Your Friendly, Neighbourhood Campus Minister

Wipe Y’er Feet

2011-06-07T10:39:00.003-05:00

"Wipe y'er feet!" It is a command which anyone who has been a child or had a child knows well. Why? Well, because there is a lot of stuff in the world that we step in every day. It is not really a part of us but we have this sense that it could be if we track it into our homes and live with it. Those of us who are avid Chaco wearers might understand this better than most. After a long hard day in your sandals - with your feet doing what feet do best - you just need to wash your feet before you do anything else. Our feet are the things which constantly come in contact with the world, picking up everything we step in. You have to wipe y'er feet.

Jesus told his disciples that they should shake the dust off their feet when they left a town or village which rejected the good news concerning the Kingdom of God. It was a way of saying that they did not want to carry anything from such a place with them into the Kingdom of God.

For me, this is reminiscent of the Israelites flight from Egypt. They were told not to bring any of the leaven of that place and that life with them into the promised land. This is why they ate unleavened bread at the Passover meal. Leaven was seen to be a contamination which could follow them from that old life into the new one they were beginning.

Of course, we know the story. They brought a lot of things out of Egypt which they should have left behind. I won't go into them here but if you would like to see the short list go check out Deuteronomy.

Leaven is and was a powerful thing. Did you know that it was only relatively recently that humanity discovered what leaven, yeast, actually was? In biblical times it was a mystical thing. The Egyptians thought it was a gift of the gods. They didn't realize that tiny creatures were falling into their dough at night and making it rise.

Ancient people did know, however, that you could take a piece of yesterday's dough and leaven a whole batch of today's. This is why Moses was so careful to have the people remove any leavening from their homes before they left Egypt. Even today, a devout Jewish woman will thoroughly clean and dust her home - removing even the smallest crumb - lest the old leaven follow them forward.

When Jesus tells his disciples to beware the leaven of the Pharisees he is building on this imagery. He is not, however, talking about bread. If you remember, the disciples already made that mistake. He is speaking of the ideas or "ways" of the Pharisees. It was their way of seeing the world and thus, their way of living in it that Jesus was so adamant to leave behind.

When he warns his disciples to beware the leaven of the Pharisees he is concerned that they will track it into the Kingdom. Bringing forward what you are trying to leave behind is a horrible shame.

And, you know, this is a concern that Jesus voices over and over again in his preaching ministry. To carry the old ways forward was, as he says, tantamount to setting your hand to the plow and looking back at where you have been instead of where you are going. A person like that, he says, is not fit for the Kingdom.

There was nothing to do but make sure their feet were clean.
Kneeling at the feet of Peter, he tells him that unless he washes his feet he will not be able to enter the Kingdom. Peter, of course, does not know when to leave well enough alone. Afraid that he will be left out of the kingdom, he requests that Jesus wash all of him - head to toe.

Jesus responds with a statement which had always been a little puzzling to me. He tells Peter that someone who has bathed is already clean but only needs to wash their feet. Peter had seen the truth. He had been washed in the words and teachings of Jesus as the travelled together. We also know that Peter had gotten Jesus' identity right, calling him messiah when all others thought he was just more of the same old thing.

The new leaven was taking hold in Peter's life and the lives of the other disciples. It was now, as they prepared to enter into the first days of the kingdom, that they needed to wipe their feet. If Jesus had been concerned that they would carry the dust of an unrepentant village with them, how much more concerned must he have been about the dust of a world which would kill messiah? The very things which would lead to this event, selfishness, hatred, fear, faithlessness – these were the very things he did not want them tracking into his household he called the kingdom.

We all have things which we would be better off leaving behind, dusty feet as it were. It is that destructive leaven which we are called to leave behind for it only takes a little of yesterday's leaven to infect all today's bread. As you step forward from this point into the Kingdom, make sure you wipe y'er feet.

Review of Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski

2011-05-19T13:14:00.004-05:00

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I was hesitant when I began this book, fearing that it would simply be another rant. I was pleasantly surprised. It is a heart felt work stemming from a heart felt quest. I think what I find particularly endearing is the way in which the author honestly and openly shares the story. It would be easy for someone in his situation to be overly pious in a "holier than thou" sort of way. Instead, he is quite open about his own failings during his weeks on the street.
I like the way he admits his naiveté at the beginning as well as his frustrations with the very people whose lives he was sharing. In the end you know that he and his compatriot could take off that life in the same way that they would shed themselves of their street rags. The story, however, is something which they can never shed. Nor will you, the reader be able to leave it behind. I recommend this book and look forward to using it in the future with young adults.

Friends Like These...

2011-04-19T11:03:00.001-05:00

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Pilate was a politically savvy person. He knew how the game was played. He knew who to please and whom to support. It had served him well. After all, here he was the governor of a Roman territory. Granted, it was not as choice an appointment as others. Still, it was his. If he could maintain his friendship with Caesar he might get a better placement somewhere else.

Friendship was, of course, what it was all about. Friendship with the right people could take your far while friendship with the wrong people could – well, let’s just say it could cost you everything.

It was a matter of one hand washing the other. Your value as a friend was tied to what you could do for someone else and who you knew. The closer someone was to power and authority the more useful they were as a friend. It paid to get friendly with those in power. They were the ones who could keep you from getting killed.

That is why this pitiful man called Jesus unnerved him so. It was like he had no idea how the game was played. Even worse, it was as if he didn’t care. It was almost like he had his own rules. For this Jesus it was as if the power and authority which Pilate wielded meant nothing. If he realized the favor that Pilate could do for him maybe then he would change his tune.

Now the priests, those were men Pilate could understand. He didn’t necessarily like them, but he understood them. They knew how the game was played, always balancing their need for friendship with Rome with their desire for position and power. Of course, as a people the Jews had mastered this early on. Playing both sides against each other, they had drawn Rome into a larger conflict with their other enemies.

Under their great high priest, Jonathan, the Jewish people had sent an embassy to Rome, winning the title “Friend”. Since then, they had milked it for whatever benefit they could.

This Jesus though, who were his friends; definitely no one in power? What little Pilate had seen of him had nearly convinced him that Jesus was of no real threat to the power of Caesar in that region. He may have called himself king but king of what; a helpless rabble of losers, lepers, whores, tax collectors, widows, orphans and blind men? You can’t field much of an army with the deaf and lame. What was there to gain from friendship with people like these? It was like he was the one doing all of the giving.

Pilate tried reasoning with him. If only he would just play the game Pilate would extend his friendship to him and give him a pardon. Of course, once Jesus was his client he would owe him. It might be convenient to have somebody like this be in your debt. After all, if he had the priests this riled up…

But he would not play the game! Or, at least, not the way Pilate expected. When he offered him the protection of his authority Jesus threw it back on him saying that he didn’t have any power over him except for that which had come to him from above. Who was he talking about, Caesar? Did he know someone in the Senate? Surely he couldn’t mean that superstition the Jews called their god? He didn’t even have a statue!

It was as if Jesus was claiming to have more authority than Pilate. At least, it seemed as if he was tolerating Pilate out of deference to this “higher power” he spoke of. It was as if the whole world had changed and the way things had always worked was passing away. Was he losing his mind?

No, this man he saw before him was nobody with friends who mattered. That could be shown by the way that the real power brokers had set him up. He was just another frustrated religious freak who had come in from the wilderness full of dreams, visions and talk of a kingdom to come. He was sure that the flogging had cured him and his followers of that.

But those priests, they wouldn’t let it go and they knew right where to hit Pilate. Once again, they challenged his friendship with Caesar. Friendship with power is a tenuous thing at best but for someone like Pilate it could be even more fragile. To tell him that he was no friend of Caesar was to strike at the very bread and butter of his existence. At best it might mean the inconvenience of a review. At worst, well, it was best not to think about that. Then there was the added nuisance of knowing that those priests might come out looking better in Caesar’s eyes than Pilate would.

Oh well, there was nothing to do but get rid of this inconvenience called Jesus and protect his friendship with Caesar. After all, isn’t that what it is all about?

Fire Extinguishers: Things We do that Put Out Our Fire, Part III

2011-04-18T11:08:00.002-05:00

Image by Dean_In_SF via Flickr

Fire is a living thing. We have spoken about how it must be fed. It must also breathe. Place a candle in a jar, seal the lid and you will see the flame expire. So too, the fire of God which burns within us must be renewed daily from the breath of God.

“Breathe on me breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love what thou dost love and do what thou wouldst do.” Yeah, I know the language is pretty dated, as should be the case for an old hymn. The theology is pretty solid though. It is a great old hymn using a great old image for God’s presence. Like fire and bread, breath – or air – is one way that we have tried to describe what our experience has been like. We say that humanity was created when God breathed into Adams nostrils creating a living soul. The Hebrews call the spirit of God “ruach” and the Greeks called it “pneumatos”. Like the bread of heaven that feeds our fire, the breath of God keeps it from suffocating.

Breathing, like eating, is not just something you do once. Yet, it seems that we hold our breath as if the air around us is in limited supply. For many, of us it is not a matter of access to the supply that suffocates us, we smother ourselves by not exhaling.

Now, I know this seems like an odd image but give me a moment. I think that we as Christians all too often miss the point of our existence as vessels of the fire of God. When it comes to the breath of God our job is not to be storage. Rather, we should think of ourselves are transport vessels carrying fresh air into the staleness of the world. Rescue breathing, if you would, for a world that is breathlessly waiting for some hopeful, good news. Our failure is a failure to exhale. If we smother, we smother ourselves. Unfortunately, we allow other to smother as well.

So, how do we exhale? Well, you remember that I said we are rescue breathers. Our duty is to take what we have been given and share it with the rest of the world. The problem is, once again, that we do not believe there is enough to go around so we do not share at all.

Revisiting the feeding of the multitudes, we see the crowds gathered on the hillside and say, “Lord there will never be enough to feed all of these people!” His eternal response is simply to ask that we bring him what we have. Bringing our limited supply to him, we quickly realize that with his blessing there is enough for all.

We have to get away from seeing God’s presence as some sort of limited commodity which we must hold onto like grim death lest our fire die. By mercifully exhaling this breath of God into the nostrils of other dying souls, we open our own fire to that breath a new every day.

There are many ways we can exhale. We exhale when we feed the hungry. We exhale by caring for the widow and the orphan. We exhale by visiting and caring for the sick. We exhale by showing hospitality to the stranger and the alien in our midst. We exhale by clothing the naked. In all of these things and more we exhale when we rescue the lost by sharing this Good News Christ has given us; this good news we call the Kingdom of God. In short, we exhale by showing to others the same grace and love which we ourselves have received.

It is nothing new or novel to say that this is an expectation God has for us. Jesus insists that those who would claim a share in his kingdom do these things to others as if it were being done to Jesus himself. James, revisiting the teaching of his big brother, tells us that if we say we have faith but do not do these things - do not love – it is as if we have no faith at all.

For John Wesley the sanctification of the individual meant that the love of God and neighbor was to be shed abroad in one’s heart. The result was the production of “works meet for repentance” This was Wesley’s way of saying that you should exhale after each breath of grace.

These works of mercy are not the things which make us holy. Rather, they are the natural result of God’s holiness with in us, fanning the flames of his spirit. They are the pleasure of breathing deeply in God’s presence, allowing us to love as God would love and do as God would do. Enjoy a deep exhale after each fresh new breath of grace.

Fire Extinguishers: Things We do that Put Out Our Fire, Part II

2011-03-31T16:20:00.000-05:00

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

When Jesus was followed by a large crowd looking for bread in the wilderness, he told them that if they knew who it was they were following and what he had to offer, they would not be satisfied with mere bread. They would, instead, want the true bread, the bread that has come down from heaven. (John 6:25-35, NRSV)

Bread, like fire, is a biblical image for God’s presence. Specifically, it shows how we rely on God for our sustenance. Like the Israelites who ate manna in the wilderness and the multitudes who enjoyed the multiplied loaves, we too enjoy the benefit of the bread of life prepared for us a grace and a mercy. If we starve the flame out in our lives it is of our own doing.

There are means by which we receive this graciously given bread. As with a fire on the hearth, our fire must be renewed afresh daily. We find, as did the Israelites, that it is not a matter of hoarding enough for several days. When we neglect our daily bread the fire starves and dies out.

One way we starve our fire of its daily bread is failure to pray, specifically, failing to listen when we pray. Taking Jesus as our example, we should look for daily opportunities to have times when we can have prayer. This prayer should not be one sided either. A large part of your prayer time should be set aside for listening.

Think of it as entering into a conversation. If one person does all of the talking it ceases to be a dialogue. And, of course, please do not stress out about hearing an audible voice. As you practice prayer more carefully and regularly, you will find that God often speaks in inexplicable silence as his spirit testifies with your own for conviction or assurance.

Importantly, you must realize that prayer is not just a private endeavor. John Wesley says that prayer can be done either “secretly” or “in the great congregation”. It is in shared prayer that we often find ourselves fed in unique ways. Whether it be ritual or extemporaneous, the shared prayers of the people are a powerful way to stoke the fire.

Along the same lines we also starve the flame by neglecting our private and public study of scripture. This searching of the scripture includes the reading, hearing and thoughtful pondering upon scripture. Be it a personal bible devotion, group study or corporate worship, we must keep our hearts fully provisioned with scripture.

Finally, when we fail to avail ourselves of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper – the taking of the bread and cup – we cut ourselves off from a unique experience of the grace of God, further starving our fire.

There are many reasons why people fail to take communion. Some are too busy. Some are afraid that it will become too familiar. In other words, they think it will become a common thing. I once had a person tell me that it was wrong to offer communion more often than once a month. They said it was not the United Methodist way.

Most often, however, people abstain from the sacrament because they feel they are unprepared or, even worse, unworthy. If you are a person who avoids the table for this reason I want you to consider this.

The communion has very little to do with your holiness and everything to do with God’s.

As a means of grace, the act of communion is a devotion we have been called upon to practice in remembrance of Christ so that we might remember him. In doing so, we have him present with us. Once again, it is this presence of God that sanctifies us and not anything we can do for ourselves. Indeed, if our salvation was a matter of God waiting for us to prepare ourselves all of humanity would still be waiting on the day of the Lord.

For someone like Wesley and the other Methodists, the sacrament of communion was the chief way in which believers feed the fire of the Holy Spirit in their lives. In fact, he called for constant communion, asserting that the believer should avail herself of the sacrament as often as possible. There was no maximum number of times an individual could take it. Even today, the United Methodist Book of Discipline mandates that it be served no fewer than five times a year. There is no maximum.

We, as a people, value this meal for in it we are reminded that God invites us to his table in spite of our failings. We gather around it in hope that his presence will redeem us, teaching us true holiness. Therefore, all who gather around this table are saintly sinners seeking the fire of a Holy God.

Fire Extinguishers: Things We do that Put Out Our Fire - Part I

2011-03-24T16:13:00.002-05:00

Image by dolomite73 via Flickr

Fire has always been a metaphor for the experience of the Christian life. When speaking of his work in evangelism John Wesley said, “I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn.” Christianity has been using this imagery since its birth.

In fact, it is on the birthday of the church, we call it Pentecost, that we most frequently use the image of fire. The Gospel writer Luke tells us in the book of Acts that on the day of Pentecost, when the church received the gift of the Holy Spirit, tongues of flame danced upon their heads. Thus vital Christian life in the Spirit became connected with the image of fire and we have used it ever since.

Fire is a good image because it evokes so many things. Fire can be positive or negative. Everyone loves to have a fire in their house but not in their house. Fire is equated with hearth and home. It can also be an image for consumption and destruction. Biblically speaking, fire (when used to refer to the presence of God) is often understood as a horribly wonderful thing, purifying as it consumes.

In our lives as Christians it is no different. That very presence of God in us purifies as it consumes while simultaneously drawing others as moths are drawn to a flame. Our job, as Wesley put it, is to burn so that others may watch and see the glory of Christ.

The thing about fire, however, is that for all of its power it does have its limitations. A fire can, after all, die and no one has ever been warmed by a dead fire.

In general, fire needs two things to live. First of all, it needs fuel. Because its job is to consume, fire has the nasty habit of using up its available resources. If you do not feed a fire it will starve and go out.

The second thing a fire needs is air – an oxidizer of some sort – because fire is the visible sign of a complex and destructive chemical process in which one thing is broken apart into its basic components while others a turned into something new.

This is why you can blow a candle out. Now, I know that this seems counterintuitive, but when you suddenly blow a candle out you are separating the fuel from the air around it. When an oil rig explodes they actually “blow” them out by using a large quantity of high explosives. Leave this one for the experts folks. You don’t want to try it out on your next birthday cake.

This is why fire extinguishers work. They separate the fire from its fuel or air, starving it out of existence or suffocating it to death. This is why firefighters spray water on a fire, your grandma keeps a box of baking soda near the stove and your grandpa kept a bucket of sand in the garage – they are all effective fire extinguishers. And of course, there are all of those people you know as wet blankets. And if you are a wet blanket yourself, well, there is a reason you never get invited to parties.

Now, I know that you are incredibly thankful for this little trip in the world of Mister Wizard and the magic of fire. My point is this. When it comes to the spiritual fire we have been given, there are many “extinguishers” we need to watch out for. Just like the real ones they tend to work by either starving or suffocating. In the next couple of messages we will take them up based on how they work. First, we will look at the ones that starve. Then, we will look at the ones that suffocate.

On Being Where You Are

2011-03-23T18:25:00.002-05:00

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There is a strange phenomenon you experience as a parent. For example, within about two days or so after my sons had received a healthy dose of Christmas presents they began thinking about the gifts they wanted for their birthday. Quite literally surrounded by enough toys to choke a horse (granted, I am not sure how many toys this would take) my sons were focused on some obscure future instead of enjoying the present they had been given.

Of course, they come by it naturally. It is an entirely human thing to do and this brings me to my point. As Christians, I think we neglect the joy of the Kingdom we have been given by focusing on an experience of heaven we have yet to see. Our hymns are full of the imagery. You have heard the songs: “When we all get to heaven”, “I’ll Fly Away”. These are songs which place the focus of the Christian life on something that happens at the end rather than on how we live today.

I do not even believe that Jesus meant going to heaven to be our focus. His earth shattering news was that the Kingdom of God, or Heaven if you wish, was breaking in and people could live in it now. His was a message of impending grace which was in the process of becoming. In his mind, the point of a faithful life is not so much about getting to heaven as it is about having heaven define how you live your life now. To put off the reward of a Christian life until death is to miss the point of Jesus’ promise entirely.

The point of Jesus’ good news of the Kingdom is that we can have the joy of God’s presence now, living with us and within us. This is, after all, the point of the beatitudes. They point to a whole new way of living and being that is defined by God’s living presence. The outcome of that presence is an inheritance in the here and now. The vision of the beatitudes is of a people going forth in glory rather than waiting around in an upper room somewhere.

Now, I hear you saying, “But it says that you will store up treasures in heaven.” Yes. That is the outcome of how we live our lives in the kingdom today. The notion still remains that we have been given a life to live now and the way we live that life, amazingly enough, greatly impacts what goes on in heaven. We are in a sense living out on earth the holiness that is in heaven, sanctifying creation by being present in it as God is present in us. It is God’s presence in this world – his Holy Spirit with us – which is the true treasure store of heaven. It is amazing to me that we can ignore that fact in search of some greater reward.

Jesus spent a considerable amount of time explaining this to his followers. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” was a common way for him to start a lesson. In one instance the Kingdom was like a pearl for which you would sell all other jewels. Again, it was like a hidden treasure which would make you buy the whole field in which it lay. The Kingdom was, in short, the great inheritance for which the faithful had waited. It was, as Jesus said, here and now, and still is. The Kingdom of God is a treasure he was willing to die for and it is one we should be willing to live for.

And yet, we sit around in the midst of the Kingdom waiting for something else, something new, something better, as if the thing God has given us just is not special enough. We are like children who can focus on nothing else than what Santa forgot to bring us.

We fail to enjoy the present day that Christ has won for us. With our eyes fixed on heaven we neglect the Kingdom that God has entrusted to our care. We look to the horizon for the next thing. The funny thing about the forgiveness is that you never seem to reach it. I fear that a person who walks only to the horizon may stumble past the very thing they were looking for.

The key is learning how to be present in the world that Christ has won for us. We need to focus on being where we are. In the Empire Strikes Back the character of Luke Skywalker wants nothing but to be a Jedi. The problem is that he cannot seem to stay put long enough to work on being one. It is a failing that his master Yoda points out to him. “This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing. …You are reckless.”

It would seem that we Christians can be a lot like young Luke, wanting all of the honor and glory without any of the investment. We have a very difficult time focusing on the becoming part of Christianity and wish to jump straight to the being. That is “being” Christian in the sense of some instantaneous beatification.

You remember that I said the beatitudes are about living out your life here in the Kingdom according to the rules of heaven? Well, let us consider what the term beatitude means. To beatify something is to make it holy or blessed. For instance, our brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic Church are pondering the question of beatification for Pope John Paul II. This means that he is up for promotion to sainthood. In the process of beatification the church seeks evidence from the life of the individual that he or she possessed an unusual degree of holiness. It is not the Roman Catholic Church’s pronouncement that makes the saint holy; rather, it is a confirmation of the individual’s sanctification by the community. Their understanding is that holiness is something experienced and lived out in this life.

Once again, the beatitudes are interested in the ongoing work of holiness with in our lives. They represent the way in which God is working to sanctify us in each and every moment of our lives. He does not wait until the last moment to make us like his son; He chooses to work on it every day. Therefore, we must be alert to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit as it instructs us in those seemingly mundane details of daily life in the Kingdom. We must be constantly watching for the moments in which we can practice peacemaking, humility, and all of those other holy practices.

We have been promised eternal life in the Kingdom of God. It would be a shame to spend all of that time looking for something better. So, instead of locking in on that horizon let us begin today living on earth as it is in heaven.

God is in Charge?

2011-03-23T16:37:00.001-05:00

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“My hope is built on nothing less…” Would it surprise you if I said that the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, was not sure if he could have said these words, at least, not at first? He did place his hope in many things for quite some time but it took some time for him to place his trust in God.

So, if he was not placing his trust in God, what was it in which he placed his trust? Well, he placed a lot of trust in his intellect. He was, after all, a very intelligent young man. Steeped in the enlightenment and educated at Oxford, Wesley was among the best prepared of his day. Besides the disciplines of biblical studies and theology, he dabbled in philosophy, science and medicine. Yet he found that his intelligence failed him.

He also had drive. Doubtless you have heard the term “Type A”. I think it was created for people like Wesley if not for Wesley himself. Wesley kept a schedule that few of us could match. He made demands of himself and his preachers to never be triflingly engaged or to stay too long in any one place. Wesley was well organized and armed with a razor sharp force of focus and purpose. Yet it failed him as well.

Granted, he might not have been able to place his hope in these things but surely he could rest assured in his piety. Wesley practiced great acts of piety. So much so that he made a name for himself. As a student at Oxford, Wesley formed a group which would come to be known as the Holy Club. They made a point of daily prayer, scripture reading, fasting, visiting the sick and imprisoned, feeding the hungry and clothing the poor. Wesley did many good things and yet this too failed him. Returning from his failed mission to the colony of Georgia, Wesley wrote in his journal, “I went to save the Indian but who will save me?”

We all sing the songs, whether it be the old hymn I sang at the beginning or a song like “God is in Control”. Do we mean it? Do we live it out?

Our text from Psalms deals with the human desire to put our trust in things other than God. For the author this brought to mind an image of conflict. Of course, in ancient Israel life was a constant conflict. Living at the crossroads of the known world, the kingdom of David was constantly under threat from the outside. This is why Psalm 33 refers to aspects of war and defense. Israel was constantly concerned with from where their help would arrive.

Would it come from the king’s army? No, even a great army will fail the one who places all hope in it. Would their help come from the strength of a mighty warrior? No. Not even the warrior’s strong arm could be trusted. Indeed, even the war horse, that great military marvel of its day, would fail the person vain enough to put his trust in it.

In the eyes of the psalmist there is but one in whom we can place our trust. There is only one who is sovereign. There is but one who is in control. For the psalmist God is in charge.

What does it mean for God to be in charge? Why is he in charge? What does that mean for us?

Well, to put it simply, God is in charge because he is! A really cool guy named Jacob Arminius put it this way. God is sovereign over all things – in charge – because everything has its origins in him. It is what the psalm says, “For he spoke and it came to be; he commanded and it stood firm.” God is first and because of God all things came into being. Therefore, God gets to be in charge.

You would think that would clinch it but it does not. Even those of us who are willing to say that God is in charge in word quite often fail to do so in deed. We trust in our strength, our armies, our intellect, our drive and our righteousness.

Is it not ironic that at this moment, as we watch our brothers and sister in Japan suffer under the triple threat of earthquake, tsunami and radiation, we still trust in all of our own abilities to see us through? It would be interesting to know how many people in the Chattanooga area ran out this week to buy a bottle of iodine tablets. We may say that God is in control but we sure do not do a good job of putting our trust in him.

But you see, the psalmist does not just say that God is in charge. He actually trusts God to boot! Even in the face of famine and death he places his trust in God. Why?
It is not simply because he knows that God is sovereign. He trusts God because of the way God has been revealed to him. God has shown faithfulness to him and he has experienced God’s uprightness first hand. God has proven to be a lover of righteousness and justice. Even all of creation, says the psalmist, is full of his steadfast love.

It is not only that God is in charge, God has also been shown worthy of our trust. That is pretty amazing because, after all, a lot of people get to be in charge but not many show themselves to be trustworthy. Here we have the unique situation of someone who really is in charge and yet they go out of their way to develop our trust.

For the psalmist – and blessed is he if this is true – the examples at hand seem to have been enough. For many, however, it was not. So, this God who is in charge, gave us control over him so that we might test him and see that his work is indeed done in faithfulness.

Oh and how we tested him! We turned upon him with all of the testing our strength, intellect and vanity could bear. This one, who fashions the hearts of all, observed our deeds , delivering our souls from death.

John Wesley asked who would save him when he realized failure to save himself let alone others. His biggest failing was not his ability to say that God was in charge. His failure was in trusting God to be in charge. He could not believe that this God could, or would, love him – forget dying for him.

One night, as Wesley listened to some dry pastor read something Martin Luther had said about Romans, Wesley felt something change. Feeling his heart strangely warmed, he began to believe that Christ had died for him and he did truly trust him to be in charge. This is not to say that a person like Wesley never struggled again, because he did. The difference came when he allowed God to be in control. It changed his life and gave meaning to all of his intellect, drive and piety.

Where is your hope? Is God in Charge? Do you trust him to be in charge?

Casting Crowns

2011-02-17T17:45:00.002-05:00

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What does it mean to lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus? It is not just pretty imagery for popular Christian music. Laying our crowns at the feet of Jesus means that we are acknowledging our role in our relationship with God. It also dictates how we relate to others as well. First of all, let us take a look at our text from Revelation.

“And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:9-11, NRSV)

Our text from the book of Revelation shares an image of heaven. In that image we see Jesus Christ surrounded by twenty-four elders. To understand the significance of this you need to consider that the book of Revelation relies heavily on imagery taken from the temple worship of Ancient Judaism. When we speak of the temple we are referring to a structure dedicated to the worship of God. At its center was the temple proper, or, the Holy of Holies. It was within this structure the living presence of God was understood to dwell.

The temple was serviced by the descendants of Aaron, God’s original High Priest. These descendants formed the tribe of Levi and they were organized into 24 ranks. Among all of Israel these were truly elders of great authority to whom others looked for leadership and guidance. They were at the highest level of society and demanded the respect of that position. In return they stood before God offering perpetual sacrifices on behalf of the people of Israel.

The imagery of Revelation’s heavenly temple places the glorified and resurrected Christ at the center of the Elder’s worship. The difference being, of course, that the Elders no longer offer sacrifices of grain, wine, incense, flesh and blood. Instead, they offer their devotion. It is their response to the work of Christ, causing them to throw their crowns – the symbols of their honor and prestige – at the feet of one to whom belong all honor and glory.

The crown as a symbol of honor and prestige is ancient. In the time of St. John of Patmos, the most significant crow of all belonged to Caesar, the Emperor of the Roman Empire. His was a crown of golden laurel leaves. It pointed to his superiority over all other people. It was a superiority that demanded others worship him as a god.

Revelation’s vision directly challenges that notion. In Revelation the very Elders to whom Christ has given authority humble themselves before him. Their act of casting crowns is an outward statement that they value him over any other prize. In their world, it is Christ alone and no earthly power who is worthy of such honor and glory.

Thus, they sing to him, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” To cast our crowns before Jesus is to confess our role and testify to his authority. By doing so, we and the Elders in heaven are orienting our lives in a way which defines us.

The act of casting our crowns should not only define who we are in relationship to God. It must also define who we are in relationship to another. Returning to the heavenly assembly for a moment, let us consider what the act of casting crowns did to those Elders. At the moment in which they cast down their crowns and take to their knees before Jesus, the Elders place themselves in a position of equality to each other. They are manifesting in their posture the reality of who they are in Christ. None could claim any authority or honor another for all of that belongs to him.

My question is this: if this casting of crowns dictates how the elders around the thrown relate to one another, what should it do to us? It could be really easy for us to get a swelled head because of what Christ has done for us. After all, he moved heaven and earth (and a very big stone) so that you and I could have a relationship with his father. That must make us pretty special.

Yes and no. During his brief earthly ministry, Jesus dealt with this type of thing fairly frequently. Most notably, he dealt with it among his closest disciples. These were the ones who should have known better but they did not.

We read of the Sons of Thunder. Apparently, they were full of noise. These were the ones who asked Jesus to save them a special place of honor among his followers. Hearing this, the other disciples were livid. Not because they understood the arrogance of the request, but because they had been beaten to the punch.

In response to this Jesus returned the cryptic answer, “…but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”(Mark 10:43-44 NRSV) His desire was to redefine for them what honor and prestige look like in the Kingdom. Honor is not defined by what someone gives to you so much as it is defined by what you give to others simply because they are valued by God. It is the response dictated by the gift and mercy of Christ in your life. Casting our crowns means we no longer lord it over each other like a bunch of little Caesars.

In the service of Word and Table of the United Methodist Church we echo the words of the Elders gathered around the throne. Actually, we do not just echo it. We join with them in their unending hymn,

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest.

It is the way we respond to the Christ as he stands before us in the bread and cup; broken and poured out for all. The table is open to all who repent of their sins and seek to live in love and charity with their neighbor. Come as ye may and cast down your crowns.

Woodworking and the Training of Ministers

2011-02-15T14:52:00.000-05:00

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As a denomination, United Methodists can boast some of the highest academic standards. As a result we have some of the best trained clergy of any faith. Ours is an old method with a longstanding and fruitful tradition.

In spite of this, however, many are asking if it is necessarily the best way or, perhaps, even the only way. Could there be another aspect of training and education which we are missing or even forgotten? I ask this question for two reasons.

First of all, in my role as a campus minister it is increasingly revealed to me that our current academic method of training and pastoral education seems to be leaving more and more young people behind. It seems as if the one size fits all program we use no longer fits the culture in which our young adults are living never mind the young adults it produces. I think we can all point to a young person in our present or past who, although they possess the requisite intelligence and curiosity for the calling, seem to flounder under the traditional demands of the academy.

Secondly, being myself now nearly ten years removed from seminary and almost fourteen years removed from college, I can honestly understand both the success and failings of that process. Looking back, I can say without hesitation that I was exposed to a great amount of information during those years. Having reached the requisite number of course credits, the conference in its wisdom – or lack thereof – approved me to be a minister. This approval came, after a brief, yet thorough, interview by Fred Dearing and Mickey Rainwater. They quizzed me on all the minutia of all things animal, vegetable, mineral and Methodist. I had passed the test. I knew all the right things. Again though, when I look back I have to wonder if I was truly educated enough (yes, I know you are asking that too). If you are honest you might be asking the same thing about yourself. As a matter of fact, were any of us truly educated at that point? Is it possible that you can earn an M.Div. and still not be quite ready for primetime?

According to Brian A. Williams, author of The Potter’s Rib, it is definitely possible and we do it all of the time. Williams explains the distinction between science and sapience. In a nutshell, science or scientia is simply a body of knowledge that one acquires. This, according to Williams, is what seminary and college are really good at.

Simply having knowledge is good but it has its drawbacks. As Williams says,

“Scientia threatens to construct a system of propositions in order to explain the world and manage it. It lays a high stress on specialized skills of analysis, sophistication about methods of exegesis, and strategies for management and achieving results.” (Williams, The Potter’s Rib, 47)

In essence, it is a casuistry which seeks to conform rather than transform. This is not to say that knowledge is in and of itself bad. Rather, what Williams wants us to understand is that knowledge should serve and end and not be one in itself.

Contrast this with the idea of sapience and we arrive at something which resonates more closely with the vision of the Gospel, and the desire of the young adults whom the church desires to reach. In fact, vision is exactly what sapience is interested in. Specifically, it is interested in the totality of God’s vision for the world and the individual. It is, as Williams says, interested in speaking words of creation into the entirety of someone else’s life.

This sounds great but it is really hard to quantify. I mean, it is much easier for the conference office to keep track of how many credit hours a seminarian has than to document whether or not the love of God was shed abroad in her heart.” Regardless of the difficulties, I believe that this is something we must pursue, if not for our own good, then for the sake of those who are following after us.

The good news is that we do not even have to develop a new model for this. No committees, no councils need be involved. We simply have to take back up what we have laid aside. Taking a lesson from carpenters and woodworkers who pass along their wisdom from one generation to the next would not hurt either. Craftsmen of this sort do their teaching in the form of apprenticeships. It may be the very thing we have forgotten.

Now, within woodworking circles there are some pretty big names. One of the biggest is Tag (Tay) Frid. As a very young person in his native Denmark, Frid became an apprentice to a master carpenter because, as he shares, he was not the most outstanding student in school. (Tag Frid, Tag Frid Teaches Woodworking: Book 1, Joinery, 2)

As an apprentice Frid quite literally lived in shop, He signed on for a five year contract which he points out was binding on both parties. In other words, the craftsman was as responsible to him as he was to the master woodworker. Expectations were high and his time was divided between the shop and the school. In the end, this not so good student went on to become a master in his own right, teaching at some of the most prestigious professional carpentry schools in the United States.

It is important to note that someone like Frid who possessed great Technical knowledge always placed that knowledge at the disposal of his students. His goal was to do his best and teach people to be their best.

Another big name in woodworking belongs to Roy Underhill. Underhill has made a career out of doing things the hard way. Never mind that he can cut dove tails in the time it would take most of us to set up a router.

Like Frid, Underhill is a wealth of practical knowledge on “how to”. If you read his book or watch his show, though, you begin to realize that what he really wants is to effect who his students are at the personal level. His goal is to change the way you think about yourself and the world around you. In other words, he wants you to be confident in yourself and in your abilities.

For master craftsmen like Frid and Underhill, the point and purpose of an education is to teach you to be present in the moment, knowing and aware of where you are and what you are doing. It is a wisdom that sharp tools seem to bring about in people.

I think it is safe to say that Underhill believes this wisdom is best taught through relationship. It is a relationship between the master and apprentice in the midst of a shared labor. I believe that in this is the key of something we used to do naturally but have somehow lost sight of. Yes, we have mentoring relationships, but they seem to be of a purely administrative nature. “Sign this, answer this, OK see you next week.”

So, what would this look like in practice - this apprenticeship for ministry? I cannot say for sure but you know it when you see it. Other than that, the only thing I can do is give you an image from my family. I have a brother-in-law named Tom. Tom is a master carpenter of his own right. He can show up on site and build you a fine house without really even needing any plans. As with any master craftsman, his knowledge of the trade is so vast and intimate that it manifests itself in an intuitive kind of work. I am amazed whenever I see him cut an angle on a board, freehanded using nothing but his circular saw and faith.

So, how did Tom get to this point? Well, he started early for one thing. As a youth he started going to job sites with his dad and uncle who were also masters of their craft. He learned his trade and its values while carrying wood and shoveling dirt. He became a master of the hammer, saw and square. As he showed himself trustworthy and competent in one thing he would be moved on to the next.

The thing you notice about people like Tom and craftsmen of this sort is that they always have a story. If you ask them about their craft they do not seem to spend a lot of their time in the specifics. It seems as if everything they know, everything that matters, is tied to a story of a day or an event that taught them some great and intangible wisdom about themselves and their trade. Hang around the masters of any trade long enough and you will get a ton of stories. Of course, you know who else tends to do this too - pastors. If you do not believe me, take Randy Martin out to lunch. He prefers Longhorn.

All of these aspects of the master / apprentice relationship point toward something I think we intuitively do in our moments of best practice. It is the way Jesus taught his disciples and it is the way the Wesleyan Class meeting works. It is wisdom, brought forth in relationship, which gives life to the concrete knowledge of the seminary. Somehow we have either forgotten it or become ashamed of it. I am not sure which.

If we will take a lesson from the woodworkers - instead of the Harvard Business school - and see ourselves as artisans for a change we might be able to help more young people who we might normally miss.

So what are we to do? Once again, I do not truly know. All I can say is this. I think that I will be spending more time shaping people instead of worrying about producing results – numbers and statistics. After all, results only end up in old copies of the conference journal. People end up in the Kingdom.

Call: Responding to the Still Small Voice

2011-02-10T21:54:00.000-05:00

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Call:

Responding to the Still Small Voice

The Bible is full of call stories. They range from the burning bush of Moses to the knock you on your butt confrontation of Jesus and Paul on the Damascene Road. Often, they are of the still small voice type experienced by Samuel.

"Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ and he said, ‘Here I am!’ and ran to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’ So he went and lay down. The LORD called again, ‘Samuel!’ Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call, my son; lie down again.’ Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” ’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’ "

Samuel heard God call him three times, but he was just a young boy serving God’s priest Eli. He did not realize who it was that had called him. Indeed, he may have never realized who was calling him if it had not been for Eli. Samuel knew someone was calling him but it took someone like Eli to help him discern who placed the call.

Eli was the elder statesman of God. He had served him as priest for many years. Those years of experience had given him a perspective which young Samuel lacked. This perspective allowed him to guide Samuel in his response.

As Agents of Christ, called to live out the vision of the Kingdom, we must keep in mind that there are so many people who hear the call of God but have not yet responded. This is not because they choose to ignore it or flatly reject it – it is because they simply do not recognize or understand who has made the call. They are plagued by a sort of discomfort, a dissatisfaction with their life, their work and their world. They know something needs to be different but they do not know what. They have tried everything and searched down many roads following the who’s or what’s they thought had called them only to find another dead end.

Those of us who have already responded to this call are in a unique position to aid these “Samuels” in their quest. Like Eli, we can offer them a perspective, allowing them to understand who is calling and what to do next. Eli Understood it was God who was calling in the night. Perhaps he had heard it before himself. The scripture tells us that Samuel did not yet know the Lord. Eli reassured the boy telling him how to respond the next time he called. “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” That was Eli’s guidance. It was Samuel’s response. Samuel went on to become the last of Israel’s Judges and the most respected prophet of his time. Anointing two kings by the Lord’s authority, his career overshadowed Eli’s life and ended his career but what would have happened if Eli had not guided Samuel.

God Smacked

Sometimes, as agents of Christ, our duty to the called does not mean helping them discern who called them. Sometimes, it means helping them discern what to do next.

The English have this great phrase, “gob smacked”. It means you have been flabbergasted beyond reason. To be gob smacked means finding yourself in a moment of awe and disbelief causing you to clap your hand across your mouth or “gob”.

On the road to Damascus Paul was gob smacked. Actually, I suppose it would be more to the point to say that he was “God smacked”. By the way, I do not mean the band.

Paul had definitely discerned a call in his life and even understood it to be the Kingdom of God. He was, however, confused about the vision. The kingdom vision he held was not that of God and as we read in Proverbs 29 it lead to chaos.

Paul’s vision of the Kingdom lead him to hatred, anger and violence – the opposite of the Kingdom vision of Christ. On Paul’s journey to Damascus God smacked him and clarified the vision for him. Jesus not so gently explained to Paul the error of his way.

At this point, it was not perspective Paul required. He had already received gobs of perspective. His experience of the risen and glorified Christ left him with no doubt about his call. What Paul needed was the support of the community as he lived out the call.

You see, when Paul responded to God’s call he turned his back on the community that had supported him along with its vision of the kingdom. Blinded by the light of Christ, he lay blinded to the world he had known. Paul could not go forward but he could not go back. It was at this moment that Christ sent him Ananias, a member of the same community he had intended to persecute. Ananias prayed for him to regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul was then surrounded by this community. They baptized him, nursed him to health and most importantly, shared with him the vision called the Kingdom of God. On the road to Damascus, Paul’s vision was replaced by Christ’s. When he finally made it to the synagogue the people were expecting him to read a letter of indictment. Instead he proclaimed Jesus and the Kingdom of God. The response to Paul’s call was violent. At this point the support of his new community was a matter of life or death. To save his life, members of the community lowered him down the city walls to safety. This support allowed Paul to continue his work.

A Time Such as This

I think Paul’s call emboldened him to the point of courage. Often though, we need the community to hold us accountable to our call in the face of fear. The threat of violence or death can cause us to resist our call. Fear of persecution and punishment may cause us to cede key territory in the Kingdom in exchange for personal comfort and peace.

This is when the community comes around in a spirit of accountability, reminding a sister or brother that they have a duty to their call. This is the story of Esther and her uncle, Mordecai.

Esther had been blessed to become the king’s wife. This was unusual because she, like her uncle, was a part of the Jewish community, spread across the king’s empire in exile. Against all odds she had been chosen as the king’s new wife. It was a position of comfort and stability. All she had to do was sit back, relax and not rock the boat.

One day however, her uncle Mordecai caught wind of a malicious plot to do away with every Jewish person in the king’s realm. The king had been talked into it by Haman, a close advisor. In his ignorance the king had actually consigned his own wife to death. Hearing about the plot Mordecai knew his niece was in a unique position to do something about it.

Esther was understandably hesitant. The last queen had been sacked for contradicting the king and here her uncle was asking her not only to contradict the king but challenge his edicts! Never mind the fact that the king had standing orders to execute anyone who entered his presence unbidden. Esther had reason to be apprehensive. No one would blame her if she kept silent. I mean after all, the king did not even know she was Jewish!

Fear may be the biggest hurdle any agent ever faces. It can stop someone from pursuing their call more easily than anything else. Fear causes us to create all sorts of arguments. Moses was afraid people would laugh at the way he spoke. Jeremiah feared his youth would be thrown in his face. Peter cowered in the bottom of his boat fearing the guilt of past sin.

It is at these times when we, as agents of Christ, need to be held accountable to the duty of our call. Someone must come alongside us, reminding us of the duty we have to this vision called the Kingdom of God. Mordecai’s not so gentle rebuke of Esther’s fear called her on the carpet. To consider her own comfort and security at “such a time as this” was to ignore the unique duty of her call.

Esther heard her uncle and answered the call. In return she asked that the community support her in prayer as she worked out her call. As agents of Christ we have a responsibility to support one another in our call. Sometimes this means helping someone understand who has called them. Sometimes this means helping someone understand what the call requires. Sometimes this means holding each other accountable to the duty of that call. Always, it means being there to seek and support those who answer the call of God in their lives.

The Belt

2011-02-03T22:36:00.000-05:00

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As I think about this scripture I keep seeing the image of some professional wrestler, oversized belt draped across his shoulder, ranting about how much more awesome he is than the person he just beat more senseless than he already was. It is kind of funny how the term “the belt” has come to signify glory and reward in such a selfish sort of way.

For Paul, the belt in question is an honor but not the type of honor we would typically take interest in. It definitely is not the kind of honor our professional wrestling friend would be interested in. The honor that comes with Paul’s belt is not an honor defined by wealth, connection or prestige. The honor of Paul’s belt is defined by service, sacrifice and devotion.

It is defined by service to a vision through service to others. It is service given faithfully no matter the cost. It is a calling he received from Christ.

In Acts 26:17&18 Paul testifies to his calling before Herod Agrippa II. Paul quotes Jesus’ words to him, “I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

Paul understood that he was being honored with the opportunity to serve in a great work which would reconcile entire nations to God. He also understood that this call would call for him to make sacrifices as well.

That is where we find Paul in Acts 21. Stopping in Caesarea at the home of some friends, Paul is met by a prophet from Judea who has come with a special message. Agabus, the prophet, takes Paul’s belt and begins to bind himself hand and foot. Having hog tied himself he addresses the groups saying, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’” ( Acts 21:11, NRSV ) Luke’s first person testimony at this point betrays his fear. He says that when the group heard these words they began to beg and plead with Paul to stay with them rather than proceed to Jerusalem.

Paul understood that the belt with which he was bound gave him the honor of participating in the work of Christ. For Christ’s sake Paul was even willing to sacrifice his own life for the sake of the Kingdom.

Paul’s willingness to sacrifice was a sign of his devotion to the calling which the resurrected Jesus had placed on his life. He says to those gathered around him, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Have you eve felt so honored? In a world where we tend to honor people for what are (in the great and eternal scheme of things) very silly reasons, do we not just heap laurels upon the heads of those who need no more honor? You have to think what kind of honor is it that would cause you to respond with service, sacrifice and devotion?

Once, when I was in seminary, my school had acquired an old house on the edge of campus. It had belonged to a deceased former professor and a friend of mine told me that it was slated for demolition. This was sad because it was still full of books. Being the book hound I am, I naturally snuck in to the house and made the perilous journey up the stair case which was only barely there.

In the attic office I found a little office with some books. More importantly, I found walls covered with honors and awards which the man had received over the course of his career. I am sure that at the time they were the most important things in the world, especially to those who gave them. But now, now that the man was dead, they were destined to become the backfill for a new parking lot. Even today they molder under the cars of young seminarians who have no idea who the man was or that he ever existed.

The story does not end there. As I sat in the office pondering the deceased man’s life, I realized that he had lived his life trying to live up to the honor that Christ had bestowed upon him. Like Paul, he had been given the belt so to speak. That honor had moved him so much that he had lived his life in service, devotion and sacrifice to its calling. What belt do you wear?

The Ethics of Community: Or, How to Live as A Christian

2011-01-28T15:43:00.000-05:00

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Every community has expectations – ideals about how its members should behave toward each other. I do not think this truth varies very much from community to community. From the family down the street to the nation next door, every community has its ideals or virtues which reflect the community it desires to become.

Sometimes these expectations can be very complex. Most often there are shorthand versions which give people an easy way to remember them. We have them in this community we call the United States. “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” “These truths we hold to be self evident…” I am sure you could think of some more – at least I hope so.

We have lifted these values up and recorded them in our most cherished documents. Of course, we have also spent over 200 years writing laws to define and defend these virtues because as a nation we are in a constant state of becoming.

Even today we still argue over these issues, trying to define what these virtues mean and who they might apply to. In December, Judson Phillips, the leader of the “Tea Party” needlessly attacked the United Methodist Church, calling us Marxist and then calling for our demise.

I think the conflict arises from a conflict of ethics. His definition of what is good is in direct contrast to ours. Consequently, the way he defines things like “life”, “liberty”, “happiness” and perhaps even life itself comes into conflict with what we value.

It is good for you, however, that some one like Phillips should make such rash statements. It is good because it may lead you to consider a deeper truth. As a Christian, your ethic should define your citizenship in this country and not the other way around. We who would call ourselves by the name of Christ are to be conformed to the ethic of his community. Will you be who you are now, or will you become like Christ, that is the goal of the community we call the Kingdom of God.

So, what are the ethics of this community called the Kingdom of God? What are the virtues that Christ finds so necessary for the citizens of his Kingdom? The apostle Paul conveniently gives us a list of these virtues. We find it in Galatians 5:22-23. We call them the Fruit of the Spirit. “Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control”: these, according to Paul, are the virtues of a Christian life. It is this fruit which define our citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven. If the Kingdom had police cars this might be what you saw printed on the back fender.

Paul himself took his cue from Jesus who provided his own definition of an ethical person in a passage we call the Beatitudes. Those who are “the blessed” are those whose lives represent the values of the Kingdom. Meekness, contrition, humility, purity of heart and spirit, a hungering for peace and righteousness; and above all, faithfulness to the vision of Christ in the face of all sorts of persecutions.

Now we have quite a list of virtues for our community called Christian, brief as it may be. This is our list but what do they all mean? Let us take a look at a few key virtues.

Love, we tend to lump too many things under this one word. By it we refer to everything from sex to soccer. A man might tell a woman, “I love you” one moment and then profess his undying love for his favorite sports team the next. Obviously there is a difference. We just lack the specificity in language our ancestors had.

When Paul speaks of love in his list of virtues he uses the Greek word αγαπη. You see it written in English as agape. Agape, like the numerous other words the ancient Greeks used to define love, has a specific meaning. Dr. Sondra Wheeler, author of What We Were Made for: Christian Reflections on Love, offers us a definition of agape.

“It means the love that is to be offered to all persons just because they are persons, and it explicitly includes strangers and even enemies. It is the form of human love that most directly and fully imitates the love of God.” (Wheeler, 83)

Sounds simple right? Not really. As Wheeler points out, this kind of love is understood as the highest form of love of which a Christian is capable. It is the love which we Methodists lift up as the objective of our Christian lives. Love of neighbor is the purpose for which we are saved and the end of our perfection in Christ.

Being perfected in love is directly related to another of our virtues; joy. Paul tells us that χαρα (chara) or “joy” is one aspect of the fruit which the Holy Spirit brings out in our lives. “It is everywhere a culmination of existence: joy, beauteous spark divine.” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vl. 9, 359) As Paul uses the word, joy is a defining action of the believer. We are, in other words, joyous, another way of expressing this would be to say that we are ever and in all circumstances rejoicing in Christ. “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4)

Peace and Peace making are where we begin to see the first two virtues take flight. Peace, or ειρηνη, encompasses all of creation. Like agape, peace is not just about us. True peace is something we receive for ourselves from Christ but it is a virtue we are expected to cultivate for others as well. Once again, as a virtue it is something which defines who we are in Christ and it is something which we value for others simply because they are neighbor.

To have peace is to be in relationship with God and others. To be a peace maker is to have the peace of Christ define how we relate to others. The song which comes to mind is, “Let there be Peace on Earth” (United Methodist Hymnal, 431) It is most often sung at Christmas time but interestingly enough, it is listed in the hymnal under the heading “Sanctification”. This is fitting because the peace which we as Christians lift up as a virtue is one which demands our life long commitment to participate in the greater work of God. As the songs says, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me; let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be.”

Of course, it is easy to speak of peace but it is another thing to live it out. Part of this is because, well, people are difficult. We can be short tempered, arrogant and stiff-necked people. Keep in mind this is not just me saying this. God has said these things about us throughout scripture. This aspect of human nature is where the virtue of patience comes into play.

Patience, μακροθυμια, is what the biblical writers called longsuffering. (TDNT vl.9, 374-382) This patience is more than just “putting up” with things. Longsuffering, in the sense of Christian virtue, is the ability to offer loving kindness to those who need correction. It is, once again, a fruit grown of the Holy Spirit’s presence in us. It is a way of practicing love of neighbor for others for their sake and not necessarily ours. It is not just turning a blind eye to the problem. Longsuffering patience is a direct expression of the agape we have received from God in and through Christ.

If you have not already noticed a trend in our little list of virtues yet, you should have. Our list began with love and within each virtue that love of neighbor comes up again. It is as if everything a Christian must be depends on it. Even then there is a very real sense that our ability to love is utterly dependent upon the love that, as I have said, we have received from God through Christ.

This is a completely biblical concept. It is the focus of John’s Gospel when Jesus speaks of the believers relationship to him, the one true vine. “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5, NRSV) It is a view of human potential and existence which is quite different from the self sufficient model which our individualistic society lifts up.

But that is the nature of love – true love – is it not? Love, in the manner of God, is a love which comes out of a community we call Trinity and invites all those who encounter it to be in a relationship with it. It is the defining good of the Trinity and thus the defining ethic of our community in Christ. It is the key practice of our lives as Christians. In other words, “It’s what we do.”

Simple enough right? Wrong. There is a reason we call it Christian practice – we are not good at it. Being a Christian means embarking upon a lifetime of doing, making mistakes, repenting and trying again. It means entering into a conversation which never ends. To be a Christian means realizing the decisions you make and the way you live your life impacts others. You do not live out your faith in a vacuum.

Perhaps this is why our call to live as a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven so often comes into conflict with the demands which other allegiances place on us. It may be that the virtues of a Christian life, specifically Love of Neighbor, do not give us the luxury of exclusiveness that nationalistic values might. While it is true that a nation might lift up the virtues of life, liberty and happiness as its guiding ethic, that ethic is by default biased; biased in favor of that nation’s members. Our own national history has shown us that a nation may even be willing to exclude certain of its own citizens. Certainly, a people may lift up those virtues to other nations, especially to allies, but when push comes to shove these ideals can and will be put aside.

You and I, however, as citizens of the Kingdom in Christ do not have that luxury. We are called to organize our lives by these virtues we have just discussed. These virtues are in turn defined by this thing we call love. That love was in turn defined by Christ and he not only loved those who were “in” but he managed to love those who were “out” as well. Therefore, our ethic, the rule by which we live our lives as Christians, is one necessarily interested in the well being of all –come push or shove.

Sphere: What Defines the Center of Your Universe?

2011-01-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

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Have you ever looked at someone and said, “You really live in your own little world?” The truth is we all tend to do just that. For some of us, however, the world is bigger than for others.

We all have our little bubbles around us. Engineers have to account for this when they design the things we use. Most of us like to keep the boundaries of our bubbles right around three feet or so. It becomes our safe little universe; our own little sphere of influence which we guard and patrol.

If you do not believe me try this: The next time you enter an elevator that is otherwise pretty empty stand right next to someone. Get right next to their shoulder. You do not have to touch them. Just get inside their bubble.

I predict that you will notice two things. First of all, you will probably feel uncomfortable. Secondly, you will notice the other person becoming uncomfortable. One last word of advice, do not do this in a building with more than a couple of floors or you could be in for a very long, uncomfortable ride.

So why is this? Why does it make us so uncomfortable to have someone violate our little sphere? Notice that this does not include everyone. We also have people we let within our bubble.

Family, friends, our romantic interests: they are all people we allow access to our sphere. We will even let people touch us.

How ironic that in this age of social networking, when everyone has a thousand “friends” they have never met, that our spheres seem to be getting smaller and smaller. Perhaps we need a new language to think about the people we let into our little worlds. Or, maybe we need to re-learn a language we have already forgotten.

At one time people used terms like, friend, neighbor, acquaintance and intimate in order to define the nature of the relationships in their lives. “Intimates” was reserved for the closest of relationships, both filial and romantic. These were relationships which might even be considered closer than family. Acquaintances were people on the periphery of your life. Not quite friends but not quite strangers.

I think this language is fine and even very useful, especially in today’s culture. The problem I see, however, is this. Regardless of the language we use it is the way we define these terms that sets limits on the sphere we live in.

The problem is one of categories and who defines those categories. We like to define these categories solely in terms of our needs and our wants. Specifically, we determine admittance to our little sphere based on what is most convenient for us. It can be rather utilitarian at times, reducing people to commodities whose role in our lives is contingent upon their ability to make us happy – whatever that may mean to us. Most of us would never say to someone, “You are my friend because it is expedient for me”, but our actions often betray us.

The biggest problem with this as I have seen it in my own life, the life of others and the life of the church, is that when we use our own narrow categories to define who can be in or out of our sphere, we end up having a really tiny little bubble that only gets smaller as time goes on.

As long as the people we have let into our sphere play by our rules and do what makes us happy, everything is good. But, if they suddenly contradict our goals, or, God forbid, expect us to be mutually concerned with their happiness, the boundaries shift and we move them to the outside. They no longer fit into our categories.

So, our bubble shrinks, growing smaller and smaller with each judgment we make. Until, finally, we find our self utterly alone without the bothersome demands of others. This is the human nightmare – to be alone.

There is an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that provides a good metaphor. I the episode “Remember Me” Dr. Crusher gets trapped in an experimental warp bubble. In essence, she is trapped a little sphere shaped universe defined by her own little perspective.

For a time things go well but then she begins to notice something unusual. People are missing from the ship. Most unusual is the fact that no one else seems to notice or even remember who they were.

The nightmare progresses like this. At first, it is people on the very boundaries of her life who go missing. They are people in whom she had a passing professional interest. At an ever increasing pace more and more people pass from her sphere, including her closest friends. Finally she is left alone in her own little universe.

So, how does she escape the nightmare? Can we avoid Dr. Crusher’s fate? What must happen if we are to do so?

The problem is, once again, one of categories. Dr. Crusher’s universe was suited to her ability to define and maintain it. She was, for all intents and purposes, the center of her own little universe. So too, our spheres are defined by our own categories and reflect the narrow definitions we use. We need a greater perspective that can redefine our categories, allowing them to encompass more of creation and broadening the boundaries of our sphere.

In the end, Dr. Crusher was saved by others from beyond her little sphere whose universe was larger. We must also turn to one whose point of view is larger than ours.

God is in the work of redefining our categories and popping the bubbles we create. In light of his perspective our definitions of friend, enemy neighbour and even family take on whole new meaning. Terms like good, bad, clean, unclean, righteous and unrighteous are turned on their heads.

Jesus made a friend of a Roman Centurion in whom he found much faith. A teacher of the law, seeking to justify himself, asked Jesus to define neighbour. For Jesus it was anyone in need of grace and mercy.

When told that his family was at the door, He asked who his family was. It was anyone who would hear the will of God and do it. For the sake of repentance he proclaimed a tax collector good, conferred righteousness upon a prostitute and gave paradise to a dying thief. For the sake of compassion he pronounced the leper clean.

We think of Jesus dying alone but I tell you this, He was never alone for his world was big and his sphere had room for all of creation. He defined who could be a part of his world from his father’s perspective. From time to time we are all at risk of succumbing to the narrowness of our own little world. The burdensome loneliness of that ever contracting sphere can seem overwhelming even unto the point of death. Have hope and rejoice, however, for a new way of seeing can give you the world.

We Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins

2010-11-18T21:40:00.000-05:00

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We believe in the forgiveness of sins, and that is a good thing. Have you ever really asked yourself what that means though? For a man named Zacchaeus it meant many things. Most of all, it meant hope.

You probably know the song. His first hope was merely to see this Jesus of whom he had heard so much. Could he just catch a glimpse of this man people were calling messiah? Indeed, that was all he could hope for. Zacchaeus was a tax collector and this career path had made him very wealthy. It had also, in the eyes of his neighbours, reduced him. Because of his collaboration with the regime, he was considered a sinner, unclean. There could be no way that this holy man, Jesus, would want him anywhere near him – let alone close enough to speak or touch.

The scripture tells us the crowds forced him up a tree. Of course, the song makes it clear that this was due to his height. He was, after all, a wee little man and a wee little man was he. Many translations of Luke point to this as well. The NRSV, however, says he was small in stature. So? Well, the interesting thing about stature is the fact that it does not only apply to the question of height. It can also refer to something like your relative place in the community. In other words, your social status. In spite of his wealth and connections, Zacchaeus was looked down upon by the rest of the community.

In many ways Zacchaeus was on the outside looking in. He was just a bystander watching, waiting and hoping for a glimpse of messiah. He would not be disappointed.

Amazingly enough for Zacchaeus and all of those watching, Jesus was hoping to see him too. Finding him in the tree, Jesus not only addresses him by name but honors him by inviting himself over to the house for lunch!

Jesus believed in Zacchaeus’ ability to be forgiven and he was not going to be disappointed. This man of little stature responded in a way that fully met, even exceeded the expectations of the law of Moses. You see, according to Leviticus, anyone who had ccheated or otherwise extorted their neighbor out of their possessions was expected to make things right with them before even approaching God for forgiveness.

In Leviticus God had demanded that anyone who had done the kind of things Zacchaeus had done was to first restore what they had taken and then add one fifth the value to it. In other words, leave your gift at the altar, be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then make your offering to the father.

Zacchaeus, moved by the grace shown him, not only sought to fulfill the law but actually exceeded it in a measure that vindicated Jesus’ hope. Zacchaeus believed in forgiveness of sins, he felt its presence beating down his door. He confessed his willingness to give half of his possessions to the poor while repaying those whom he had cheated. Not merely what he had taken plus a fifth, he would repay what he had taken plus four times the original amount. Now, how is that for bank reform?

Meanwhile, the crowds muttered and mumbled against Zacchaeus, questioning Jesus’ understanding. They did not believe in forgiveness of sins for Zacchaeus. They were about to be disappointed.

Jesus, seeing his faithful response to grace, responded by confirming Zacchaeus’ forgiveness. “Today”, he said, “salvation has entered this house!” Then, turning to the mutterers he said, “For this man too, just like you, is a Child of Abraham.” Zacchaeus, a man of little stature, on the outside looking in, had been restored to Israel. Restored whether anyone else would believe in it.

We believe in the forgiveness of sins and that is a good thing. This belief, however, is not there for the sake of our own individual comfort. This belief is not there so that we may sleep well at night, knowing that a down payment has been made on our mansion in glory. This belief in the forgiveness of sins is there because we know salvation has entered this world. You believe in the forgiveness of sins and that is good. Do you believe in the forgiveness of sins for everyone?

A Review of God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says, a book by Michael Coogan

2010-11-16T14:02:00.000-05:00

We are a culture enamored of our own sexuality for both good and bad. For some of us, human sexuality is approached with an extremely liberal laissez faire attitude. For others, the issue of human sexuality, including the roles of gender, is approached from a hyper conservative – and some would say puritanical – perspective. The vast majority find themselves somewhere in the middle but no one is without some sort of opinion.

In the midst of this eternal debate, we hear entreaties made to look at these issues in light of “What would Jesus do?” or, “What does the Bible say?” According to a recent study released by the Pew Forum, however, it would seem that a great many of us are illiterate when it comes to religion in general and the Bible specifically. Therefore, it is questionable whether many of us can actually answer these questions as they pertain to either sexuality or any other aspect of human life.

Fortunately, we do have scholars like Michael Coogan who are willing to help us intelligently and unflinchingly look for the answers. In his new book God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says, Coogan boldly leads his readers through the broad scope of the Bible’s sexual content.

Using the best that modern biblical scholarship has to offer, Dr. Coogan incorporates sociological, literary and anthropological insights from the Ancient Near East, enlightening the biblical texts and tradition which we lean on so heavily. The result is an unblushing look into the biblical bedroom as it were. It should also be greatly appreciated that he also makes it a point to discuss the sexual roles of women and men in society in general. In all of this he maintains a wry sense of humor, bringing an appropriate touch of humor to what might be an otherwise dry, academic discussion.

Dr. Coogan has really rendered us quite a service. His book generously confronts both those who wish to lift the bible up as a definitive collection of precepts while challenging those who would generally ignore its importance. Perhaps his most insightful thoughts come in his conclusion.

“…no single biblical text adequately expresses the ideal, and in fact some texts clearly are counter to it from our perspective. Taken as a whole, however, the Bible can be understood as the beginning of a continuous movement toward the goal of full freedom and equality for all persons,…”

It is, in my estimation, an entirely useful one stop shop for those who would seriously ask, “What does the Bible say?”

The Boat and THe Sea of Galilee

2010-08-31T12:11:00.000-05:00

The Boat and the Sea of Galilee, Lea Lofenfeld Winkler. Gefen Publishing House – 2010.

I received this title as a part of LibraryThing’s early reviewers program. Translated from Hebrew, this book reads a bit differently from the language most English readers are used to. It carries much of the metaphor and poetry of the original language. Much of the time those sensibilities lend a lilt and sprightly nature to the experience but occasionally it becomes tiring.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it as a useful book for use with tweens and adolescents who are interested in archaeology and mysteries. I have recommended it to Christian educators who work with those age groups as well. It could be very useful as a resource for illustrations on the Gospels. Aside from that, it is not necessarily a good candidate for reference material.

Once again, I enjoyed the book but I feel its greatest influence could be with school age children who are established readers.

Backwards God

2010-02-26T16:58:00.004-05:00

I don’t know if you have ever noticed this before, but God tends to do things backwards. I say this with all reverence. Never the less, he tends to go about things as if he read the directions upside down. Today’s story from Genesis is a case in point. What we have here is a covenant ceremony solidifying the patron/client relationship between God and Abram.
If you have ever studied anything about art history you may be familiar with this idea of patron/client relationships. In the arts an artist would be the client of a wealthy benefactor or patron (literally father). The artist would receive money for materials and livelihood. In return the patron would exercise some creative control. Perhaps this accounts for the amazing resemblance so many historic figures bore to the wealthy European blue bloods.
The point is, however, that the patron client relationship is defined by power. The patron has it and the client needs it. At best, a relationship like this is lopsided in the patron’s favor. At worst, a relationship like this could lead to the demise of the client.
These relationships were sealed and guided by covenants which were definitely in the patron’s best interest. Covenants in general are not something which we moderns (or post moderns) understand. Unlike a contract, covenant is more interested in relationship and behavior. A covenant was forged in honor, leveraged on ability and predicated upon willingness to keep promises in defense of that honor.
When a covenant was made, the patron would begin by listing a history of benevolent deeds and promises kept. This was how the party making the covenant identified himself to the other party. This is what God is doing in Genesis 15:7.
Prior to this Abram has basically called God out, questioning his honor. In Genesis 15:2-3 Abram questioned God’s ability to uphold the covenant he had already made. God reminds Abram that, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess." This is his gentle way of saying, “I have been faithful to you in the past and you can expect me to be faithful to you in the future.”
In the ancient world, most covenants were sealed with some sort of ritual. The ritual did two things. First of all, it marked the starting point of the formal covenant. Secondly, it provided a warning to consider the cost of breaking the covenant. According to the sources we have, this usually involved sacrifice of an animal.
The animal represented the client and its death represented the penalty for violating the terms. It was a not so gentle reminder that the patron had all the power in the relationship.
This is the point where our story in Genesis gets strange, becoming obvious that God does not seem to understand the way things work in this world. Even Abram is
surprised by the backward way in which God goes about the covenant ritual.
Abram is told to supply the heifer, the goat, the ram and two birds. Based on the text we see that Abram does not even have to be told what to do with them. He gets right down to work. Cleaving the larger animals in two, ripping the birds apart with his bare hands, he lays the halves of the larger animals opposite each other. He then sat down nearby and watched as their blood mingled in a muddy mess. The text says that a darkness and dread fell upon him. Given what you now know of the patron client relationship, you can understand why.
But then God shows up and does something unusual. Seen by Abram as a flaming torch and smoking firepot, God himself passes amongst the slaughter. He tread upon the horrific scene and played the role of the client. It was Abram, not God, who was the powerless one in the
relationship and yet here was God taking the curse upon himself. On that day he swore an oath to Abram.
So you see, it is as if God does not understand the way we do things in this world. Maybe that is where the truth lies. It may very well be that God does not understand the way we think. Perhaps he thinks we are the ones who do things backwards. After all, we are the ones who value power above all else. We are the ones who expect people to trade their humanity for the hope of safety. We are the ones who yearn for wealth and fame when, God knows, there is so much more to this life and the next.

Safe keeping: A Few Words for Advent

2009-11-19T16:49:00.006-05:00

Matthew 5.15
No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

Have you ever put something in safe keeping and it was so safe you couldn't find it again? I have and as a matter of fact, I actually found something that was in "safe keeping" just the other day. It was not anything earth shattering or even that incredibly important. Just a 4GB USB drive with some random files on it. It went missing a couple of months ago and I had already given up hope of ever finding it again. The replacement drive is already over a month old.

Anyway, I was working on something the other night at our local donut place (because they have wifi the jelly donut gave me an excuse to be there) when I discovered the lost drive in the bag for my laptop's power supply. As I said, I had given up on ever finding it when suddenly, there it was. When I saw it i remembered putting it in the pouch thinking, "This is a good safe place for it." It was so safe that I totally forgot where I had left it.

The discovery made me think about how we keep our faith. It seems that I hear a lot of people talk about "keeping the faith" or "keep your faith safe" as if faith is something that needs to be protected. We hide it away lest some thief should make off with it like, well, a thief in the night. We put it up in secret places, hiding it away in dark places. Then, like my USB drive, we forget where we put it.

Have we done such a good job protecting the faith that we have completely forgotten it and replaced it with something else? Perhaps we have taken the dangerous message of Christ and put it such safe keeping that nobody will find it again.

The good news is that this dangerous message will, like my USB drive, turn up from its safe keeping when least expected. Have a good Thanksgiving, a wonderful Christ the King Sunday and may Advent deliver your faith from its safe keeping.

“Trivializing the Cross: When a Symbol of Faith Becomes Costume of Jewelry”

2009-10-05T09:07:00.005-05:00

I was reading in John’s Wisdom, a commentary by Ben Witherington, when I was struck by something he said. “Our own culture has successfully trivialized the cross by turning it into a mere article of jewelry without pausing to think that the modern equivalent of wearing a cross would be wearing a little golden electric chair around one’s neck.” It would seem that we have completely mistaken what it means to “take up your cross.”

In ancient times the cross was nothing but a symbol of violence, heartache, shame and suffering. For those who saw it and those who employed it, the cross pointed to failure in the face of raw power. To be crucified meant being a powerless victim of a greater power.
It is no coincidence that the biblical writers consider anyone lifted up on a cross or “tree” to be accursed. For the one being crucified, death was a blessing that could not come quickly enough, nor was it supposed to. Crucifixion was meant to be slow and painful. Its goal was to make an example of its victim through the spectacle of their suffering. Struggling for breath, perhaps lingering for days, the condemned would suffer in exhibition. All those who looked upon a crucifixion were meant to remember that it could happen to them. No one took the cross lightly. Everyone feared it.

For Christ to boldly approach the cross meant that its power, violence shame and grief was about to be directly challenged. Christ stood before his cross knowing full well that in it all of the wrath, vitriol, hatred and anger the world could muster lay within its timbers. It was the final solution against this God / Man who challenged power with authority, hatred with humility, death with faith. As a besieged city falls back within its walls, so to, a world reluctant to yield to its creator resorts to its last best hope – the threat of a violent death.
After all, how could one defend against such a thing? We had him where we wanted him. The trap was set. There was no escape. For all of his talk of love, this Jesus would now have to show his true colors. If he wished to survive he would have to resort to violence. He would have to match our power.

In a world that values power as an end in its self, and gives honors to those who can knock the most heads, responding to violence with violence is a fool’s ploy. Christ is no fool. Confronted with the cross Jesus’ response was to extinguish its fire with forgiveness. He knew that a world full of hatred could be lost in a sea of grace. In the end, the wildness of death could be tamed by faith.

Like Moses before him, who lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Jesus repurposed the cross and lifted it up as a sign of life. That which symbolized failure now represented vindication. An implement of destruction now stood for rebirth and newness of life. What was meant to be feared now symbolized hope.

For Jesus’ followers the cross came to represent all of these good things, including Jesus himself. They lifted the cross high, the captured standard of a defeated foe, and marched forward into the future behind it. Many called them fools for doing so. It was, as Ben Witherington says, the equivalent of our lifting up the electric chair.
What if someone were to do that today? Would it not draw some questions? Perhaps even some heated exchanges. Many people would doubtless have visceral reactions to that image so proudly displayed.

Yet no one today gives a second glance to a cross pendant or earrings - unless, of course, the diamonds happen to be spectacular. We tattoo crosses on our bodies (in inconspicuous locations of course, lest anyone take offense). Bikers put crosses on their rides to make them look “tough”. Once, Madonna announced that she thought crucifixes were sexy because they had a naked man on them.

Scandal has been so far removed from the cross that we decorate our homes with them. The symbol which encouraged martyrs in the face of death can now be found at Kirkland’s in a pleasing array of styles! Of course, you can always find them for less at Wal Mart.
The only time the cross seems to get any attention at all is when some congregation places a forty foot tall vinyl clad monolith next to the interstate in an in-your-face statement of “faith”. Well, at least they have gotten it noticed. Other than that, it seems as if the church, in an attempt to please the world, has made the cross, safe, clean and palatable. In exchange the world has made it meaningless.

Does all of this mean you can no longer wear that cross pendant? Does it mean you should have a laser burn off that tattoo? No. It simply means that you should re-capture for yourself the “scandal” of the cross.

When you see the cross, remember the passion of the one who died upon it. Remember that something so crass and ugly as an executioner’s cross lifted up someone so beautiful as the Savior of the world. Remember that God brings life out of death and creation from destruction.
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim!

“Just Another God: Abraham, God and the Binding of Isaac”

2009-09-28T13:37:00.003-05:00

There are things that children look forward to doing with their fathers. It is those times when they get to “go with Daddy” on some special job or errand that makes them feel all grown up. For little boys especially, a trip to the hardware store, the auto parts store or, better yet, the junkyard, gives them the feeling that they are a welcome part of this mysterious club called “grown ups”.
You might imagine Isaac’s pride when his father Abraham put him to bed early saying, “We have to get an early start in the morning.” Imagine how proud he was when his father told the servants to stay behind while he and his son went on alone. He was probably fit to be tied when his father asked him to carry the wood for the fire! Just a boy and his father heading out into the wilderness to make a sacrifice to God, but where is the lamb?
Loving fathers have feelings about their children that are hard to express. Somewhere in between pride and adoration, the true love of a father flows from a deep well of joy. Doubtless, it hurt Abraham to hear his son ask where the sacrifice was. He watched Isaac scramble up the slope under his burden, determined to not let his father down. Abraham’s heart must have broken. How could he tell him?

“Father, we have wood and fire but where is the lamb?”
“The Lord himself will provide…”
The Lord! How could he ask such a thing? After all he had already asked of Abraham – how could he do this? Abraham had waited for this child, his beloved son, Isaac. He was a child of promise, the symbol of everything God had asked him to do. When this living God told him to go and leave his father’s false gods behind he had obediently followed. And now, here he was asking Abraham to sacrifice his son just like all those other gods he had left behind. Abraham had left hearth and home and for what, just another God?!
But no, there had to be more to it than that. What was it about Abraham that would make God put him in this situation? What was it about God that Abraham should follow such a command?
Did God need reassurance that Abraham was worth the investment? Did he need proof of Abraham’s faith? What doubts could God have about Abraham’s intentions?
It seems that God had more doubt about Abraham than Abraham had of Him for; rising early he patiently and deliberately went about the nasty business. Saddling his donkey, did he remember how God had been faithful to him ever since the day he had left Ur? While chopping the wood for the fire, did he remember how God had haggled with him over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, showing compassion for the sake of just ten righteous people? On the long journey to Moriah, Abraham took up the fire and the knife.
In plodding silence Abraham and Isaac set out on the last few miles of the journey alone. As the puzzled faces of his servants melted into the distance, Isaac broke the awkward silence.
“Father!”
“Here I am son.”
“The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham could no longer shroud his thoughts in silence.
Isaac’s question forced him to give voice either to his doubt or his faith.
“God himself will provide a lamb for a burnt offering my son.”
The two of them walked on together with this creed ringing in their ears. For Abraham it was a statement of faith that the God who had provided for him in the past would again respond to his faithful obedience. For Isaac it was an insight into his father’s heart, an invitation to follow. The two walked on together.
Something in Abraham’s heart told him that no, indeed, this was not just another god finally showing his true colors. This was not some blood thirsty stick of wood like his father used to carve. This God could speak. This God could act. This God could call.
Abraham had known this God for a long time. He had given up his past to him and now, if need be, he would trust him with his future.
What was it about his father that allowed Isaac to lay down upon that pyre? Did he have faith in his father, his father’s god, or did he have faith in the God of his father’s testimony? At the moment Isaac let himself be bound and laid upon the wood he committed himself to his father’s creed. “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”
How far would God let this thing go? How much taste for brinkmanship does God have? Would he vindicate their faith by resurrecting Isaac, restoring him to his father? Would he let it go that far? How much proof did he need?
Knife poised, fire at the ready, a voice calling out, “Abraham, Abraham!”
“Here I am.”
“Do not lay your hand upon the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” There, with its head encircled, ensnared by a thorny thicket, lay the offering prepared by God – a mighty ram – the vindication of a father’s faith. It seems we always demand signs and miracles from God. We want him to prove his faithfulness to us, al the while expecting him to take us at our word. The truth is he has shown himself faithful time and time again. It is we who may need to show evidence of our faith. God seeks to be our past, our present and our future. Will we be faithful trust? Will we follow?

For your reading pleasure: An article on heaven and the Christian

2009-04-07T13:17:00.002-05:00

Heavenly minded: It’s time to get our eschatology right, say scholars, authors - By Robin Russell managing editor for the United Methodist Reporter.

Blessed

2009-02-12T21:36:00.004-05:00

What does it mean to be blessed? In order to answer that question you have to talk about perspective first. Perspective is important because it can dramatically change the way you see things. Your point of view or perspective is the place from which you view things. It is the place where you stand. It is your view point, reality as you see it.
Perspective can do funny things to the way we see things. It can cause us to see things that are not there or it can cause us to ignore the most important things which are right in front of us. From our perspective it seems that the sun, stars, moon and planets revolve around us. Drivers often hit things because their perspective is limited by blind spots.
Our perspective or lack there of can either hinder or help us. Sometimes, having a unique perspective on things can give us the ability to see things others can not. In society we tend to seek out leaders who have this unique perspective. We hope that they can see the terrain ahead and lead us there. Sometimes this means learning to value things differently than we otherwise would.
And so, what does it mean to be blessed? Well, let’s think about our “American” perspective and what is typically thought to be a symbol of blessing. For most people the thing that comes to mind first is wealth. Having a good job, a good income and lots of stuff usually tops the list. One only has to look as far as the news stands for proof of this. The American dream is sold to us in full color on glossy paper.
Now, this is not to say that having a good job is not important, but even the way we define a “good job” is tied up in ideas of wealth and prosperity. We often ignore the intangibles of fulfillment and satisfaction. Feeling fulfilled by your work, feeling that you have genuinely accomplished something meaningful, means having the satisfaction that your work has some lasting meaning that will outlive you or your paycheck. Often times the biggest blessing that can come from our work is simply the knowledge that we have made things better for someone who could do nothing for themselves. It is at that point when we realize having the power to do something about the ugliness in the world is more important than simply buying our way out of it.
I love the PBS series called NOVA. I grew up watching it with my Dad and to this day it is one of the highlights of my week. When it comes to perspective, a show like NOVA does a great job of broadening your horizon. Last year they aired a program called “A Walk to Beautiful”. In this program the filmmaker follows several women in Ethiopia who suffer from fistulas. A fistula occurs when the barrier between the birth canal and the bladder is damaged leaving a passage between the two. For the women who suffer from this condition the malady is accompanied by shame, rejection and humiliation. In many instances they are rejected by their husbands and even their own families. They are excluded by the community at large and are looked upon as accursed. Caused by the traumas of child birth complicated by their youth, these women have suffered the double indignity of a still born child and ostracism.
The film follows several of these women as they journey to a mission hospital in Addis Ababa for treatment. At one point the film maker takes us to the bedside as the surgeon gives his patient the good news that she has been healed.
Her reaction is joy and as her surgeon walks away she calls him a blessed man. Is he blessed because he is a doctor? Is he blessed because he is more well off than others in his country? Surely, these are all realities of his life but his patient calls him blessed because of what he is able to do for those who can not do for themselves. He is blessed in his work of healing. From her perspective, anyone who can make such a change in the life of another must be blessed.
Later on, as the doctor shares the final results with his patient, we hear from the doctor himself that his joy comes from the privilege of being able to participate in healing the women who come to him. At the end of the day his joy, fulfillment, satisfaction, his blessing, comes from changing another’s life for the better. From his perspective, being truly blessed means creating good in the life of one who has only known the bad in life.
Paul tells us that whatever we do we should do it in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God through him. In other words, the work we do should be done with the perspective that it blesses not only us but our neighbors, our Christ and our God. In doing our work in this way Pauls tells us that we are actually giving thanks for what we have been given. Interesting, is it not, the perspective of a truly blessed person is one of thanksgiving and service rather than gain and achievement.

Genuine Imitation Christ

2008-11-13T22:31:00.002-05:00

We live in a world where everyone seems to be looking for the “real deal”. Genuine this and genuine that. We want genuine food, genuine friends and genuine experiences.

Yet, as Christians we have this odd little secret. We are called to be imitators. It seems that, for a Christian, genuine is the last thing you would want to be. Being called an imitation is really rather complementary.

It may be that as Christians we have realized we are never so genuine as when we are imitating. But the question then remains, what is it that we are to be imitating? Are we to imitate the world around us? Are we to imitate our friends and families? Should we try to emulate in our lives the high and mighty: those who have strength and power? Whom should we imitate?

Contrary to what you might think, you and I are not the first people to ask this question. For eons human beings have asked this same question, hoping to find some model on which to base their lives. Success or failure could rely on who you imitated. Here are a few options.

Imitate the powerful - imitate the king! There you go! Wear what the king wears. Speak the way the king speaks. Agree with what the king says. It all works well until one day the king is no longer the king and everything connected to him falls out of favor.

Imitate the wealthy! If you can not be rich then do your best to dress and act rich. Buy as big a house as you can get. Shop at the stores they shop at. Drive the cars they drive. Now, you may not be successful but you sure do look the part. That is, until the bank calls in your loan.

I know. Imitate the famous. That’s it. Imitating the famous is sort of like imitating the rich but it is as much about attitude as cash flow. Bootleg fashions will help you copy the look on the cheap but copying the attitude will not cost you a thing. Or will it? If you behave toward your friends and family the same way that the glam and fabulous do what will happen?

The list goes on and on. There seems to be no end to what we can imitate. It is not enough, however, for us to merely say that we should be imitators for a great amount relies on what we choose to imitate. As I have explained you can easily be undone by the very thing you imitate.

Perhaps the problem with many of the things we imitate is that they are of little consequence over the long run. Whether it is a lifestyle, a person or a philosophy, imitating the wrong thing can lead you down a path of sorrow.

Paul has given us an odd piece of advice which at first sounds very conceited. He tells us that we should imitate him. In all fairness to Paul that is only half the story. He tells us that we should be imitators of him as he is an imitator of Christ. Actually, he was telling the Corinthians who to imitate.

Why did he need to tell the Corinthians to imitate someone else? Simply it is because the way they were living their lives was problematic. Rather than going into how they were living their lives it is easier to look at the life Paul is telling them to imitate.

Before Paul makes this statement he explains to the Corinthians the philosophy he follows in life. “Do not seek your own advantage but that of the other.” In other words he is telling them that he is willing to give up a little bit of the liberty he has in order to benefit another person. Paul is willing to sacrifice some of the freedoms he knows are his not only for the benefit of the other person but for the glory of God as well.

It is in this that the artistry of leading a virtuous or “holy” life comes forth. Indeed it is in the truth of his statement that the true nature of following Christ comes forth. If either you or the Corinthians were expecting a laundry list of do’s and don’ts from Paul you were mistaken.

His words are a challenge to the Corinthians to think beyond themselves for the good of their neighbors and the good of the Kingdom. While things they may do are not necessarily sinful or wrong the effect that those things can have on another might be. In Paul’s mind an individual’s freedom does not trump her responsibility to a neighbor.

As Paul says, to imitate him in this is to imitate Christ for Jesus himself yielded his liberty for the benefit of others. To understand this is to understand more fully the truth of the atonement. To offer himself as an atonement for all of humanity was, for Jesus, to forgo a personal good for the good of others. In light of the atonement we, the Corinthians and Paul can do nothing else than imitate his example.

In our world people argue constantly about what their individual rights are. It is my right to do this. It is your right to have that. It is her right to be this. It is his right to think that. The conflicts arise when these rights compete for the same space. What happens when pursuing my “right” gets in the way of your “right”. When this happens it is often and only the powerful, proud and loud who “win”. It is these we are told to imitate, creating an ever deepening spiral of hate, disgust and resentment.

What would happen if we took Paul’s advice? What would happen if we tried to at least be like him and imitate Christ, keeping our liberty and our rights in tension with the needs of others and the reality of the Kingdom? What if we considered not only what is expedient for us but also good for our neighbor. What if we all considered the advantages of the kingdom before our own? What if?

A Line in the Sand

2008-11-06T21:46:00.005-05:00

We all know what it means to draw a line in the sand. When a person ‘draws a line in the sand,’ it means that he or she is putting a limit on something. When I think of the phrase, ‘drawing a line in the sand,’ I think of confrontation. Drawing a line in the sand says, “this far and no further.”

We draw lines in the sand all of the time. We put boundaries up against things and people we do not like. Sometimes these lines are for our convenience. Other times such boundaries are for our well being. Regardless of why lines are drawn, they are for our purposes and needs.

On occasion, however, we will take a stand and draw a line for those who can not draw that line on their own. History is full of people who have confronted someone powerful on behalf of the weak. Taking a stance may involve a situation as grandiose as going to war against an oppressive nation. More often than not, however, it simply means standing for someone when everyone else stands against them.

Sticks and Stones
In the gospel of John, there is a story of a woman who found herself on the losing end of conflict. She had, we are told, been found to be in adultery. Now, where was the man with whom she had been found to be in adultery with? We will never know. None the less, the woman was convicted by the great and righteous, and led to her slaughter.

Dragged before the new teacher in town, the woman waited for him to hurl the first stone at her; an honor offered him by the crowd. She watched as this teacher, named Jesus, knelt down. Was he picking out a stone? Was he deciding how best to dispatch this unclean woman from his presence?

No. His interest did not seem to be with her at all, but with the crowd who condemned her. As he knelt he drew in the sand between himself and the crowd. To the woman’s amazement, those who had condemned her dropped their stones and walked away.
Cowering, the woman heard Jesus speak; asking if there was anyone present who desired to condemn her. She confessed that no one was to be found. “Neither do I. Go and sin no more,” was Jesus’ response.
In the woman’s weakness, Jesus had drawn a line in the sand. He stood for her when she could not stand for herself. Her guilt was not in doubt. Jesus did not doubt the accusations. His concern was not for whom the woman was at the time; or even for whom she had been. His concern was for who she could be.

Loved to be
As Howard Thurman said in his book Jesus and the Disinherited, Jesus loved the woman in a radical way. He loved her in a way that led her to become the person she wished she could be. He loved her as if she were that person already. Jesus loved her in a way that challenged her to better herself. All she needed was for someone to draw a line in the sand.

Jesus said to those who would take her life, “You have come this far but you will go no further.” At the same time he drew a boundary for her as well, saying: “From this point on you must be different than you were.”

All people draw lines, and make boundaries. It is not often that we will draw lines on behalf of others. It is not is also not often that others draw lines on our behalf. Jesus is drawing a line in the sand for you. Who will you be after that line is drawn?

The Meaning of Sacrifice: After the Exodus – Sin (4 of 5).

2008-03-18T10:24:00.005-05:00

Covenant, community, and sacrifice; so, where does sin fit into all of this? After all, we have always been told that sacrifices had to be made because of sin. While that is true, I have shown that God’s primary concern seems to be with the establishment and maintenance of community.

Sometimes however, we do things that jeopardize community and covenant. When this happens things must be done to repair the damage. This is where the issue of sin and sacrifices made for sin come into play. As we seen last week with Cain’s murder of his brother Able, sin is inextricably linked to the death of community. Therefore, we find a second purpose for sacrifice as expiation.

If you remember back about four weeks ago, we discussed the difference between propitiation and expiation. Propitiation, as it applies to sacrifice, has to do with drawing nearer to God. Expiation, on the other hand, has to do with the notion of being washed, especially from sin. When we speak of sacrifice made in response to sin, we are speaking of expiation.

Last week we saw that Leviticus places sacrifice as a means of propitiation in the front of the line of reasons to make sacrifice. It is only after describing sacrifices made for the sake of fellowship that God prescribes how to offer sacrifices for sin. Now, if you pay attention to chapters 4 – 6 of Leviticus, you see that there is a distinction being made about the sins requiring expiation.

First of all, there are sacrifices to be offered for sins committed unknowingly. It is interesting to note that God doesn’t spend much time listing out specific sins and transgression. It is simple enough for him to say, “If anyone sins, doing any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done…” It is understood that any breach of the covenant between God and his people requires expiation. On the surface there doesn’t seem to be anything very outstanding about the sacrifices, but it is in the practice that we see uniqueness because God makes allowances for nation, leader, and individuals at all levels of society.

It is a gracious act of God that, in the best interest of the people and their relationship, he allows them to substitute an animal as a sign of repentance and recompense. The sacrifice for sins made “unwittingly,” acknowledges the reality of human frailty and forgetfulness. This is not to say that transgressions made in ignorance are not sins and do not imply guilt; it simply means that God understands that the outcome of our actions do not always reflect our intentions.

Keep that in mind. The intent of a person is very important, and Leviticus shows just how important it is in God’s estimation. Indeed, we have all at one time or another been unjust towards another person without really intending to do so, and we have seen the damage it can do to our relationships. Usually, however, we can apologize and move on, but what about those times when we have intentionally been unjust to others or experienced it ourselves? How much more difficult it is to restore those relationships?

In chapter 6 Leviticus takes a radical turn in talking about sacrifice for sin. Up to this point God has been making provision for “accidental” sin, and as I said not much changed for two chapters other than who was involved. When God begins to talk about intentional transgressions he is very specific and very demanding.

The most notable difference occurs in 6:2-3. God says, “When any of you sin and commit a trespass against the Lord by deceiving a neighbor in a matter of a deposit or a pledge, or by robbery, or if you have defrauded a neighbor...” Suddenly, an unjust act intentionally directed toward a neighbor is equated with a “breach of faith” against God. We are being told that a trespass against your neighbor is a trespass against God.

Remember what we learned last week? God is ever present at the table, and because of relationship to him through covenant, we are never alone in our relationships with others. It is never just you and me. With God involved it becomes a matter of “us”. The way in which we relate to others is no longer a hidden matter, there is always a witness.

Additionally, we see that God makes greater demands for sins committed knowingly. No longer is he satisfied to merely let the people redeem themselves through the use of a substitute. Do not misunderstand him. There will be a sacrifice made to show repentance, but before the guilty party can even approach the altar they must take actions to restore the broken relationship with their neighbor.

4”…when you have sinned and realize your guilt, and would restore what you took by robbery or by fraud or the deposit that was committed to you, or the lost thing that you found, 5or anything else about which you have sworn falsely, you shall repay the principal amount and shall add one-fifth to it. You shall pay it to its owner when you realize your guilt.” This is really interesting. It is as if God is saying that when we cheat, steal, and are otherwise oppressive to our neighbor, we can never claim ignorance of his will or say it was an accident. Furthermore, we have no place coming to God until we have made things right with the one we have most grievously harmed. Because of the triangular relationship we spoke of last week, a breaking covenant with your neighbor is breaking faith with God.

God is telling the members of his covenant community that before he will even listen to their apology, they must not only pay back what they took from the other, but they need to add one-fifth of the value to it for good measure. Does this sound familiar? It is Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, who responds to Jesus’ grace by not only paying back what he owed, but promises to pay back four times as much. It is Jesus telling his disciples to leave their gifts at the altar and be reconciled to their neighbor first.

Jesus and Zacchaeus did not come up with this on their own. Jesus was repeating what his father had already said. Zacchaeus was doing what he had been told to do. How can we expect to approach the table in friendship with God when we have harmed another? To do so is to pretend that He is ignorant of the brokenness that exists between you and your neighbor. As I have said, we can never forget that it is no longer just you and I at the table it, is now us because God is present. God is not fooled.

At one time or another we have all sinned as a result of our ignorance, more than likely, we will do so again. God in his graciousness makes allowance for that and shows great compassion for our frailty, making expiation for those instances. But when we go hunting for those whom we can devour and then sit down at the table as if nothing has happened we take that graciousness for granted. As we sit at the table God asks us where our brother or sister is. When we, like Cain before us, answer, “How am I to know, am I their keeper?” we heap conviction upon our own head.

We are all very interested in drawing nearer to God, and the grace that comes with being in his presence. The problem is that we are not often as interested in allowing others to enjoy that grace as well.

The Meaning of Sacrifice: Leviticus Part 1 (3 of 5)

2008-02-26T21:54:00.003-05:00

So far we have nailed down the idea that a major purpose of sacrifice is to establish community. This can mean creating a place at the table for God, accepting the place God has made for you, or honoring the place that God has made for another. Along these same lines, sacrifice as a friendship building act of hospitality involves bringing our best to the table. As we saw last week with Cain and Able, a truly acceptable sacrifice involves giving your best.

In building community sacrifice is also a means of sealing covenant. As with God and Abraham’s covenant, sacrifice can be used to show just how far each party is willing to go with their promise. This is important because a covenant is not like a contract (for further discussion on this see chapter 9 of Living Responsibly in Community, Glennon, Hauk and Trimiew eds.)A contract can be broken by one party thereby releasing the other party from any commitments. Covenants however, are interested in relationships and therefore the wellbeing of both parties one for another. Just because you walk away from your promises doesn’t mean I can walk away from mine. This is the promise that God is making to Abraham and his descendants.

Let’s look at that promise again. In the fifteenth chapter of Genesis, God is reinforcing his promise to Abraham by means of the ritual sacrifice which I mentioned last week. In the promise of doing so, God tells Abraham that his descendants will be slaves in a foreign land, but that he will deliver them from their bondage and bring judgment upon that nation.

Now you and I, unlike Abraham, know the rest of the story. We have the benefit of reading ahead to the Exodus. We know that the descendants of Abraham were, indeed, enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt and were delivered by God out of bondage. In this act God does two things.

First of all, he maintains his commitment to Abraham, even though Abraham is long dead. Secondly, he reestablishes the covenant community he enjoyed with Abraham by showing his faithfulness to Abraham’s children. Even the language Moses uses with Pharaoh shows that Gods intention is to renew the covenant community. Moses tells Pharaoh that God desires that his people join with him in the wilderness for a feast. When the people do join God in the wilderness he sets some ground rules about what being a part of his covenant community looks like.

As I promised you a couple of weeks ago, we now turn to Leviticus. As a book Leviticus is important to us because it is a thorough explanation of everything that God explained to his people regarding their relationship. Yes, I know it is the first book you skipped when you made that commitment to read the whole bible. It is rather long and as I said it is very thorough and repetitious. It is rather long and as I said it is very thorough and repetitious. This repetition should only serve to underscore in your mind just how seriously God takes his commitment to community and how seriously he wants us to understand what community looks like.

Towards that end Leviticus starts with a discussion of, you guessed it, sacrifice. Everywhere we have looked so far, it seems that nobody had to be told how to make a sacrifice. In Leviticus we see God taking the time to explain how to prepare a proper sacrifice before even prescribing which sacrifices should be offered for what reasons.

When he has explained to the people what a sacrifice should look like, God then begins to talk about the different reasons why they should make them. Interestingly enough, the first reason mentioned is not for sin or atonement, but for peace and well being. Some commentaries simply refer to it as the “meal” offering showing its connection to the earliest meanings of sacrifice as we have already discussed (see The Old Testament Library: Leviticus). Once again the idea here is joining with God in fellowship. This may have been a sacrifice specifically offered as a sign of fellowship with God, or a step in having a fellowship meal with family and friends. Once again it is a way of inviting God to share in the feast as well as recognizing his role as the founder of every feast. God becomes the perpetual guest of honor.

It is interesting to me that God should begin his list of sacrifices with one that exists purely to celebrate the friendly relationship between God and his people and between the people themselves. It is only after this point that God begins to talk about sacrifice in relation to sin. Could it be God is telling us that if, in living out our day to day relationships with people, we remember that we are bound to our neighbors through our covenant with God, sin might not enter in? Remember last week when we looked at Cain and Able? God warned Cain that sin was crouching at the door ready to devour him. That sin found its expression in the ultimate breech of community, one person killing another. If Cain had remembered how he was tied to his brother through God, he would not have found himself asking, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” He would have known. You see, we have all had those times when we forget that we are our brother’s or sister’s keeper.

There is something that happens around the table when we remember that God is ever present. It is no longer simply you and I who are at the table but “we”. It is now God, you and me. We are caught up in this triangular relationship with the divine. As you approach the table seeking community with God, be honest with yourself about who is missing from their seat at this table.

The Meaning of Sacrifice: Before the Exodus (2 of 5) Sermon 6, Week 6 SP '08

2008-02-18T20:47:00.007-05:00

Last week we began to look at sacrifice by understanding (at least a little bit) how it worked in the ancient world. Now I want to look at how sacrifice is used in the Old Testament before the Exodus, when God delivered the children of Israel out of bondage to Pharaoh. There are two things I want to look at; shared sacrifice and covenant sacrifice.

First of all, remember what we found out last week about sacrifice as propitiation? Our friend Bishop Vogel explained to us that sacrifice, in the ancient world and especially among the ancient Semitic peoples, was as much about building community as it was about killing an animal. In fact, there were many different ways of sacrificing. Aside from the obvious blood offerings, there were libations (drink offerings) and vegetable offerings (grain, herbs, and other agricultural produce).

At times they were combined. Remember when I spoke of the Iliad last week? You know, Homer, the ancient Greek poet and not the cartoon? Well, I mentioned the sacrifice that Agamemnon made to Zeus, asking for victory in battle. Part of that sacrifice involved barley flour. The participants took handfuls of the flour and placed it on the victim’s head while they consecrated it to Zeus.

Later on in the Odyssey, Odysseus--the hero of the Odyssey, prepares for what amounts to a sacrifice for the dead. The hero digs a trench, slaughters two goats over it, and then sprinkles barley flour on top. Apparently, that was the equivalent of the “Super Buffet” for dead Greek heroes. Come to think of it, I think I saw that at a buffet last week.

Anyway, my point is that these were not uncommon things. Enter Cain and Abel. Genesis tells us that these two sons of Adam and Eve brought sacrifices before God. Cain was a farmer, so he brought an offering of his crops. Abel, we are told, “brought of the firstlings of the flock and of their fat portions.” Genesis goes on to say that God accepted Abel’s offering but not Cain’s.

What was the difference? Well, the difference is in the details. Genesis is rather specific about Abel’s offering but rather vague about Cain’s. Cain just brought a part of his produce while able brought the first and the best. Remember that sacrifice as propitiation is drawing nearer to God in a sense of community. It is a bit like being a good host. If you are inviting someone you really care about over to your house for dinner, you don’t just throw anything on the table. You give the best of what you have. If your boss were coming over for dinner, how many of you would take the opportunity to clean the leftovers out of the fridge. If you care about the person and what they think, you want to show them you care by giving them the best. In the case of Cain, it is not so much that God does not care for veggies as he does not like to be taken for granted. If we are going to talk about “making sacrifices” for God, we had better take our sacrifices seriously.

That brings me to my next point. Sacrifice also works to seal covenants. If we skip ahead to chapter 8 of Genesis we find Noah and his family piling off the ark after their long voyage. One of the first things they do is catch some of the animals before they get too far away and place them on the altar. God, having smelled the roasting flesh, takes the opportunity to make a covenant of peace with Noah and his descendants. He promises that he will never destroy the earth with water again and as a sign, hangs his bow up in the sky as a warrior might do when the battle is over.

So far we have been talking about sacrifice as something which costs us. When it comes to covenant however, God makes commitments too.

Within a few chapters of Noah’s story we meet Abraham. God and Abraham got along very well together and God had promised Abraham that he would give him heirs and an inheritance for them. To make his point, God tells Abraham to prepare a sacrifice. Abraham knows exactly what to do. Abraham takes a heifer, a female goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon. He then takes the heifer, the goat, and the ram and splits them down the middle. The halves of the animals along with the slaughtered birds are laid out facing each other, leaving a pathway between them.

The text tells us that a great dread fell upon Abraham, and it should have. This was a sacrifice meant to solidify a covenant.1 The persons making the covenant would state their responsibilities and then pass between the remnants of the slaughtered animals. Effectively, this was to say, may this happen to me if I don’t follow through with my promises. As the sun sets and the sky grows dark, it is God who through the blood, not Abraham. Sacrifice is an expensive thing, even for God.

As I said last week, we often trivialize sacrifice by making everything we give up a sacrifice, but we need to remember that sacrifice is something that demands our best and in response to us, God gives us his best as well.

1. For more on this subject look at the first volume of Gordon Wenham’s commentary on Genesis. Word Biblical Commentary Vol.1. Genesis 1-15.

The Meaning of Sacrifice: The Ancient World. Week 5, SP '08

2008-02-13T22:22:00.011-05:00

As we enter the season of Lent it is a good time for us to reflect on this notion of sacrifice as the Church prepares for the sorrow and surprise of Easter. Sacrifice is something we often speak of but seem to little understand. As an act it is something which seems foreign to us. This is reflected by the trivial ways in which we use it. We speak of everything being a sacrifice, be it some impoverished mother skipping meals so that her child might survive, or the well healed giving up that daily cup of Starbucks so they can lose a few extra pounds before swimsuit season rolls around. Perhaps we are all guilty of having given up some small comfort and testifing that we have made a sacrifice for Jesus.

The only thing I know for sure about sacrifice is that I could probably write a PhD dissertation on the subject and still not have pinned it down completely. Fortunately for those of you listening to this (and those of you reading this on Blogspot) I am not working on a PhD. I have however, been quite interested in the implication that sacrifice has for who we - the Church- understand ourselves to be from sense of sacrament and praxis. Toward that end, we will look at sacrifice over the next five weeks. First of all, we will look at sacrifice in the ancient world and its implications. In the second week we will look at sacrifice in the heritage of Israel as it was before the Exodus. In the final three weeks we will look at the sacrificial system in Leviticus. Now, I know your thinking, "Leviticus!? You've got to be kidding?" Yes, Leviticus and no I am not kidding.

To begin with I want to introduce you to a friend of mine by the name of Arthur A. Vogel. Bishop Vogel has some very interesting things to say about sacrifice. The first thing he would have you understand is the difference between expiation and propitiation. Expiation is a concept which I think most Christians are more comfortable with. It has to do with the notion of being washed, especially from sin. As Vogel says this is a term we are most comfortable with. Propitiation, another term used to explain sacrifice, is less often used by the church because of its identification with pagan religions and pantheism. This is unfortunate because the word itself could help us come to a deeper understanding of what sacrifice means. As Vogel explains in his book, Radical Christianity and the Flesh of Jesus, propitiation comes from the Latin root prope which means "near".

Propitiation, as it applies to sacrifice, has to do with drawing near to the deity - I say "deity" here because I am not speaking of any particular divine being. Arthur Vogel goes on to explain that for the ancient Semitic people especially, sacrifice had less to do with the killing of an animal than it had to do with coming together to consume it. This is somewhat like Thanksgiving dinner but with cosmic implications. Although in all reality, we at least pretend to be concerned with the cosmic implications of Thanksgiving dinner when we say a blessing over it.

The ancient Semitic people were not the only ones who thought this way. A few years back I was reading Homer - the ancient Greek Poet not the cartoon character- when I noticed this recurrent theme. It seemed like these guys couldn't get together for a big meal without going through this long process of sacrifice. The process involved dedicating the animal to whichever god they were aiming to please. Then, when the animal had been duly dispatched, they would wrap the thigh bones in two layers of fat and lay them on the fire chunks of meat on top. Only then would the group consume the rest of the animal.

Try this at your next BBQ. Get all of your friends to come over to grill some really nice, fat, filet mignon. Now, douse the charcoal with lighter fluid and while it is a raging inferno throw the nicest steak on top and let it burn to a crisp. When your dumbfounded friends ask you what in the world you were thinking just tell them, "That one was god's portion." Then, while they are all chewing you out, remember that the ancient Greeks would so have gotten it.

You have to remember that the old gods were very fickle and you never really quite knew where you stood with them. If you wanted them to help you or otherwise be your friend it was best to get them to join you at the table. Even then you couldn't really be sure. In the Iliad, homer tells us about how Agamemnon sacrificed a young bull to Zeus, asking for his aid in defeating Troy. The text tells us that Zeus accepted the sacrifice but ignored the request.

What Agamemnon and his guests at that table were seeking was to be admitted to Zeus' table and thus into the graces of his friendship. In essence they wanted to make sure he was not their enemy. But, as I said, the old gods are fickle. You can give them as much as you want but you can never be their friend.

I am quite aware that by this point you may be making the leap forward to Jesus and the cross. That is to be expected. After all, we are rapidly approaching Easter. Never the less, as you consider the cross of Jesus in light of what I have told you so far, keep in mind two things. First of all, while ancient Hebrew notions of sacrifice shared much with the rest of the ancient world it also had much which made it unique. Secondly, the work of Christ is unique as well. While we might use same glossary of sacrificial terms to refer to the work of Jesus on the Cross those words are given new meaning and life. Indeed, the work of Christ turns much of our old understanding on its head.

I leave you with two good questions to consider as you approach the Lord's Table. 1) Who is the one providing the feast? 2) Who is the one who needs to be brought near? I think you might be surprised by the answer.

Life in the Ashes - Isaiah 61:3 (Sermon for SP'08 week 4)

2008-01-31T21:21:00.000-05:00

In the ancient world, sitting among the ashes of a fire was a well known symbol of grief and loss. The phrase “sackcloth and ashes” comes to mind. In the face of loss people would dress in rough cloth and sit among the ashes, even placing the ashes upon their heads. It outwardly symbolized their sense of loss and sorrow. It was also used to show a penitent and contrite heart.

When Job experienced the loss of his family he sat among the ashes. When Jonah proclaimed God’s judgment upon Nineveh the entire people, even the animals, went about in sackcloth and ashes. This is not something we typically do today, at least not literally, but we do have our own ways of living among the ashes.

The point of life in the ashes is to point to the hopelessness of our situation and express the all encompassing totality of our loss. When we experience grief and loss we often feel as if we have reached the end of the world and there is now turning back, nothing ahead, nothing to go back to, nothing but emptiness. Life in the ashes can become such a consolation in itself that we begin to find solace in the ashes and forget the hope that is in this life God has created us for.

Grief, sorrow and loss are real and painfully tangible things but they are not the end of all being. Even when the grief we bear is a result of our own actions that does not mean we must be defined by the sorrows of a broken life. As powerful as they may seem to us, grief sorrow and loss are not lord’s of the believer’s life. That title belongs to God alone and he promises to comfort those who mourn and bless those who are poor in spirit.

Speaking through his Prophet Isaiah, God promises the following to his suffering people in Jerusalem:

3…to provide for those who mourn in Zion— to give them a garland instead of ashes,the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. 4They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations;they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

The words of Isaiah promise a reversal of fortunes. In God’s economy providing for those who mourn means giving them the garland of a victor rather than the ashes of a sufferer. Oil, a symbol of healing, authority and joy, will cleanse their brow of sorrow.
In response they shall rise up praising the God who has lifted them from the ashes to stand as “oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord to display his glory.”

The hope of those who now live in sorrow is tied up in their future service to God, standing before the nations as his witnesses. It is in living in the blessing of his reign that the poor in spirit find the blessing of his presence. Sorrow does not have the final word God does.

There always is the problem however, that we can and will remain captive to our grief. We take comfort in the grief we know rather than risk the joy of a promised hope. “Lets go back to Egypt”, we say when the Kingdom of God yawns before us. All of eternity opens wide before the believer who will take on the promises of God. Can we and will we leave off the old gods of our suffering past for the richness of God’s ever present now? Rise up from your ashes, God has drawn near.

Mastering the Holy Hello (Genesis 18:1-8)

2007-10-18T20:00:00.000-05:00

Have you ever found yourself in the situation of saying hello to someone just to have them actually think you were interested in them!? How rude! “I said, ‘Hello, how are you?’, but that doesn’t mean I actually want to know!” In our society, the act of saying hello is a lost art.

In countries like the Dominican Republic, however, saying hello can easily take fifteen minutes or longer. For them, hello is an act of hospitality and welcoming. Greeting someone means taking time to show interest in them and make them feel welcome. I am sure to tell my students going to the DR with us in March, "Remember; don’t ask how someone is unless you want to know."

This art of saying hello, this hospitable way of welcoming, is what you see throughout the Bible. Welcoming was not only reserved for people you knew either; it was an expectation of every stranger whom you met. It was your duty to be welcoming to the stranger, and it would be their duty to be welcoming to you.

Welcoming the stranger into your household was a major commitment of resources. It was more than just offering someone a glass of water. When Abraham met the three strangers at The Oaks of Mamre, he extended the full welcome of his household. First of all, he offered them water to wash their feet and a place to rest. This act of washing their feet meant that they were no longer strangers but honored guests and the protection of the household was also given to them (Matthews and Benjamin, Social World of Ancient Israel: 1250 - 587 BCE. 85).

Once the householder had invited the stranger in as a guest, they were only obligated to offer them a drink of water and some bread. Abraham however, goes beyond this, offering them bread made from the finest flour, served alongside the best calf of his herd. When all of them had been prepared along with curds and milk, he laid them at the feet of his guests. Such extravagance, when all he offered first was a little bread!

Saying hello, greeting the stranger, and welcoming the guest is the heart of being a good host. Being welcoming means offering yourself and your best. In John, we see Jesus welcoming his disciples to his table. He makes them honored guests by washing their feet, thus conferring upon them the sanctuary of his household. For their refreshment, he offers them bread and wine, but his hospitality does not end there for he truly offers them the best he has. He gives them himself.

Abraham the man offers a holy hello to God. In Jesus, God offers a holy hello to man.

The understanding of hospitality in biblical times centered on the concept: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The nature of the world was such that you never knew when you might need the kindness of strangers. Therefore, it behooved you to extend welcome to others when the opportunity arose.

Perhaps in today’s world, we have brought in the myth of our self-sufficiency so deeply that we don’t expect we’ll need to rely on the hospitality of strangers. The fact is, if we think this way, we are missing the point. Offering a holy hello is as much about responding to the grace of a welcome you have received as much as it is a way of building up “karma”. In this light, it is about doing unto others as you have had done unto you.

Abraham offered hospitality to God in thanksgiving for how God had welcomed him into his household. Jesus welcomes us into his household making strangers into family.

How then, should we respond to such a holy hello? What impact should such grace have upon our lives? Given the welcome Christ has extended to us, what is our duty toward the stranger in our midst? Should we concern ourselves with the dust they carry from the road, or should we offer them a chance to be cleansed? Do we grudge them the bread they ask for, or do we give them meat and drink in abundance? We all like to bask in the extravagant welcome of God's eternal household. Let us try to extend that extravagance to others.

Unashamed (2 Tim 1:1-14; Luke 9:26)

2007-10-04T20:28:00.000-05:00

We all have things in our lives we are ashamed of. Things we have done, said and thought for which we are truly and privately embarrassed. Ranging from filthy little habits to the grotesque unkindnesses of our daily interactions, these are the things we hope others never see. It is precisely the fear of exposure which makes these things so burdensome. We fear that others will judge us by these frailties, excluding us from their presence.

Even beyond ourselves there are things related to those we know that shame us. It does not matter if it is the child embarrassed of the parent or the friend who wishes that so and so would not show up when “they” are around, the issue is the same. We are ashamed of the person and do not want to be identified with them.

Sometimes it is over silly things. For instance, when my dad decided that the deal on those tube socks was too good to pass up. You know the athletic kind with the colored bands around the calf? Yeah, black shoes, white legs and over the calf gym socks color co-coordinated with your shirt! Nothing else quite screams “fashion”! Needless to say, my mom used extra bleach on those socks.

Other times we need to distance ourselves from ideas and beliefs, held by our acquaintances, which we find morally displeasing. Things like bigotry which is inexcusable. Most often however, we are simply concerned with the acceptance of others and we are willing to sacrifice on relationship for the chance of another.

We may even turn our backs on the most important relationships because we are concerned with what they might think of us.

“Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
Luke 9:26 (NRSV)

The Koine Greek word (pronounced epayscunthay) means to bring to shame. In Luke 9:26, Jesus warns his followers that whoever is brought to shame, that is embarrassed, by him and his word will be brought to shame by the Son of Man when he comes in glory (doxa). Interestingly enough, the shame brought about by God is a judgment in response to the embarrassment felt by the individual over their association with Christ.

Shame felt over Christ and his word is an expression of our fear that we will lose glory in the eyes of others. The shame Jesus warns of on the other hand is more than merely embarrassment. The shame wrought by God brings people low and reduces those who were concerned with their glory to despair.

Consider this. To be ashamed of the Gospel and of its messenger is to be more concerned with the doxa (glory) of the world than with the doxa of Christ. Seeking to share in a piece of the glory of others, the individual seeks after that which has no value. The sick comic irony of this becomes apparent when the true glory of God is revealed and all things are shamed by it. To be concerned with the glory of others is to be dazzled by the light of a flashlight in the face of the sun. To focus our lives on anything short of the glory of God is to find strength in the weak and anemic. Knowledge of this truth has motivated saints, servants and martyrs alike. In light of the glory of God, the considerations of the world are meaningless.

John Wesley saw proof of this throughout his relentless ministry. Wesley, rejected by his colleagues in the Church of England because of his radical faith, began preaching in fields when he found the chapels were closed to him. Wesley was frequently mocked and derided for his zeal. Indeed, the whole Methodist movement itself was a frequent target of comic derision. On one occasion though, the jeering crowd was itself brought low in the midst of their mockery.
Wesley recounts the story of a comic troop who were performing spoof on the Methodists and their ministry. During the performance the floor of the stage on which they were appearing collapsed abruptly ending the show. The Methodists were quite sure about who was having the last laugh.

Standing against beatings and stonings, Wesley took strength from the truth of Jesus’ word. He lived out his life in light of the advice Paul gave to Timothy in his second letter.
“…for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel…”
II Timothy 1:7-8 (NRSV)

As Christians we need never be ashamed of the gospel of Christ for God gave us a gospel of strength and glory not a gospel of foolishness. Likewise, we need not be ashamed of those who serve the gospel. Their sufferings glorify God and bring the world to shame. Do not be ashamed for them for theirs is the Kingdom of God.

Those who suffer the shame and embarrassment of the world have placed their hope in the doxa of God, resting in the faith that it is a glory worth trusting.
“For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.”II Timothy 1:11-12 (NRSV)

Calling the "Stinky" Part II

2007-10-02T21:16:00.000-05:00

Unlike Jonah, who did not trust God’s judgment, Christians often fail to witness because they no longer believe that God can act. In that case we become more like Mary and Martha than like Jonah.

Whereas Jonah thought that the people of Nineveh were too foul to be saved, Mary and Martha thought that their brother Lazarus was too far gone to be saved. They believed that Jesus was not capable of speaking to their brother in his death. John’s story of Lazarus’ death and resurrection sheds light on the conflict between having simply heard the message and having believed it.

Now if you are familiar with the story of Lazarus at all it may be due to the shortest of all scripture verses “Jesus wept”. Many people think that this verse illustrates Jesus’ humanity as he mourns the loss of his friend Lazarus. A closer reading of the story however, shows us that Jesus was mourning the loss of something else.

First of all, the beginning of the story shows us that Jesus was quite aware of Lazarus’ situation. Having traveled some distance, a messenger from Mary and Martha comes to Jesus and his disciples to inform him that their brother is very ill. “Lord, he whom you love is ill (NRSV John 11:3).” John is very clear about two things at this point: Jesus loves this family very much; Jesus remains where he is in spite of his love for them. In fact, he remains an extra two days and only leaves for the home of Lazarus and his sisters when he knows that the one whom he loves is dead. Jesus is not surprised at the death of his friend. Quite to the contrary, he has expected it since he first heard the news, knowing that his father would be glorified through this death. He even says to his disciples, “For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe (John 11:15 NRSV).” Jesus took pains to delay his presence at Lazarus’ side lest he be healed and a greater miracle be lost.

Secondly, the author also tells us that Jesus was not weeping because Lazarus had died. If you pay attention to the text in verses 35-37 you notice that the author gives you two perspectives that the crowd of witnesses had on Jesus’ weeping. The implication being neither of them was correct. Some said he was weeping because he was mourning his friend, “See how he loved him!” Others scoffed at him either in derision or anger, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” In other words, they were questioning if Jesus really was the person people said he was.

So if Jesus was not weeping over the loss of Lazarus, why was he weeping? Well, as I have already said I do not think that Jesus could have seen Lazarus as being lost forever. I believe that in his mind Lazarus was only gone for a moment. It was the people around him who believed that Lazarus was now gone for good that made him weep. It was their faithlessness that made him weep.

We know from what john has already told us that Jesus was close to this family. Luke tells us that Jesus frequented their home and that Mary even sat at his feet, listening to what he had to say (Luke 10:38-42, NRSV). Presumably they would have heard his message time and time again. When Jesus arrives, Martha is the first to meet him saying, “Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died (John 11:21).” Martha seems to be of the opinion that not much can be done now that Lazarus is dead, although she does express a belief that God will do for Jesus anything he asks.

Jesus’ next statement is an exclamatory. “Your brother will rise again.” It is interesting to me that Martha seems to shrug this off. In so many words she says, “Yeah I know in the resurrection.” That is, in that far off day when God sends messiah to bring in the Kingdom.

At this point I think it is important to say a few words about what the Jews may have understood about the resurrection and its relationship to the Kingdom. By the time of Jesus the Jewish understanding of the resurrection had grown from its nascent beginnings in the OT to a full blown hope and sign. It was a hope of the faithful as well as a sign of the kingdom. In Isaiah there is mention of a resurrection and in Daniel there is mention of a specific resurrection for judgment of the wicked and the righteous (Isaiah 26 & Daniel 12 see Zondervan’s Pictorial Encyclopedia or The Anchor Bible Dictionary for further discussion).

By the period of the Maccabees however, there is a true resurrection hope in which the faithful take solace in the face of persecution. Second Maccabees tells of many who went to their deaths telling their executioners that when Messiah comes he will resurrect the faithful dead to live in God’s kingdom. It is no accident that Matthew speaks of “the saints who had fallen asleep” rising from their graves after the Death and resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 27).

When Martha begins to speak of her brother being raised “on the last day” she is looking off to some far flung day. Jesus responds by insisting to her that that day has come. The kingdom is now he says. Messiah is here! “I am the resurrection and the life, those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and every one who lives and believes in me will never die (John 11:25-26 NRSV).” Jesus is trying to express to Martha that the day she waits for has arrived. She tells him she believes but her words seem to be said more of wrote than of faith.

Jesus next encounters Mary and her first words, like Martha’s, lay Lazarus’ dead body at Jesus’ feet. “You could have done something if you had gotten here in time.” It is only after this that we see Jesus weeping.

Standing before the tomb, Jesus orders the stone to be removed from the entrance. Martha, who had only recently professed “faith” in Jesus, challenges his order pointing out that both time and climate had already been working against him for four days. “By this time he stinketh (John 11:39 KJV). This is one of the few time is prefer the King James over others.
“He stinks!” she says. “Four days ago was the time to do something not now!” Martha and Mary had already given up on their brother and what’s more, they had given up on God’s ability to act. To them, death was final. It was the strongest adversary.

We make the same judgments about people all the time. It may not be that they are already in the grave but we have just about consigned them to it. For all intents and purposes they are to far gone for anyone to reach. In our hearts and minds there is nothing left to do but anoint the body and seal the tomb. We shake our heads and say with a tisk, tisk, tisk, “Pity, if only something had been done sooner they might have had a chance. Oh well, too late now. Do you smell something?”

We lack even the faith of Jonah. At least he believed God could act even if he was arrogant enough to say that God was wrong to do so. Our hearts are so cold and hard we think that God is incapable of acting. We relegate his ability to some far distant dispensation of glory and assuage our guilt by singing, “we’ll understand it better by and by.”

God however is a restless God and he is not willing to wait for us to wake on our own. He has things to do and places to be. If we would go with him the time is now. God likes to shake the sleeping.

“He stinketh.” Breathing through her veil, Martha pleads with Jesus to give it up. When the tomb is finally opened Jesus has an interesting conversation with his father. In thanking God Jesus adds that he has done this not for his own sake but for the sake of those witnessing so that they might see and believe. Lazarus does not have to be told twice what to do. Unlike Martha, he does what he is told the first time.

According to John, the only other thing Jesus says to the assembled witnesses – including Mary and Martha – is “Unbind him, and let him go.” It is as if he is saying, “If you can’t do anything else at least don’t get in his way now that he lives. Remove from him the bounds you placed on him and set him free.”

There is an uncomfortable truth in this. God is about the work of redeeming. He calls all from death into life in spite of what we may think. He forgives those whom we see as unforgivable and resurrects those whom we see as too far gone. The stench which burns our nostrils becomes for him a testament to his glory. Meanwhile, all we can do is stand back and wonder. While we stand with mouths agape Jesus beckons us to come forward and take responsibility for the fetters we placed on those we have pronounced dead. See and believe.

Calling the "Stinky": Part 1

2007-05-01T23:45:00.000-05:00

How is it that we who call ourselves Christians can fail to call others to live in Christ? I think our failings to witness to the world can be linked to a failing in faith. In some cases it is an outright refusal on our part because we find either the task or the person(s) distasteful. We are repulsed by the thought of dealing with them.

For instance, Jonah's refusal to bear witness to the people of Nineveh was not due to some innate fear of that city or because of what the people would do to him. It was however due to a fear of what God would do with the people of Nineveh. By the way, Jonah was not trying to spare the people of that city an agonizing torment. On the contrary, he was probably trying to assure their demise.

Nineveh is remembered as the capitol of the Assyrian empire, an empire renowned for its brutal oppression of the peoples it conquered. Jonah and his people were among the conquered. He had good reason to desire the destruction of that city and all of its inhabitants. Their demise would have possibly meant an end to the bitterness they wrought in the lives of his people. It could have meant liberation for many nations.

So, when Jonah was called to travel to Nineveh with God's message of judgement against them, he refused to answer the call. We find out later that his refusal was based in a fairly positive understanding of the nature of God. The RSV (Revised Standard Version) says, "That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repentest of evil (Jonah 4:2)." Jonah knew that if the people of Nineveh were to hear the judgement against them they would repent and then God, in his nature, would repent of his plans and deliver good to them instead of evil.

In Jonah's mind, this was unacceptable. Jonah himself had become judge and jury over the people of Nineveh and in his judgement there was no room for mercy. Nineveh, that great city which represented great evil, deserved death. There was no hope for a people like that. The only solution for the stench of their iniquity was to bury them in fire like Sodom and Gomorrah.

We find in Jonah an odd mixing of faith and wrath. He did not doubt the ability of God. Jonah believed in God's faithfulness and it was that faithfulness which worried him. In the end Jonah's sin was not a failure to believe in God but a failure to trust in his judgment. Jonah was willing to write off a whole nation rather than allow God to forgive them because he had decided that they were not worthy of forgiveness. He thought God was making a mistake.

Jonah should have known better and perhaps he did. He was a prophet and the job of the prophet was not to make judgment but to convey it. As a prophet he also knew that part and parcel of that message of judgment was a call to repentance with the promise of forgiveness and restoration.

We in the church must be very careful that we do not make the same mistake. It may not always be that we are so obviously disobedient as Jonah, but we do still make decisions about persons and nations. We see, or think we see, how people are and we make a determination regarding their fitness for forgiveness. Forgetting all about the whale which just spat us up, we ask God how he can dare invite such nasty stinky people to his table.

The christian, like Jonah, has the job of conveying the message of and the invitation to repentance. We can then stand on the hill side and watch what happens next. God is no fool. He can work out the rest.

Forgiveness

2007-04-26T23:51:00.000-05:00

"In Jesus' insistence that we should forgive seventy times seven, there seems to be the assumption that forgiveness is mandatory for three reasons. First, God forgives us again and again for what we do intentionally and unintentionally. ... Second, no evil deed represents the full intent of the doer. Third, the evil doer does not go unpunished. Life is its own restraint."

-Dr. Howard Thurman, from Jesus and the Disinherited(ellipsis mine)

I posted this quote last week on my facebook page. In the middle of the media’s voyeuristic frenzy to glut itself on all things pertaining to the Virginia Tech shootings, the life of one young man was quickly de-humanized. The young man who committed the murders at Virginia Tech did indeed comitt a heinous act of violence but we must not let ourselves fall into the trap of relegating him to the level of a beast.

The fact is he was a person. He was aperson who fell prey to the darkness of his own thoughts. Believing that his own perceptions defined the essence of reality, he made an imprudent judgement in blindness. It is a mistake which we are all capable of making and usually do. Yes, our decisions may not have led to such violent ends as the young man in Virginia, but I can honestly say that my words and deeds have caused unique destruction and devestation.

A local anchor reffered to the young person as a “madman”. Perhaps we feel that his suicide denied us the vengeance we would have desired from him had he lived. In death we exact upon him the only punishment we can by stripping him of his humanity. And so, we portray him as a demon, unloved and unmourned.

Thurman would have us remember that, as people who profess the faith of Jesus, this is not our task. No matter what this young man did our task is to forgive him. We are to be charitable to him as God has been charitable to us. He has been charitable to us both in our ignorance and intentions of our deeds. Most importantly, however, we must remember that we can not do anything more to this young man than he has already done to himself.

There were many memorials set up to recall those who perished at VT. Each of the thirty two victims had at least one. Among them there was a thirty third. It was nothing spectacular. Just a simple marker with the young man’s name on it along with letters of forgiveness adressed to him. We christians tend to think of forgiveness as a commodity we control. In reality, it is a duty we are given. Do it well and may God make you perfect in forgiveness.

Welcome to my "blog"

2007-03-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess this is it. I have finally taken the plunge into post modern ministry. I am on facebook and blogger. All I have to do now is come up with some incredibly edgy and culturally relevant stuff to say a la Velvet Elvis and Blue Like Jazz. I suppose the next thing to do is wear t-shirts with my blazers exclusively.