is no hiding.”
During a historical moment when so many people are deprived the good things God intends for them, the world needs more theologians that will speak and write words of “prophetic denunciation,” awakening us to our need for the presence of God, which will come when we return and begin to care for those laying at our gates.
Anyone reading Mike’s books will get the sense that he believes it’s vanity to divorce theological concepts from the lives we are expected to live in Christ. To quote one of the writers and thinkers that has influenced him, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says in his important work, The Prophets, “God himself is described as reflecting over the plight of man rather than as contemplating eternal ideas.” Indeed, one of the first things Mike taught me in the classroom was that “Christianity is meant to be lived, not simply learned about.” I’ve carried this pedagogical statement with me over the years, as it has helped ground me in ethical responsibility to my friends, family, and neighbor. The statement itself, as well as the heart behind it, I’ve passed on to students in my history and theology classes. When I teach courses on the History of Christianity, this statement is a key component of the criteria we use to find those characters, the cloud of witnesses, that were faithful and walked worthy of the vocation to which they were called.
Mike lives out what he teaches, reflected in a lifetime spent in ministerial service as pastor, missionary and teacher. Serving the Lord is not something you retire from, but rather a lifetime commitment. In the poem “A Life Built on a Rock: Conviction,” he writes,
“I’m older now
My sail flies a little higher
The wind remains unpredictable
Perhaps it’s time to walk on water
One more time”
The above lines reflect the deep conviction he has of making himself available to the Lord as he ages. Aging makes us face our vulnerability and weakness as human beings. We literally start to decay and death becomes an enemy. In regards to death, I’ve often heard Mike say, “Nobody gets out alive.” Mike is now 61 years old and he has seen and experienced suffering.
As a young person in the Marine Corp arriving in Olongapo City in the 1970s in the waning years of the Vietnam War, Mike witnessed the incredible injustices and abuses of the American Empire’s complicity in the “sex industry,” which has become increasingly globalized. It was there that Mike would meet his first wife, Trinidad, a young woman who was a victim of the U.S. military presence. The disparity of wealth between U.S. forces and the poverty of the local population brought on the tendency for the powerful to injure the powerless to satisfy their errant desires. When I took Jeremiah class with Mr. Garner he taught that the human “propensity for evil” surprised God. Olongapo City was known as ‘sin city’ and the home to unhindered sexual activity unlike anywhere else in the world.
Not only has Mike witnessed the suffering of others, but he too has experienced physical limitations and pain, from the premature hearing loss to complete hip replacement surgery in his fifties. For years, Mike endured the pain associated with two bad hips. He would sit teaching in a classroom multiple hours everyday, rubbing his leg and enduring pain but focused on students growing in their knowledge of the Lord.
When Mike says, “My sail flies a little higher,” I’m provoked to think about the pursuit that most people have in our society to retire someplace warm and sunny. They buy a boat and sail out to sea, attempting to live a dream of eternal youth. However, the imagery in this poem is Biblical, causing us to think about the “Stilling of the Storm” story in the synoptic Gospels. As Jesus and the disciples sail to the other side of the lake the chaotic, unpredictable storm hits. Life is always unpredictable and times of chaos are inevitable. Aging makes us feel even more vulnerable to the unpredictability of life, and the human tendency is self-preservation. Thus, we pursue control and power in our futile efforts to keep death away. Jesus gave us another option, and that’s to get in the boat with him, which is riskier and requires faith. Mike says, “Human beings were not meant to walk on water. Yet, at the invitation of Jesus a few steps are a life changing experience.”
Someone in a boat over the open water feels more vulnerable than the one on land. However, Jesus shows no fear or doubt in the story. He can sleep through the storm, calm it with his words, believing the whole time that no matter what happens, if it’s the will of the father, he’ll reach the other side. Yet, the journey doesn’t stop there, because chaos, manifested in a human being, an archetype, dehumanized from the effects of war meets us on the other side. So it was in the gospel, when Jesus and the disciples disembark from the boat and encounter a demonized man whose identity reflects the horror and presence of the Roman legions upon the populace. The faith Jesus’ displays, he expects from us, his followers. So, when I read this line in Mike’s poetry, I hear a man facing the limits of human mortality, but choosing the option of faith over fear, and putting himself out there once more to get in that boat with Jesus, maybe take a few steps onto the water. We just don’t retire from our service to the Lord. Despite Mike’s physical challenges, he continues to live out his calling. Shortly after this book is published, Mike will be setting sail for the Philippines once again. This time to live out the rest of his life in Asia, write books, and bring his knowledge to the those thirsty for moral readings of scripture.
Mike Garner is above all a theological educator concerned that his students draw closer to the Lord. I remember seeing him in the Institute for G.O.D. Int’l library one day after classes. We were having a brief conversation about all the books and the acquisition of knowledge. I made a comment reflecting my desire to learn all that I could from the books on the shelves, but he responded to me that developing a relationship with the Lord should be prioritized over all the knowledge contained in those books. At the same time, Mike is inspired and motivated by ideas and concepts. If he reads a book and finds one idea or principle that is beneficial and enriching, then the time spent reading he considers valuable. When Mike learns something that is good, he then wants to give it away to others. Historically, there has been an issue with theologians hoarding knowledge. However, a teacher in service to Jesus Christ will share their knowledge of God. In the passage typically referred to as the ‘Great Commission,’ Jesus commands his disciples to ‘teach’ the nations all that he commanded them.
One of the first Bible classes I took at the Institute was Biblical Interpretation. It was a class that Mike taught, and it covered the books of Hosea and Amos. I was very disturbed to learn one of the major issues was how the theologians of the day, the priests, were depriving the people from the knowledge of God. This problem repeats throughout history. During the middle ages this was called “obscurantism,” the withholding of knowledge to keep people in the dark. In that class, I came to realize how the knowledge of God filling my soul and mind was replacing unhealthy ideas.
Theopoetics is Mike Garner’s third published work following Interpretive Adventures: Subversive Readings in a Missional School and Everyday Thoughts: A Collection of Devotional Readings for Thinking Christians. In Interpretive Adventures he puts forward fresh and insightful readings of Scripture in order to help believers live out their faith and particularly those who have a missional calling. Mike’s contributions to Biblical hermeneutics carry the authority that comes from years of experience as a teacher and missionary. Although he would not claim to be a wordsmith, anyone that reads Interpretive Adventures would be impacted by Mike’s pithy theological statements; each convey a depth of theological meaning. For instance, in dealing with the plague narratives in Exodus, he writes, “When God Liberates, Look for Mercy.” He puts forward a prophetic reading that highlights the mercy of God in a passage that many use to argue God is controlling and vengeful. I appreciate the ability to pack such a liberating teaching about God into a concise statement that can be unpacked and discussed.
Mike’s subtitle in Everyday Thoughts, A Collection of Devotional Readings for thinking Christians, reflects his frustration and response to the mass proliferation of Christian devotionals that don’t engage our mind and thus leave us Spiritually dwarfed. The shift to devotional writing reflects Mike’s versatility as a theological educator and writer.
Reflected clearly in the title of the second book, but definitely a major part of