in project-based learning (PBL), whereby students learn academic knowledge while picking up real-life skills such as collaboration and critical thinking in meaningful and integrated projects. Funding is there if creative companies, people are brought into the process in partnership with local government and individuals.  With these new structures a pedagogical/androgyny academic environment are mixed together to become a solid foundation that brings with it supportive spaces; in which students can produce, focus more on the process and content being taught. Strategies using case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation can be employed in newly creatively designed living classrooms. Using new technologies (you aren’t competing with MTV methods) aren’t ends but a means to enhance and expand new ways to connect with information and other students around the USA and the world. Still with the textbooks in hand, could even be a tablet, the instructor guides and leads this dynamic mix to build a strong academic environment – a living classroom.  Instructors/Teachers /Mentor/ Tutors, adopt roles of facilitator or resource leaders and or guides rather than just the “Teacher” lecturer or grader. Performance increases in this environmental freedom and rigorous standards.

Educational shifts are a challenge but can be overcome through “creactive” (creative/active a non-passive -all talk and no show) mindset of collaborative partnerships in three areas away from tradition broken models into: Charter Schools, Magnate Schools (science, business, music… cores) plus your private school. The industry that would be hurt is sports but that should be taken out of the public sphere (a huge cost in money, time and off target ed outcomes) and let it go private with teams outside of school. But that is side issue – The Charter School, magnate, private could be the breeding ground for a new millennium of “Renaissance” young men and women where creating something and incorporating it into practical application is an everyday experience and expectation. Studies prove that the more methods we work with information given the better retention there is and the more universally applied it is. That is a strong academic performance outcome!

Discontinuous change is happening in our culture and our first thought is that this change has to be microwaved and all at once. Take the time in developing a culture of change agents who are stable, visionary and unified – THAT – brings a culture that adjusts to the seasons of the economy, life and new ideas one step at a time… as long as they are upward!!

Same thing but different…

State and Church is the question of the hour. I would simply assert that the concept of the state is pagan in origin and is alien to the New Testament. Government is a New Testament idea that does not imply any particular form of state or society. Government is ordained by God. I would reject those bases for government which project the state arising out of the character of man: i.e., Aristotle, medieval Catholicism, Hegelianism; as well as those theories based in man’s sin and need of government for restraint in a chaotic world: i.e., the Reformation tradition.  My thinking is a second view is which is more not less biblical, affirming that government is “from above” rather than organized “from below.” I would also affirm Christ as the basis for government because He is the mediator of creation, the goal of government, its Lord, and its source of authority and power.

 

Government has a divine character in its being, think of those that sought freedom in the establishment of this Government. The very nature of Government, its task reflects its divine character in its mission whereby it serves Christ by the sword for punishment and justice and along with education for goodness.  A further divine implication is the claim of government on conscience, or obedience “for the Lord’s sake” (1 Pet. 2:13). The believer is bound to obedience until the government exceeds its commission, whereupon one must obey God rather than man. This disobedience in a single area must not be generalized to all areas of government. Only an apocalyptic event in which all obedience to government involved denial of Christ (see Rev. 13:7) would require total disobedience there have been governments in the last 100 years that have required the church to be totally disobedient. So in marriages – I would still marry people still it doesn’t have be state sanction to be holy-divine and scared – right!

 

Government has a relation to the other mandates. It serves to protect and sanction these areas, but in itself government is not creative. Marriage and the church stand independently of government, but always in the presence of government to show the holiness of God.

 

Government has a claim on the church in obedience. Obedience to government is obedience to Christ – again IF it isn’t involved in the denial of Christ and obedience to Him. Likewise, the church lays a claim on government. She reminds government of their common Master. She calls government to fulfill its “worldly calling,” its special task, and at the same time claims protection from the government. The government also has a claim on the church. Government must maintain neutrality with reference to exalting one faith (Christian) over another. It cannot originate new religions. Similarly, the church has a political responsibility. The church must warn of sin and call for righteousness which exalts a nation.

 

We find ourselves serving/living/operating in a constitutional republic form of Government. We are blessed because of how we were founded. But God does not opt for any particular form of government. This means that government must recognize its being from above. It means also that the government’s power will rest on its ability in fulfilling its role as the implementation of justice for us, on the rights of the family and of its people to live life and enjoy liberty, and on the proclamation of the gospel. If that government seeks to redefine that role and become what is the role of the Church which is as Jesus’ body, then obedience to that government ends and the Church is required to respond openly in contradiction of the rebellion of the state against God.

 

Responsible action, in other words, is a highly risky venture. It makes no claims to objectivity or certainty. It is a free venture that cannot be justified in advance. But, nevertheless, it is how we participate in the reality of Christ, i.e., it is how we act in accordance with the will of God. The demand for responsible action in history is a demand no Christian can ignore. We are, accordingly, faced with the following dilemma: when assaulted by evil, we must oppose it directly. We have no other option. The failure to act is simply to condone evil. There isn’t such a world of utopian possibilities it always leads to dystopian evil. The balance between is what is the best we can do as humans who are not all redeemed in Jesus till heaven. We have to be Kingdom people and be that salt and light in a darkness that is present and strong. “Greater is He that is in you than he (darkness) that is in the world!”

 

 

A letter to a friend John…

John, sorry for the delay in my response to your post, but pondering takes time at least for me since life still swirls freely around and about me at times. But, on with it then… the distress in your post I understand fully. The banal flows from the institutional structures seem to shackle and castrate substance from form and grace from action to fit the mantra from the top-down control approval process. A few years ago there was a campaign in England “Not Ashamed” I am not sure of the results totally, it got me to see what causes fear or being ashamed to be under Fathers discipline of living fully. It might be the lack of understanding of the mystery of freedom received in the midst of discipline, action, suffering and how prayer as reality in breaking the circle of anxious uncertainties and that it does clash with the storied events of life. Not knowing this freedom, they run to the “mother ship” for approval instead of to Father and they move back into the confinement that they sought to break from in the beginning. This kind of fossilization has been one of satan’s best tools on those fellow journeyers who seek to dance wildly in the rain (reign of God) and to move away from this transcendental dualism that many desire to, but are afraid or ashamed to move out of the “mother ship’s” control.
I too am concerned with both sides of the isles of life – the Christendom and the Ancient movements, we are I believe of the same heart as many before us, in seeking and seeing peeks of freshness and freedom and then the fog rolls in again. Our teaching in most of the church in all brands (I am both high and low church in back ground – but many churches on both-sides in many cases are to-to cuddly fuzzy and lazy. While comfort should be given it should be on the edges when we weep, rejoice, worship fully, laugh, seek justice, be silent together, prayerfully passionate and tender. But mush is mush it isn’t steak and that is what many are taught and then give it which is lacking the spirit of Amos or a Jeremiah who wasn’t sure about the call, but faithfully proceeded. In my teaching here in the states, I will agree America is in an interesting time, but transformation is always messy and filled with ugly at times but what an adventure! What a wonderful time to live in, we will be able to understand fully the struggles of the Apostolic fathers and be free to seek the Father like; Ignatius and Polycarp to St. John of the Cross and many others.
This discipline of life is a hidden certainty, which does not “lunge” itself coercively on others, but offers them the fully human and available presence of the believers walk with Father. Our relationship with Jesus Messiah was never to divide life into compartments (greek mindset – which is the problem here in USA and frankly full grown in many parts of England) of either metaphysical ascent which grows cold or inward piety which gives a cold heart. This discipline is the source of an existence that is free, concrete and transcendent (incomparable) in the sense of a life turned toward the neighbor, rather than a life separated from the neighbor and turn toward the reality of Father’s love, wisdom, breath, understanding, listening, tenderness, mercy, seeking justice, suffering, hope, patience and His will. Rather than turning the way to the other-worldliness of omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of a remote God. This discipline of life, one could say thrives in a relationship with Father while at the same time seeks disengagement from an institutional framework that seeks to falsely impute a supernatural stupor of banal irrelevance and self-destructive inwardness. Mediation, worship, prayer, Eucharist, scripture…are life giving tools so there are many blessings in Father’s reality in the midst of the worldliness in which we now live transformed from. Our ultimate assurance is that in Jesus Christ on the cross to His ascension brought Fathers Spirit into life and transformed us to know what reality is – a unity that is both indivisible and in creative tension with the road of our life journey’s to heaven which starts in this world. Immanentism while true cannot be separated from our living otherwise we are back to the transcendental dualism that has harmed the progress of the Kingdom into the darkness that lingers. Our conduct must be based on living harmless as doves and wise as serpents both comprise the ultimate certainty that Jesus (God) who was crucified in and outside this world.
This discipline of faith is the only reality we can live – our faith held before Father in a world without the Father. The struggle is not to betray the incarnation of either of the truths that reality apart from gospel message is impossible or the gospel apart from reality is impossible. Our Messiah repeatedly says that the Kingdom of heaven comes without much fanfare (pomp) which always sacrifices relationships for form. Nor are we to cheapen it by just casting the Kingdom as pearls before swine (Matt 6:7) with cheap grace because we value others more than ourselves. There is a need to defend the costliness of grace and savor its richness which is our identity now; it is how we live in a world that is outside needing to come in. We cannot use willy-nilly religious chatter carless words- “faithless prattle” (Matt 12:36) which is a major enemy to clearly living that speaks truth with both word and deed.
The new wine which Jesus desires us to drink deeply of will cause incarnational and immersional living that is immanence (in this world which flows into the next!). We are to follow Jesus into the whole of reality and we cannot be content with only a portion of the world around Father that has become tolerable and manipulable under the “leadership” of the Church (Christendom form) only. We can and should be then able to celebrate where-ever we find ourselves with others who are Jesus followers or not, as we live in Fathers reality. We can and should be religionless disciples by being a disciple of the Messiah Jesus, citizen of the Kingdom of Father in this world and the next – and not run to the mother-ship anymore – courage disciples in your discipline of faith! Jesus is the reality of Father who entered into the reality of this world and Father has offered us – yes – you and me to dance in His reality and in the reality of the world not as a duel citizen but as transformed counter creations of what we were in the garden in this worldliness …without resistance to the cost as a disciples of Jesus as Fathers sons and daughters.
John thank you for being one of the Ancient fathers again with me!! Let’s dance Bro and where is the wine!!
 

Surfing on the Edge of Chaos…and its okay for the Church to do so!

I think that the church should be “surfing on the edge of chaos”… otherwise it becomes a building focused group that is more like Zombies. In fact there are actual scriptures that talk about this process.

BUT looking at symptoms is all many thinkers seem to do…there are solutions looking already at the problems and able to take more on. We have to choose holy living or the cheap surrender to our culture/cheap grace (without discipleship) which is more concerned for the budgets/building over people and not speaking out against any tyranny that seeks to take freedom away from people. Jesus releases us to be old testament prophets in the pulpit, bible studies, coffee shops, restaurants…street corners and what Jesus said is true In Matthew 10:32ff “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. 34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”

Others have found this to be true from Paul to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and other unnamed saints throughout the ages and those in the world today who we will meet in heaven. This is heavy, people, but we are in heavy times – we need clarity mixed with hospitality and a strong cup of truth.

This is one part of the Barmen Declaration of a 27 part confessional declaration that needs to be read by all and updated to the times we live in, and I quote: “We reject the false doctrine, as though the State, over and beyond it special commission, should and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life, thus fulfilling the Church’s vocation as well.”

WE have allowed the slow slip into edge of totalitarianism. It isn’t just the Catholics that have been attacked it is ALL OF US!  It started as soon as our previous generations allowed the State to become the givers of welfare not the church, mercy instead of the church, truth instead of the church… and the list is long. The difficulties we now face is not caused by any single person not even obama, it is a long list that covers the last 100 years, even including our names if we haven’t spoken out before this season.

BUT, repentance (change direction) it isn’t too late to speak, stand and act… it isn’t 11:59 yet! But it is getting close; I am not willing to have a de facto event take place without my speaking, acting and standing up to be heard. My name will not be on that list that was silent, my name is in the Lambs book of Life, so I will stand! I actually believe and I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, I will not be silent to the tyranny of this government that thinks it is higher than the Church the Body of Christ Universal; I repudiate all forms of any government that thinks so, even this one that I am a citizen of. That is why I am against its current reigning leadership no matter the name at the end of the name plate – Democrat or Republican – that seeks to become the single and totalitarian order of human life, thus fulfilling the Church’s calling (vocation) as well!

Standing on His rock never meant there wouldn’t be storms just that it was the first step to heaven sometimes because of those storms BUT we won’t be washed away! Peace and Joy!

 

 

occupy reality…really occupy reality now!

Faith in the clear light of day is always better but even in the darkness faith can glow bright like the stars. There is an ultimate authority, the one altar where we kneel…before which all people will kneel at the Fathers altar. Why do we surrender there… we know that whoever seeks to stand with Father no matter how dark or light will stand being held up by Him. Boldly it is time to have our relationship with Jesus Christ to be like the cantus firmus (“fixed song”) that is expanding and melodically clearly singing with others! Each of us has a part to play, one that can blend with other voices and instruments to sound out the symphony of praise.We are the only element of the world that can sing this way, because of whom we live for and who is directing us.

If we hold true to Father we will not be a discontinuous people in cultures that are being so ravaged by change. The part you play and those you fellowship with need to be united with others all over the globe to sound out the message of hope, life, peace of Jesus’ symphony. There are those who seek to destroy, de-value, darken all light, and dishonor the Bride of Jesus.

It is not ours to destroy, de-value others that hate us… but ours is to tell the truth in love, pray clearly and serve everyone. We must please remember: “that if you board the wrong train it is no use running along the corridor in the opposite direction.” (Bonoeffer)  It was again our German martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said, “Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life.” He was troubled by the lack of discipleship in the German church in the 1930s which allowed Hilter to gain power and do his evil, and he blamed it on a flimsy message coming from pulpits, seminaries and Universities. He wrote: “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.” (Bonhoeffer)

Today we face a similar issue of people having so many books about discipleship but seeming to not have a clue on how to be one. It is in the execution of an idea that makes an idea real. We are to make disciples not converts and so it is up to us who are disciples to make disciples.

God is bigger than everyone imagines, the standard issuing of religion even that of religious Christianity that keeps Christ holy on Sunday only will not cut it anymore – IT NEVER HAS!! It is not in weakness that Jesus came and ascended to the right hand of Father, but in strength, victory, power, authority so that guilt, fruitless living, existing only for self, hate and evil be replaced by goodness, life, hope, joy, peace in the midst of evil speaking truth clearly and celebrating life as reality. Unless we live it…occupy life with His life in us we as the church today will be religionless like the rest of the religions of our day…lifeless and dead compared to a life giving relationship Father seeks to be and give to us.

Courage! Nobility!!

It isn’t that we get to choose the times that we live in but it is what we do with the time that is given to us. 2012 is a time for us to see nobility, hear nobility…have nobility ourselves. Don’t expect it from our Politian’s they are what they are, we hope they can learn from us.  We are in perilous times of evil, deceit and betrayal from many areas in this world. It is in perilous times when Christians have to be noble…decent…principled…self-sacrificing… honorable and gallant in all that we are in Jesus.

If we are in these perilous times, it helps to ask the question: has this happened before? If so, what can we learn from our cheerleading group from heaven who acted noble in their time? In the not too distant past about 80 years ago around 1932 the world was still not only unsettled but unstable with significant evil and injustice was growing and like the black plague its spread was just as deadly. Where was the church in that time? Much of it was silent, silenced or in-league with evil. Those few voices were willing to speak and speak boldly…nobility was on the rise. Men like C.S. Lewis, J.B. Philips, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth, Sir Winston Churchill and others we will never know their names until we walk into heaven.

Speak they did, acted they did, gave hope they did and paid the price of freedom, home, family and life they did. Men and women died in battle grounds unnamed and named, in prisons from purposeful neglect and violence…. There were many who were heroes of the faith, heroes for their country or for a greater purpose, that all might have freedom to know Jesus and know life. Tyrannical regimes are most fearful of organizations that don’t easily acquiesce to thier authority. THE CHURCH/KINGDOM DOES NOT!

“Unless we have the courage to fight for a revival of wholesome reserve between man and man, we shall perish in an anarchy of human values… . Socially it means the renunciation of all, a break with the cult of the “star,” (Which is killing the Western church and in our parts of the world!), an open eyes both upwards and downwards, especially in the choice of one’s more intimate friends, and pleasure in private life as well as courage to enter public life. Culturally it means a return from the newspaper and the radio (internet) to the book, from feverish activity to unhurried leisure, from dispersion to concentration, from sensationalism to reflection, from virtuosity to art, from snobbery to modesty, from extravagance to moderation.”

WOW!  AGAIN… “Not hero worship, but intimacy with Christ.”

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

This is the issue of our day as it was in Dietrich day, in-to-me-see with Christ. THEN love is illuminating and discernment is clear, concise and it builds up. It also brings restoration and it helps us with this intimacy with Jesus to remove the skeletons from our closet and readies us for action in His Kingdom…for we will not be muzzled.

Part 2 of Courage next week…

My New Word for 2012

My New Word for 2012

Eucatastrophe is a term coined by J. R. R. Tolkien which refers to the sudden turn of events at the end of a story which ensure that the protagonist does not meet some terrible, impending, and very plausible doom. He formed the word by affixing the Greek prefix eu, meaning good, to catastrophe, the word traditionally used in classically-inspired literary criticism to refer to the “unraveling” or conclusion of a drama’s plot. For Tolkien, the term appears to have had a thematic meaning that went beyond its implied meaning in terms of form. In his definition as outlined in his 1947 essay On Fairy-Stories, eucatastrophe is a fundamental part of his conception of mythopoeia Tolkien asserts that a truly good and representative fairy story is marked by joy: “Far more powerful and poignant is the effect [of joy] in a serious tale of Faerie. In such stories, when the sudden turn comes, we get a piercing glimpse of joy, and heart’s desire that for a moment passes outside the frame rends indeed the very web of story, and lets a gleam come through.” Tolkien sees Christianity as partaking in and fulfilling the overarching mythological nature of the cosmos: “I would venture to say that approaching the Christian story from this perspective, it has long been my feeling (a joyous feeling) that God redeemed the corrupt making-creatures, men, in a way fitting to this aspect, as to others, of their strange nature. The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories. …and among its marvels is the greatest and most complete conceivable eucatastrophe. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man’s history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation.” I would add to his brilliant logic the Ascension the eucatastrophe of Lordship and eternal Kingdom that we live in now and fully in heaven.

Now back to the story of the “Lord of the Rings” it could be said that the climax of the story is a eucatastrophe. Though victory seems assured for Sauron, the One Ring is permanently destroyed through Gollum’s carelessness, and with it the Dark Lord and his fortress of Barad-dûr. This occurs despite Frodo, the chief protagonist, giving in to the will of the Ring and claiming it for himself. Essentially, it is an ostensibly bad situation which is nevertheless salvaged through some unforeseen intervention – Sam-wise who speaks truth and Gollum’s tragic end.

From my simple understanding of literary tools the distinction between Eucatastrophe and deus ex machina is as follows…”Eucatastrophe” is often confused with deus ex machina, in that they both serve to pull the protagonist out of the proverbial (or sometimes literal) fire. The key difference is that the eucatastrophe fits within the established framework of the story, whereas the deus ex machina, the “God from the machine”, suddenly and inexplicably introduces a character, force, or event that has no pre-existing narrative reference- like Miss Marple in Agatha Christi novels solves the crime with information that you the reader were not privy too.

In Tolkien’s masterpiece The Lord of the Rings, while some of the events may seem unlikely or even impossible, they still remain consistent with the overall story. The One Ring holds almost all of Sauron’s power and his entire life force. If the ring is destroyed, so is Sauron. His destruction will also bring about the destruction of his stronghold, which is only held together by his power. This will in turn panic his followers, who flee or are killed in the ensuing destruction. It is a sudden, massive change that totally alters the landscape of what happened previously in the story, yet, unlike a deus ex machina, is completely consistent with the theme and story. The destruction of the One Ring event is a definitive resolution but not an incongruous one or illogical in terms of the story and setting.

Have you had one of those days or years where you through you were going to meet your impending and very plausible doom? What eucatastrophe happened to surprise even you? God generally (note generally “He is not tame”)  does not inter in to our stories  like the deus ex machina, He has and does but generally we find ourselves guided only by our core, His wisdom and faithful friends. If your core is corrupt then failure will and always does happen, it is very consistent in every story. If though your core is solid, wholesome, pure, holy, joyful in its rootedness, peace seeking…even though you go through various trouble, pain even suffering…our story has hope. For we have a God of all hope who does not disappoint us “Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

Now back to your story, how will it go this year, for your journey is perilous, for we live in a very perilous time? Do you have the core, the hope to make it or are you waiting only on God to take you out of the circumstances, He can, He has…but more often He gives you the tools, strength, wisdom even the purity to make the journey and praise Him even if the fire consumes you. For our home is not here but heaven. In the time between our birth and home going you can make the adventure epic from the cup of cold water of mercy, the loving hand of hope to all people, the kind word of peace, speaking the truth in love (no matter the price!) and the laughter of joy mixed with the tears of the hardness of life they will be softened and He will bind up our wounds and wash our robes in the river of life… our “Eucatastrophe”!