Walter Brueggemann changed the way people read the Psalms. Brueggemann (pronounced Brew-ga-mawn) introduced three kinds of Psalms: orientation, disorientation, and reorientation.
If there are too many syllables in the previous description, think about it like this: Psalms of life, death, and renewal.
While most Psalms are either one or the other, Psalm 23 actually contains these three movments. Psalm 23 is a renewal Psalm, but it shows the reader how the three seaons must be held in tension with each other.
Seaons of Life:
1The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
3he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
Seasons of Death:
4Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.
5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Seasons of Renewal:
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.
***
In the fall of 1963 one preacher articulated these seasons of life as well as any thinker has in modern times.
May I now say a word to you, the members of the bereaved families? It is almost impossible to say anything that can console you at this difficult hour and remove the deep clouds of disappointment which are floating in your mental skies. But I hope you can find a little consolation from the universality of this experience. Death comes to every individual. There is an amazing democracy about death. It is not aristocracy for some of the people, but a democracy for all of the people. Kings die and beggars die; rich men and poor men die; old people die and young people die. Death comes to the innocent and it comes to the guilty. Death is the irreducible common denominator of all men.
I hope you can find some consolation from Christianity's affirmation that death is not the end. Death is not a period that ends the great sentence of life, but a comma that punctuates it to more lofty significance. Death is not a blind alley that leads the human race into a state of nothingness, but an open door which leads man into life eternal. Let this daring faith, this great invincible surmise, be your sustaining power during these trying days.
Now I say to you in conclusion, life is hard, at times as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. (Yeah, Yes) Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters. (Yeah) And if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him (Yeah, Well), and that God is able (Yeah, Yes) to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace.
(Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Eulogy for the Martyred Children)
30 October 2006
21 October 2006
Motown
Detroit is the best sports town in the United States. Period. Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings, UofM Football, the Shock (give the WNBA some love) make Detroit a great place to live.
I do not remember the last Tigers World Series: I was living in Kansas in 1984 and I was only five. You better believe I'll remember this one.
Some of my best memories growing up in Michigan are going to (and watching) Tigers games with my grandfather. Sitting in the bleachers for $5 and eating as many hot dogs as we could manage gave his grand sons some excellent memories to take into our own families.
Here's a great article from a Detroiter and senior writer for ESPN.
* * *
By LZ Granderson
Special to Page 2
I was made in Detroit.
Mack and Van Dyke followed by 8 Mile and Schaeffer.
Government cheese in the morning. Canned pork at night.
WJLB and the D.O.T.
It wasn't always pretty but it was always home.
Wherever I go I try to make it a point of saying where I'm from because people like to make it a punch line.
Especially people who have never been to Detroit.
People who have never danced under the stars to live jazz at Hart Plaza with the river just a few steps away.
Or was there for the birth of house music with InnerCity in the basement of St. Andrews Hall singing about a "Good Life."
No, it's easy to make fun of Detroit when all you hear about is violence and poverty. And it's true, the city's hurting. Nearly a third of the families are living below the poverty line and over 70,000 people are unemployed. Last year, the average U.S. home sold for $167,500. In Detroit? $88,300.
But there's more to a city than numbers and glitz. There's a soul.
This city gave the world automobiles, Motown, Jerry Bruckheimer and Eminem. This city provided hope for thousands of blacks who migrated from the South in hopes of a better life. People like my mother, who had enough courage to leave behind everything she knew in smalltown Mississippi to make it possible for her children to go to college and, in her words, "be somebody."
That's why it's so important the Tigers have made it to the World Series this year. It's not that everyone who actually lives in Detroit (not suburbs Grosse Point or Bloomfield Hills) can afford to be at every game. But just being able to walk on the outside of the stadium -- to see the lights and hear the crowd -- is empowering in itself. It's a reminder that something excellent can still come from this city. Sure, the Pistons have been one of the best teams in basketball the past four years, but the truth is they don't actually play in Detroit. They're in Auburn Hills, about 30 minutes north of downtown. If you can afford the ticket, you still need a car that can make the trip and gas to get there. The Red Wings? A great team but not a sport that's been embraced by those who live in the city. The Lions? Forgetaboutit.
So we need the Tigers. They are here, in the heart of a downtown that's desperately trying to resuscitate itself. Just as Detroit is trying to recover from a year in which it's main source of employment -- the auto industry -- announces more crippling job cuts. In a year in which people are not only losing their jobs, but the homes they worked so hard to buy. For many, it's the first home anyone in their family has been able to call their own. In a year in which school started after a 16-day teacher strike because administrators wanted to institute a 5.5 percent paycut to employees to cover the $105 million deficit in the school budget.
Yeah, it's been tough, but I, like so many, am proud to be made in Detroit.
I've seen brothers in Now-N-Later gators strut the street with their heads up high despite not having a dime to their name. I've stood in the cold outside of welfare lines, waited for buses an hour late, done homework without electricity and played the numbers. That's life in the D -- down but never out.
Back in 1984, the last time the Tigers won the World Series, there was a slogan: Bless You Boys.
We're not New Orleans, but we needed this blessing. We knew God didn't forget about us, but it's nice to get a reminder just the same.
LZ Granderson is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.
I do not remember the last Tigers World Series: I was living in Kansas in 1984 and I was only five. You better believe I'll remember this one.
Some of my best memories growing up in Michigan are going to (and watching) Tigers games with my grandfather. Sitting in the bleachers for $5 and eating as many hot dogs as we could manage gave his grand sons some excellent memories to take into our own families.
Here's a great article from a Detroiter and senior writer for ESPN.
* * *
By LZ Granderson
Special to Page 2
I was made in Detroit.
Mack and Van Dyke followed by 8 Mile and Schaeffer.
Government cheese in the morning. Canned pork at night.
WJLB and the D.O.T.
It wasn't always pretty but it was always home.
Wherever I go I try to make it a point of saying where I'm from because people like to make it a punch line.
Especially people who have never been to Detroit.
People who have never danced under the stars to live jazz at Hart Plaza with the river just a few steps away.
Or was there for the birth of house music with InnerCity in the basement of St. Andrews Hall singing about a "Good Life."
No, it's easy to make fun of Detroit when all you hear about is violence and poverty. And it's true, the city's hurting. Nearly a third of the families are living below the poverty line and over 70,000 people are unemployed. Last year, the average U.S. home sold for $167,500. In Detroit? $88,300.
But there's more to a city than numbers and glitz. There's a soul.
This city gave the world automobiles, Motown, Jerry Bruckheimer and Eminem. This city provided hope for thousands of blacks who migrated from the South in hopes of a better life. People like my mother, who had enough courage to leave behind everything she knew in smalltown Mississippi to make it possible for her children to go to college and, in her words, "be somebody."
That's why it's so important the Tigers have made it to the World Series this year. It's not that everyone who actually lives in Detroit (not suburbs Grosse Point or Bloomfield Hills) can afford to be at every game. But just being able to walk on the outside of the stadium -- to see the lights and hear the crowd -- is empowering in itself. It's a reminder that something excellent can still come from this city. Sure, the Pistons have been one of the best teams in basketball the past four years, but the truth is they don't actually play in Detroit. They're in Auburn Hills, about 30 minutes north of downtown. If you can afford the ticket, you still need a car that can make the trip and gas to get there. The Red Wings? A great team but not a sport that's been embraced by those who live in the city. The Lions? Forgetaboutit.
So we need the Tigers. They are here, in the heart of a downtown that's desperately trying to resuscitate itself. Just as Detroit is trying to recover from a year in which it's main source of employment -- the auto industry -- announces more crippling job cuts. In a year in which people are not only losing their jobs, but the homes they worked so hard to buy. For many, it's the first home anyone in their family has been able to call their own. In a year in which school started after a 16-day teacher strike because administrators wanted to institute a 5.5 percent paycut to employees to cover the $105 million deficit in the school budget.
Yeah, it's been tough, but I, like so many, am proud to be made in Detroit.
I've seen brothers in Now-N-Later gators strut the street with their heads up high despite not having a dime to their name. I've stood in the cold outside of welfare lines, waited for buses an hour late, done homework without electricity and played the numbers. That's life in the D -- down but never out.
Back in 1984, the last time the Tigers won the World Series, there was a slogan: Bless You Boys.
We're not New Orleans, but we needed this blessing. We knew God didn't forget about us, but it's nice to get a reminder just the same.
LZ Granderson is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.
19 October 2006
Instruments of Peace
Nine People from the Rochester Church and Rochester College went to Washington DC to find out a) the impact the Invisible Children viewing (almost 800 people) has had across the country and b) the impact the Global Night Commute (some 250 of you came for this in Rochester) had on local and state government officials.
Hundreds of concerned individuals will converge in Washington, DC for the Northern Uganda Lobby Day and Symposium. They will spend a day learning in-depth about the conflict, and a day lobbing their leaders for the change that will bring lasting peace to the two million people victimized, displaced, and impoverished by this twenty year nightmare (http://www.afjn.org/). NOTE: Almost One Thousand people came from all over the country for this two day event--mostly followers of Jesus!
U.N. Under-Secretary General of Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland has called the situation in northern Uganda "the world's most neglected humanitarian crisis" and "one of the biggest scandals of our generation."
The war in northern Uganda has been ravaging its people for nearly 20 years and has gone largely unnoticed by the mainstream media and the general public. Over 20,000 children have been abducted by the rebel-led LRA to be used as soldiers and sex slaves, over 90% of Acholi people have been displaced in camps that offer neither security nor basic provisions. This war has paralyzed an entire nation with fear, forever altering families, cultural traditions and way of life for an entire generation.
Here are some practical ways to get involved:
*Pray that God will relieve the suffering of the Acholi People.
*Contact myself (jgraves@rochestercoc.org) or Stephanie Corp (scorp2@rc.edu) to find out more about the "worst humanitarian crisis in the world." Worse than Darfur, worse than any other place in the world. This is genocide.
*Write your congressional senators and representatives.
*Connect with www.invisiblechildren.com or http://www.afjn.org/. Give your time, money, and energy to help create sustainable peace.
Makes one wonder how things might be different if oil was suddenly discovered in Northern Uganda :)
JG
Hundreds of concerned individuals will converge in Washington, DC for the Northern Uganda Lobby Day and Symposium. They will spend a day learning in-depth about the conflict, and a day lobbing their leaders for the change that will bring lasting peace to the two million people victimized, displaced, and impoverished by this twenty year nightmare (http://www.afjn.org/). NOTE: Almost One Thousand people came from all over the country for this two day event--mostly followers of Jesus!
U.N. Under-Secretary General of Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland has called the situation in northern Uganda "the world's most neglected humanitarian crisis" and "one of the biggest scandals of our generation."
The war in northern Uganda has been ravaging its people for nearly 20 years and has gone largely unnoticed by the mainstream media and the general public. Over 20,000 children have been abducted by the rebel-led LRA to be used as soldiers and sex slaves, over 90% of Acholi people have been displaced in camps that offer neither security nor basic provisions. This war has paralyzed an entire nation with fear, forever altering families, cultural traditions and way of life for an entire generation.
Here are some practical ways to get involved:
*Pray that God will relieve the suffering of the Acholi People.
*Contact myself (jgraves@rochestercoc.org) or Stephanie Corp (scorp2@rc.edu) to find out more about the "worst humanitarian crisis in the world." Worse than Darfur, worse than any other place in the world. This is genocide.
*Write your congressional senators and representatives.
*Connect with www.invisiblechildren.com or http://www.afjn.org/. Give your time, money, and energy to help create sustainable peace.
Makes one wonder how things might be different if oil was suddenly discovered in Northern Uganda :)
JG
16 October 2006
I've been all over the last few weeks, from kayaking in West Virginia with my family to teaching and participating at the ZOE Worship Conference in Nashville, TN. My last stop was Washington D.C. where several people from the Rochester Church and Rochester College participated in the Northern Uganda Lobby Day sponsored by Africa Faith and Justice Network (http://www.ugandalobbyday.com/).
If you are not aware of the genocide taking place in Northern Uganda (related but different than the genocide in Darfur), check out these kingdom leaders (http://www.invisiblechildren.com/)
Apparently, there was interesting but rather sad gathering at Freed-Hardeman University (http://www.christianchronicle.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=495).
Here’s an excerpt from the gathering that is tackling and cutting edge issue of “instrumental music versus acapella”—I can’t believe some institutions of higher learning can still defend this element of their Christian faith considering the current religious/philosophical climate in the West. What does it say about a version of the Christian faith where instrumental/acapella is as important as the resurrection of Jesus? It’s fundamentalism in sheep’s clothing (i.e. “we are after the truth.”)
AN ISSUE OF FELLOWSHIP?
While describing Faust as his brother in Christ, Gilmore told the crowd, “We are not in fellowship because of one big, obvious thing.”
That one, big obvious thing — the use of instrumental music in worship — dominated the discussion.
But Faust rejected the idea of dividing fellowship over music.
“I may not agree on some points, but because we’re brothers and sisters in Christ, we do have fellowship,” he said.
Gilmore begged Faust to “lay aside the instrument” for the sake of unity.
But Faust said that would require Christian Church members to give up convictions and freedom in Christ. He likened the request to asking a cappella churches to give up multiple communion cups or Sunday school classes because some congregations object to them.
Faust highlighted similarities between the two groups that a 1906 federal census first reported as separate bodies.
Both groups — with a combined 2.5 million baptized members in the U.S. — believe that Jesus is Lord, baptize for remission of sins and offer the Lord’s Supper each Sunday.
“Instrumental music is not the focus of my faith,” Faust said. “Christ is.”
Appealing for unity and a deeper love for lost people, he said, “Often, we are like two lifeguards who get in a fistfight on the beach while a swimmer is drowning.”
Gilmore agreed that the Bible requires Christian unity. But he said, “There can be no genuine unity without truth.”
The issue boils down to how one understands God when he’s silent about something, Gilmore said. Ephesians 5:19 calls for “singing and making melody in one’s heart to the Lord.”
That verse “tells you where you’re supposed to pluck the string — in your heart,” Gilmore said. “It’s a purely vocal reference.”
The same logic that allows a piano in worship could lead to doughnuts and coffee in the Lord’s Supper, he said.
Gilmore said the Bible does allow “expedients,” such as songbooks, to help carry out specified actions, so long as the tool does not change the action or “involve swapping something in the category specified with something else.”
ISLAND READING
Using what he called the “desert island principle,” Faust suggested that a person reading the Bible with no presuppositions would learn God commanded and blessed the use of instrumental music in the Old Testament.
“Since I read this in the Old Testament, where would I find in the New Testament that God now frowns on this?” Faust asked.
Gilmore responded: “If you’re on that desert island, chances are you’re not going to have an organ or piano with you. But you’re going to have your voice, and you can always worship God.”
If the New Testament is silent on instrumental music, it’s equally silent on four-part harmony and pitch pipes, Faust said. “If it’s permissible to use a pitch pipe to get the song started on the right key, why is a guitar or a piano not allowed to keep it on the right key?” he asked.
Gilmore countered that a pitch pipe “just tells you where you’re going to start your singing. It is not your first note.” As for four-part harmony, Gilmore asked, “Where does that expedient change the idea of a cappella singing?”
Freed-Hardeman President Milton Sewell said the university hosted the discussion as an educational opportunity for church members. “I would love to see us all back together again,” Sewell told The Christian Chronicle, “but we’re not going to worship with the instrument, and we’re not going to promote it here.”
85 percent of the United States is not engaged in a church body, and some people are still rearranging furniture on the Titanic.
God help us.
If you are not aware of the genocide taking place in Northern Uganda (related but different than the genocide in Darfur), check out these kingdom leaders (http://www.invisiblechildren.com/)
Apparently, there was interesting but rather sad gathering at Freed-Hardeman University (http://www.christianchronicle.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=495).
Here’s an excerpt from the gathering that is tackling and cutting edge issue of “instrumental music versus acapella”—I can’t believe some institutions of higher learning can still defend this element of their Christian faith considering the current religious/philosophical climate in the West. What does it say about a version of the Christian faith where instrumental/acapella is as important as the resurrection of Jesus? It’s fundamentalism in sheep’s clothing (i.e. “we are after the truth.”)
AN ISSUE OF FELLOWSHIP?
While describing Faust as his brother in Christ, Gilmore told the crowd, “We are not in fellowship because of one big, obvious thing.”
That one, big obvious thing — the use of instrumental music in worship — dominated the discussion.
But Faust rejected the idea of dividing fellowship over music.
“I may not agree on some points, but because we’re brothers and sisters in Christ, we do have fellowship,” he said.
Gilmore begged Faust to “lay aside the instrument” for the sake of unity.
But Faust said that would require Christian Church members to give up convictions and freedom in Christ. He likened the request to asking a cappella churches to give up multiple communion cups or Sunday school classes because some congregations object to them.
Faust highlighted similarities between the two groups that a 1906 federal census first reported as separate bodies.
Both groups — with a combined 2.5 million baptized members in the U.S. — believe that Jesus is Lord, baptize for remission of sins and offer the Lord’s Supper each Sunday.
“Instrumental music is not the focus of my faith,” Faust said. “Christ is.”
Appealing for unity and a deeper love for lost people, he said, “Often, we are like two lifeguards who get in a fistfight on the beach while a swimmer is drowning.”
Gilmore agreed that the Bible requires Christian unity. But he said, “There can be no genuine unity without truth.”
The issue boils down to how one understands God when he’s silent about something, Gilmore said. Ephesians 5:19 calls for “singing and making melody in one’s heart to the Lord.”
That verse “tells you where you’re supposed to pluck the string — in your heart,” Gilmore said. “It’s a purely vocal reference.”
The same logic that allows a piano in worship could lead to doughnuts and coffee in the Lord’s Supper, he said.
Gilmore said the Bible does allow “expedients,” such as songbooks, to help carry out specified actions, so long as the tool does not change the action or “involve swapping something in the category specified with something else.”
ISLAND READING
Using what he called the “desert island principle,” Faust suggested that a person reading the Bible with no presuppositions would learn God commanded and blessed the use of instrumental music in the Old Testament.
“Since I read this in the Old Testament, where would I find in the New Testament that God now frowns on this?” Faust asked.
Gilmore responded: “If you’re on that desert island, chances are you’re not going to have an organ or piano with you. But you’re going to have your voice, and you can always worship God.”
If the New Testament is silent on instrumental music, it’s equally silent on four-part harmony and pitch pipes, Faust said. “If it’s permissible to use a pitch pipe to get the song started on the right key, why is a guitar or a piano not allowed to keep it on the right key?” he asked.
Gilmore countered that a pitch pipe “just tells you where you’re going to start your singing. It is not your first note.” As for four-part harmony, Gilmore asked, “Where does that expedient change the idea of a cappella singing?”
Freed-Hardeman President Milton Sewell said the university hosted the discussion as an educational opportunity for church members. “I would love to see us all back together again,” Sewell told The Christian Chronicle, “but we’re not going to worship with the instrument, and we’re not going to promote it here.”
85 percent of the United States is not engaged in a church body, and some people are still rearranging furniture on the Titanic.
God help us.
28 September 2006
"The Jesus Camp" and Allegiance (?)
There is a movie/documentary coming out soon entitled "The Jesus Camp". See http://www.apple.com/trailers/magnolia/jesuscamp/trailer/ or simply do a "Google" with the title to read some awfully disturbing theology.
My friend, Katy Allison and I, presented some thoughts on this recently. Below is our dialogue. The following will only make sense if you watch the clips/trailers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a new movie/ documentary coming out called “Jesus Camp”. It is about a camp called “Kids on Fire” for kids as young as 6 years old. The film will follow 3 children as they speak about their gifts and what it means for them to be Christians. It also teaches kids how to be political activist for their Christian faith and you hear them several times refer to themselves as “God’s Army”.
A woman named Becky Fischer runs the camp. She has been a children’s minister since 1991 and before that she was a business woman managing a motel and a radio station. She is also lead pastor for the F.I.R.E. Center in Bismarck, N.D.
You will see a flash of a young girl, 10 at the oldest, who is wearing a piece of duct tape across her mouth that says, “life” on it. What you don’t see is that she is outside an abortion clinic protesting abortion. There is a point in the film where the kids are chanting “righteous judges” over and over again.
***
Did you hear some of the sound-bytes coming from these people who are representing conservative Christianity to this country?
• “There are two kinds of people—those who love Jesus and those who don’t”. I guess they have not heard of the time Jesus said that anyone can love their friends…the real test being the ones who have nothing to offer you in return.
• “The evangelicals decide who will be in the White House” (Andrew Card on Meet The Press) I guess that have not heard of the time when Jesus said “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”—meaning God and Caesar are two completely different realities.
• “Righteous Judges, Righteous Judges, Righteous Judges” I guess they have not heard of the time when Jesus taught very clearly that judging is not something the Christ Community should be known for.
• “We’ve got to train our young people in the same fashion they’re training they’re young people” I guess they have not heard of the time when Jesus said, “Those who live by the sword will also perish by the sword.”
The saddest thing to me about the trailers(and I have not seen the entire film yet)— when the people in the movie say “we” and “us” and “our” they are not referring to the church, they are referring to their blind nationalism. Nationalism is different than patriotism. Patriotism is honoring what is good about a given nation be it Uganda, Poland, or the U.S. Nationalism, blind loyalty and complete allegiance, is something all together different. There is a word for it in Scripture: sin…idolatry…spiritual fornication (Thanks to my friend Randy Harris for that bit of distinction).
Whether you are aware of it or not, there is a battle being waged among Christians in America. The battle is being fought over defining rather elementary terms like “Jesus” “salvation” “church” and “gospel”.
Some want to lift up an American Jesus who wants his disciples to pray for “God to bless America” and for our “territories to be increased”. Others are reminding us that Jesus told us to pray for “the kingdom to come” and that our clearest promise from Jesus, from his own mouth, “you will have trouble in this world”.
Some want to reduce salvation to “avoiding hell” while others point out the eternal life starts right now. There is battle waging if you have the ears to hear.
Some want the church, though they would not admit this, to be an extension of the American Government, a lackey for American interest, economics and “democratic values”. Others point out that the church should always stand at odds with any tribe claiming to control the world. Only God sits on that throne.
What I am trying to say is that Jesus is political but the politics he instructed us to practice are often ignored by Contemporary Christians. It might sound silly or even downright demonstrative—have we been reading our bibles very closely? When I say Jesus is political I don’t mean he’s a Republican or a Democrat—I think we’re all mature enough to know that neither party has a foothold on the God of Scripture. When I say Jesus is political I mean he cares very much how we arrange our communities, determine our values—the way we treat one another; how we treat people whom we never met. That is the definition of “politics” in its oldest meaning. A way that is much bigger than elephants or donkeys.
I want the life of Jesus to pervade every compartment of my life. I don’t want to relegate him to an hour on Sunday, I want Jesus to be completely free to move and push me out of my own perceptions, biases and allegiances. I want the central teachings of Jesus to be engrained into my heart, soul, mind and quick reflexes. Teachings like:
1. The proclamation of the gospel should compel me to live in relationship with the poor (Lk 4).
2. That I should pray for my enemies. I wonder what would’ve have become of the Apostle Paul (formerly a terrorist by the name of Saul) had he been alive today? We might not have half of our New Testament. When is the last time our churches prayed for Sadaam Hussein or for Osama Bin Laden? That might sound foolish…but it might sound foolish because we’re more invested in our country than we are in the actual demands of Jesus.
3. Our allegiance flows in this order: kingdom, humanity, nation.
4. That the way of discipleship is found in death. “If anyone should come after me let him take up his cross.” Or, as Bonhoeffer stated, “Christ bids us to come and die.”
Katy and I have been wrestling with a familiar Gospel text these past few weeks. She has some very challenging things to share.
***
There is a point in the gospels when Jesus rides into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which was known as the final battle place against Jerusalem’s enemies. The people in Jerusalem were cheering and laying down their garments and palms leave becoming excited because in their eyes Jesus was coming to take down the Romans and put the Jews back in charge. But Jesus was really performing a type of play called “street theatre”. The Jews think that worldly power and glory follow Jesus but in fact the opposite is true. In the words of Chuck Campbell Jesus comes riding,
“not as one who lords his authority over others, but as one who rejects domination and comes as a servant;
He comes not as a mighty warrior, but as one who refuses to rely on violence;
He comes not with pomp and wealth, but as one identified with the poor.”
Jesus’ coming is explained in Zechariah 9:9-10
Rejoice greatly. O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
Righteous and having salvation is He,
Humble and mounted on a donkey,
On a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And the war horse from Jerusalem;
And the battle bow shall be cut off,
And He shall speak peace to the nations;
Jesus himself explains why he has come in John 12:23-26:
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to receive glory. What I'm about to tell you is true. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only one seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves his life will lose it. But anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it and have eternal life. Anyone who serves me must follow me. And where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”
What my point is in telling you this is that the people in this documentary and many people in the U.S. see Jesus as the Jews saw Jesus when he was riding into Jerusalem. People still don’t seem to want a crucified messiah but rather one that will give them worldly wealth and power. But our Lord didn’t come to offer us worldly possessions and worldly power but rather he came to teach us how to be servants to the world, how to humble ourselves before the world, not conquer it.
***
Admittedly, it is easy to point out the flawed thinking of others. The one’s who walk closest with Jesus recognize that we all have a long way to go in our lives of discipleship. Some of us will continue to be Pharisees thinking the answer is to clean up the streets and society, moving the poor and the sinners out of sight. Some of us will continue to be Zealots grabbing our guns, tanks and war planes every time we feel the impulse. Some of us will continue to be the Essenes, hiding and isolating ourselves from the pain and mess we’ve made of the world. Some will continue to be Sadducees perfectly ok that you are “sleeping with the enemy”. Perhaps the story Katy has shared this morning will call of us to more in our lives.
Maybe Republicans will see that you cannot determine values only by what happens below someone’s waste (abortion and gay marriage).
Maybe Democrats will see that just because you talk about helping the poor doesn’t mean you truly know the poor.
Maybe the cynics like me (that’s my official political party) will be resurrected out of our slumber and actually do something about the plight of the world. Something that is true to the way that Jesus did something about the plight of the world.
FYI. If you are looking for practical ways to lay down your life for the sake of the world, come up and talk to Katy and I at the end of assembly. In a few weeks I will be traveling to Washington D.C. to find out how much the Global Night Commute (Invisible Children) has affected the bloody wars of Northern Uganda. There are some students who are contemplating making the trip. Then, On October 15th IMAGE and some people from the Rochester Church will be throwing a love feast for the poor and marginalized of Detroit. Last, This March, I’ll be leading a group of you to the Bronx to practice what Gustavo Gutierrez calls “solidarity with the poor by knowing them.” The real tragedy in the US is not that Rich Christians don’t care for the poor; it’s that most of us don’t really know any truly poor people (Thanks to Shane Claiborne for that gospel wisdom).
Christians should never be afraid to lay down our lives for those we love OR for our enemies because we know that God alone holds the power to raise the dead. And if death visits a disciple, the Spirit will one day raise us from the dead.
My friend, Katy Allison and I, presented some thoughts on this recently. Below is our dialogue. The following will only make sense if you watch the clips/trailers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a new movie/ documentary coming out called “Jesus Camp”. It is about a camp called “Kids on Fire” for kids as young as 6 years old. The film will follow 3 children as they speak about their gifts and what it means for them to be Christians. It also teaches kids how to be political activist for their Christian faith and you hear them several times refer to themselves as “God’s Army”.
A woman named Becky Fischer runs the camp. She has been a children’s minister since 1991 and before that she was a business woman managing a motel and a radio station. She is also lead pastor for the F.I.R.E. Center in Bismarck, N.D.
You will see a flash of a young girl, 10 at the oldest, who is wearing a piece of duct tape across her mouth that says, “life” on it. What you don’t see is that she is outside an abortion clinic protesting abortion. There is a point in the film where the kids are chanting “righteous judges” over and over again.
***
Did you hear some of the sound-bytes coming from these people who are representing conservative Christianity to this country?
• “There are two kinds of people—those who love Jesus and those who don’t”. I guess they have not heard of the time Jesus said that anyone can love their friends…the real test being the ones who have nothing to offer you in return.
• “The evangelicals decide who will be in the White House” (Andrew Card on Meet The Press) I guess that have not heard of the time when Jesus said “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”—meaning God and Caesar are two completely different realities.
• “Righteous Judges, Righteous Judges, Righteous Judges” I guess they have not heard of the time when Jesus taught very clearly that judging is not something the Christ Community should be known for.
• “We’ve got to train our young people in the same fashion they’re training they’re young people” I guess they have not heard of the time when Jesus said, “Those who live by the sword will also perish by the sword.”
The saddest thing to me about the trailers(and I have not seen the entire film yet)— when the people in the movie say “we” and “us” and “our” they are not referring to the church, they are referring to their blind nationalism. Nationalism is different than patriotism. Patriotism is honoring what is good about a given nation be it Uganda, Poland, or the U.S. Nationalism, blind loyalty and complete allegiance, is something all together different. There is a word for it in Scripture: sin…idolatry…spiritual fornication (Thanks to my friend Randy Harris for that bit of distinction).
Whether you are aware of it or not, there is a battle being waged among Christians in America. The battle is being fought over defining rather elementary terms like “Jesus” “salvation” “church” and “gospel”.
Some want to lift up an American Jesus who wants his disciples to pray for “God to bless America” and for our “territories to be increased”. Others are reminding us that Jesus told us to pray for “the kingdom to come” and that our clearest promise from Jesus, from his own mouth, “you will have trouble in this world”.
Some want to reduce salvation to “avoiding hell” while others point out the eternal life starts right now. There is battle waging if you have the ears to hear.
Some want the church, though they would not admit this, to be an extension of the American Government, a lackey for American interest, economics and “democratic values”. Others point out that the church should always stand at odds with any tribe claiming to control the world. Only God sits on that throne.
What I am trying to say is that Jesus is political but the politics he instructed us to practice are often ignored by Contemporary Christians. It might sound silly or even downright demonstrative—have we been reading our bibles very closely? When I say Jesus is political I don’t mean he’s a Republican or a Democrat—I think we’re all mature enough to know that neither party has a foothold on the God of Scripture. When I say Jesus is political I mean he cares very much how we arrange our communities, determine our values—the way we treat one another; how we treat people whom we never met. That is the definition of “politics” in its oldest meaning. A way that is much bigger than elephants or donkeys.
I want the life of Jesus to pervade every compartment of my life. I don’t want to relegate him to an hour on Sunday, I want Jesus to be completely free to move and push me out of my own perceptions, biases and allegiances. I want the central teachings of Jesus to be engrained into my heart, soul, mind and quick reflexes. Teachings like:
1. The proclamation of the gospel should compel me to live in relationship with the poor (Lk 4).
2. That I should pray for my enemies. I wonder what would’ve have become of the Apostle Paul (formerly a terrorist by the name of Saul) had he been alive today? We might not have half of our New Testament. When is the last time our churches prayed for Sadaam Hussein or for Osama Bin Laden? That might sound foolish…but it might sound foolish because we’re more invested in our country than we are in the actual demands of Jesus.
3. Our allegiance flows in this order: kingdom, humanity, nation.
4. That the way of discipleship is found in death. “If anyone should come after me let him take up his cross.” Or, as Bonhoeffer stated, “Christ bids us to come and die.”
Katy and I have been wrestling with a familiar Gospel text these past few weeks. She has some very challenging things to share.
***
There is a point in the gospels when Jesus rides into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which was known as the final battle place against Jerusalem’s enemies. The people in Jerusalem were cheering and laying down their garments and palms leave becoming excited because in their eyes Jesus was coming to take down the Romans and put the Jews back in charge. But Jesus was really performing a type of play called “street theatre”. The Jews think that worldly power and glory follow Jesus but in fact the opposite is true. In the words of Chuck Campbell Jesus comes riding,
“not as one who lords his authority over others, but as one who rejects domination and comes as a servant;
He comes not as a mighty warrior, but as one who refuses to rely on violence;
He comes not with pomp and wealth, but as one identified with the poor.”
Jesus’ coming is explained in Zechariah 9:9-10
Rejoice greatly. O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
Righteous and having salvation is He,
Humble and mounted on a donkey,
On a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And the war horse from Jerusalem;
And the battle bow shall be cut off,
And He shall speak peace to the nations;
Jesus himself explains why he has come in John 12:23-26:
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to receive glory. What I'm about to tell you is true. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only one seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves his life will lose it. But anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it and have eternal life. Anyone who serves me must follow me. And where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”
What my point is in telling you this is that the people in this documentary and many people in the U.S. see Jesus as the Jews saw Jesus when he was riding into Jerusalem. People still don’t seem to want a crucified messiah but rather one that will give them worldly wealth and power. But our Lord didn’t come to offer us worldly possessions and worldly power but rather he came to teach us how to be servants to the world, how to humble ourselves before the world, not conquer it.
***
Admittedly, it is easy to point out the flawed thinking of others. The one’s who walk closest with Jesus recognize that we all have a long way to go in our lives of discipleship. Some of us will continue to be Pharisees thinking the answer is to clean up the streets and society, moving the poor and the sinners out of sight. Some of us will continue to be Zealots grabbing our guns, tanks and war planes every time we feel the impulse. Some of us will continue to be the Essenes, hiding and isolating ourselves from the pain and mess we’ve made of the world. Some will continue to be Sadducees perfectly ok that you are “sleeping with the enemy”. Perhaps the story Katy has shared this morning will call of us to more in our lives.
Maybe Republicans will see that you cannot determine values only by what happens below someone’s waste (abortion and gay marriage).
Maybe Democrats will see that just because you talk about helping the poor doesn’t mean you truly know the poor.
Maybe the cynics like me (that’s my official political party) will be resurrected out of our slumber and actually do something about the plight of the world. Something that is true to the way that Jesus did something about the plight of the world.
FYI. If you are looking for practical ways to lay down your life for the sake of the world, come up and talk to Katy and I at the end of assembly. In a few weeks I will be traveling to Washington D.C. to find out how much the Global Night Commute (Invisible Children) has affected the bloody wars of Northern Uganda. There are some students who are contemplating making the trip. Then, On October 15th IMAGE and some people from the Rochester Church will be throwing a love feast for the poor and marginalized of Detroit. Last, This March, I’ll be leading a group of you to the Bronx to practice what Gustavo Gutierrez calls “solidarity with the poor by knowing them.” The real tragedy in the US is not that Rich Christians don’t care for the poor; it’s that most of us don’t really know any truly poor people (Thanks to Shane Claiborne for that gospel wisdom).
Christians should never be afraid to lay down our lives for those we love OR for our enemies because we know that God alone holds the power to raise the dead. And if death visits a disciple, the Spirit will one day raise us from the dead.
20 September 2006
A Good Word from Anderson, Indiana
My good friend Adam Hill is doing some serious reflection for North American Churches of Christ (or churches period). Here is a quote used without permission (take that Adam). His blog is weird (www.thehighcheese.blogspot.com) but he's brilliant. Must be the seminary he went to :)
“...And if all we have to offer this community racked with homes broken by adultery and abuse, teens deceived by our culture about sexual promiscuity and their lives subsequently shattered by teenage pregnancy and a merciless system of honor and shame grinding them to pieces, countless addicts fighting tooth and nail to regain anything close to real life again, countless people battling depression over the loss of a job, their homes, their families, a mountain of consumer debt that is crushing an entire generation…if all we have to offer this world and this community is a definitive answer to centuries of debate regarding the necessity of water baptism, the weekly observance of the symbolic (not literal) lord’s supper, the impropriety of the use of instruments in corporate worship, and the proper role of women in church polity, it is no wonder that they see no connection between what the church is about and their own struggles. It is no wonder they believe that we have truly lost the point a long long time ago.
It is not that doctrine is unimportant—indeed I value greatly the doctrinal commitments of my heritage of faith, even when I find them in need of further thought—but if our discussion of doctrine loses touch with our mission and our purpose, then we become more of a distraction than anything else. Our purpose is to be the person and work of Christ” --Adam Hill.
“...And if all we have to offer this community racked with homes broken by adultery and abuse, teens deceived by our culture about sexual promiscuity and their lives subsequently shattered by teenage pregnancy and a merciless system of honor and shame grinding them to pieces, countless addicts fighting tooth and nail to regain anything close to real life again, countless people battling depression over the loss of a job, their homes, their families, a mountain of consumer debt that is crushing an entire generation…if all we have to offer this world and this community is a definitive answer to centuries of debate regarding the necessity of water baptism, the weekly observance of the symbolic (not literal) lord’s supper, the impropriety of the use of instruments in corporate worship, and the proper role of women in church polity, it is no wonder that they see no connection between what the church is about and their own struggles. It is no wonder they believe that we have truly lost the point a long long time ago.
It is not that doctrine is unimportant—indeed I value greatly the doctrinal commitments of my heritage of faith, even when I find them in need of further thought—but if our discussion of doctrine loses touch with our mission and our purpose, then we become more of a distraction than anything else. Our purpose is to be the person and work of Christ” --Adam Hill.
11 September 2006
Like He Taught Us
Today, I am trying to pray according to the way of Christ.
I am praying for all of those left broken from the events of 9-11. For those rescue workers, nurses, doctors, police officers, firefighters--for the families who have an empty spot at the dinner table where a loved one used to sit. I've been to ground zero twice in the last ten months and it is one of the most numbing places on the planet.
I am also trying to pray as Jesus teaches me to pray: for my "enemies" and for the ones who might (wish) persecute me. So, as hard as it is, I'm praying for Hussein, Bin Laden, et al--that they might know the justice and mercy of God; the pain they've caused and the redemption that is still possible by living according to the kingdom of God and not the kingom of darkness.
I'm not only praying for Christians and Jews in the Middle East, I am praying for Muslims too.
Jesus said that it's easy to show love to a friend. But can we love those who wish us harm or who have nothing to offer us? I don't know if I can answer that question. But the question is still there begging to be acknowledged.
Some might call me soft, liberal, socialist...I honestly am trying to allow the Gospels to dictate the way I think and the practices I'm a part of. I fall short of that goal...but I'm on the journey.
I am praying for all of those left broken from the events of 9-11. For those rescue workers, nurses, doctors, police officers, firefighters--for the families who have an empty spot at the dinner table where a loved one used to sit. I've been to ground zero twice in the last ten months and it is one of the most numbing places on the planet.
I am also trying to pray as Jesus teaches me to pray: for my "enemies" and for the ones who might (wish) persecute me. So, as hard as it is, I'm praying for Hussein, Bin Laden, et al--that they might know the justice and mercy of God; the pain they've caused and the redemption that is still possible by living according to the kingdom of God and not the kingom of darkness.
I'm not only praying for Christians and Jews in the Middle East, I am praying for Muslims too.
Jesus said that it's easy to show love to a friend. But can we love those who wish us harm or who have nothing to offer us? I don't know if I can answer that question. But the question is still there begging to be acknowledged.
Some might call me soft, liberal, socialist...I honestly am trying to allow the Gospels to dictate the way I think and the practices I'm a part of. I fall short of that goal...but I'm on the journey.
30 August 2006
Reel Spirituality
When it comes to film, literature, and the arts—it seems that we have a few options as followers of Jesus. The people of God can hide, burying our face in the sand screaming, “It’s all bad; it’s all the work of darkness.” Or worse, “It’s all pointless.” Or, the people of God can wage war. We’re pretty good at this. We could start boycotts, and concoct propaganda defending our particular viewpoint. I think these first two options are not in the best interest of people trying to represent God in the world. I think the people of God are called to engage everything around us. We can and should engage the questions real people are asking. More than questions related to the sacred hour on Sunday morning, people are asking questions about suffering, purpose, pain, sex, money, and meaning.
I do not claim to know everything about Jesus but it seems to me he wasn’t so interested in ignoring the world around him. He wasn’t terribly enthralled with waging war on culture either. Unless, of course, you are a religious person with your doctrinal ducks in a row…hmmm. In the Gospel’s I see Jesus engaging the world around him, asking people about their background, healing them in order to restore their place in the community. Teaching and preaching? Yes, but usually in the context of engagement and relationship.
As biblical scholar and writer Greg Stevenson reminds us (www.caritas2.blogspot.com):
People don’t only watch movies because they’re entertaining. Movies are a form of story telling. Stories are a means of connecting to the world and to one another.
1. Stories explain our world and teach us how to live in it.
2. The stories a culture creates and passes on shape that culture’s identity.
3. Stories, whether classic literature or a campfire story, preach to us communicating values, beliefs and a certain way of interpreting the world.
The primary generators of stories in today’s culture are film and television. There is a theological conversation occurring in America and it’s coming out of Hollywood, (paraphrase from a class taught by Greg on “O Brother Where Art Thou?”).
For a people whose primary religious text is comprised of stories, and whose chief teacher used story as his primary method of teaching—it seems the people of God would do well in any culture to reclaim the centrality of story.
We could do worse than to seek for God in the places we tend not to look.
To listen to the series, Reel Spirituality (Finding God in Unexpected Places)--go to http://rccaudio.christianwitness.us/ beginning Thursday.
I do not claim to know everything about Jesus but it seems to me he wasn’t so interested in ignoring the world around him. He wasn’t terribly enthralled with waging war on culture either. Unless, of course, you are a religious person with your doctrinal ducks in a row…hmmm. In the Gospel’s I see Jesus engaging the world around him, asking people about their background, healing them in order to restore their place in the community. Teaching and preaching? Yes, but usually in the context of engagement and relationship.
As biblical scholar and writer Greg Stevenson reminds us (www.caritas2.blogspot.com):
People don’t only watch movies because they’re entertaining. Movies are a form of story telling. Stories are a means of connecting to the world and to one another.
1. Stories explain our world and teach us how to live in it.
2. The stories a culture creates and passes on shape that culture’s identity.
3. Stories, whether classic literature or a campfire story, preach to us communicating values, beliefs and a certain way of interpreting the world.
The primary generators of stories in today’s culture are film and television. There is a theological conversation occurring in America and it’s coming out of Hollywood, (paraphrase from a class taught by Greg on “O Brother Where Art Thou?”).
For a people whose primary religious text is comprised of stories, and whose chief teacher used story as his primary method of teaching—it seems the people of God would do well in any culture to reclaim the centrality of story.
We could do worse than to seek for God in the places we tend not to look.
To listen to the series, Reel Spirituality (Finding God in Unexpected Places)--go to http://rccaudio.christianwitness.us/ beginning Thursday.
20 August 2006
Paul and Romans
I am about to teach ROMANS for the church I serve with Mike Westerfield (President of Rochester College) and Greg Stevenson (teacher extraordinare at RC...www.caritas2@blogspot.com). Here is a prelim description. How would others describe this letter for the ages?
Paul was not a theologian who spent his life in the ivory tower (though he clearly was well-educated and dedicated to theological reflection). Neither was he a minister who spent his time developing new church programs. Paul was a pastoral missionary who preached and embodied the gospel in every city, space, and context he found himself in.
Romans, a letter addressed to the churches in Rome in one of the most influential cities in the world, is more than a treatise on grace and works. This letter unpacks the mystery of God choosing to reveal himself in Jesus as God's witness to the world. The practical implications for you and I jump off the page when we are willing to dig deep into the rich soil of this letter.
From the power and universality of sin, to the practical call of discipleship; from the mystery of Israel to the transformation that occurs in baptism--Romans is a letter that resembles one of Mozart's great works. Romans must be considered from beginning to end as masterpiece.
The world of Romans is packed with meaning for today's Jesus followers. Come along for the journey...
Paul was not a theologian who spent his life in the ivory tower (though he clearly was well-educated and dedicated to theological reflection). Neither was he a minister who spent his time developing new church programs. Paul was a pastoral missionary who preached and embodied the gospel in every city, space, and context he found himself in.
Romans, a letter addressed to the churches in Rome in one of the most influential cities in the world, is more than a treatise on grace and works. This letter unpacks the mystery of God choosing to reveal himself in Jesus as God's witness to the world. The practical implications for you and I jump off the page when we are willing to dig deep into the rich soil of this letter.
From the power and universality of sin, to the practical call of discipleship; from the mystery of Israel to the transformation that occurs in baptism--Romans is a letter that resembles one of Mozart's great works. Romans must be considered from beginning to end as masterpiece.
The world of Romans is packed with meaning for today's Jesus followers. Come along for the journey...
18 August 2006
Mere Discipleship
Lee Camp's book Mere Discipleship has challenged me over and over in my studies and reflection of my life of following Jesus. See this address for more information on the book:
I was fortunate to co-write the study guide with Lee (Brazos Press) this past spring. Though I'm still sorting out the implications of the book for my own context (family, teaching, ministry, etc), I find the "demands of discipleship" to be a fresh wind for an all too complacent and success driven church.
Here's the introduction to the work.
Exposing the Foundation of Western Christianity
In Mere Discipleship, Lee Camp is not simply challenging the beliefs of many Western Christians; he is challenging the vessel that births “belief”. Just as Dr. Martin Luther King did not foremost address the dangers of segregation in the United States but instead challenged the foundational philosophy held by White America based on power and greed, Camp is asking questions bigger than those typically asked by Christians. Otherwise stated: it is one thing to identify symptoms, another to diagnose the disease.
For Camp, the shortcomings of Western Christianity cannot be separated into detached compartments for these shortcomings—war, materialism, indifference, abuse of power, exclusion, racism, neglect of the poor— are the result of a poor theological paradigm; a false primal understanding of what it means to be Christian in a world fragmented by the principalities and powers.
The disease revealed in Mere Discipleship is two-fold: a Constantinian Cataract which colors the way most Western Christians think and live, and a Eusebian philosophy which empowers the cataract to run rampant. The Constantinian Cataract, suggests Camp, both climaxed in and was further fostered by the 4th Century marriage of Church and Empire. Some say the wedding was a sight to behold. “You should have been there. It only took the Gospel a few hundred years to take hold the hearts of the great leaders of the time. God truly had his hand in the explosion of the Christian faith.” Others do not remember the wedding with such nostalgia: “In such a way, Christianity becomes its own worst enemy: the triumph of Christianity actually inhibits discipleship,” (Camp, 22). The cataract noted by Camp carries at least two assumptions: (1) the ends justify the means and (2) the way of Christ is not relevant to the way the real world operates. One should agree with the author when he notes that to view the events surrounding 312 A.D. as either a triumph or defeat is too simplistic revealing naiveté and a loss of confidence in God’s ability to work in all settings and situations. But Camp is also correct when he notes that to ignore the ramifications of 312 A.D. and the rest of the Fourth century is irresponsible and dangerous.
The Eusebian philosophy, the other half of the disease, is the conviction held by many that “God sides with the winners,” (Camp, 46). Conveniently, the winners are the ones who end up writing history—a notion, that until recently, has not been entertained in a context were manifest destiny is boasted as a pivotal ideology in its early development and current identity. The Eusebian philosophy not only reiterates the legitimacy of the Constantine event, but furthermore has recently acted as a catalyst in recent developments in the United States (e.g. Iraq: 1990 and beyond).
In summary, Camp reminds the church that to be ignorant of the past is to be orphaned in the present. And so, instead of claiming our identity as children of light (a city on a hill) we orphans are quick to hold to American ideals instead of the demands of the Kingdom.
Revisiting the Language of Faith
After addressing the Constantine Cataract, and the Eusebian philosophy, Camp then sets forth to re-imagine the convictions and practices of the Christian faith; he offers new language for the way in which we understand discipleship, God, Savior, and the Church. Discipleship is not mere “belief”, but the intentional following of Jesus. One can purportedly “believe” and not follow. One can demonstrate reverence in “worship” and not follow. But if one is daring enough to “come and see”, to follow Christ, than they will find themselves engaged in belief and worship in places and with people never before imaginable (e.g. the Book of Acts). Orthopraxy, or right practice, trumps orthodoxy or right belief.
For Camp, God is not an abstract being, but a divine reality who has come near, whose language, though different from our own, can be heard in the cadence of the Gospel.
Camp talks of the church in terms of the collection of disciples. It is a far different depiction than the institutional model that is prevalent in the majority of Western Christianity.
Cruciform Siblings
Taking our queue from the Gospels then, the Church seeks to be Christ in our time and place just as Christ embodied the Kingdom in his own. In doing so, the church acts a certain way because of who we are. And what we do may not make a lot of sense to a world that rests identity in other places. What do we do then as disciples? According to Camp we live (to tell) the story. The church is the unwritten extension of the Gospels. Just as the early church sought to mimic the life of Jesus, the contemporary church seeks not to copy the early church but seeks to pattern itself after the life Jesus. More than telling others about Jesus, evangelism, according to Camp, invites people to live out the life of Jesus in a community. In fact, perhaps people have rejected the Western version of Jesus more than they have the authentic Messiah. This is what it means to evangelize. We also worship (intentionally loving our enemies not segregating worship from ethics). We pray (trusting that God will act the Church abandons the practice of coercion, manipulation, and power games). We baptize (reminding followers that they are Christian, Human, and American in that order). We eat the flesh and drink the blood (remembering that, at the Lord’s table, all are welcome and welcome to share all). These sacraments or symbols point us to the divine reality that Jesus’ Kingdom is already and not yet.
Most Christians make Jesus in our own image. The greatest danger in Christianity is to make God into our own image. This is a fact we cannot escape. We’ve all looked in the well hoping to see Him only to see our own faces. The vision of Jesus lifted up by Camp is the one that makes the narrative come alive in ways that are most “gospel.”
NOTE: Lee Camp is writing in Post-Christendom Post-modern America. His particular religious tribe is Churches of Christ, an off-shoot of the American Restoration Movement. Originally, the Restoration Movement bore semblance to the Anabaptist Movement but has since gradually merged into the largest block of American Christianity: Protestant Evangelical. In Camp’s view, the Churches of Christ, who once opposed the mingling of church and government, have now wed themselves to the state out a desire for prosperity, place, and influence within the broader culture.
Like C. S. Lewis and Dietrich Bonhoeffer before him, Lee Camp is driven by a passionate commitment to the kind of Christianity that offers no shortcuts and promises, no cheap grace, but is radically demanding, fundamentally life-changing, and entirely worth living. Here is a book that was just bursting to be written. Here is Christianity built foursquare upon a developing relationship with Jesus the Christ. . . . The style is highly accessible and the treatment quite reader friendly. This book is not at all difficult to read, yet it is informative, challenging, and provocative enough for all who are looking for a clearer profile of discipleship or a sharper focus to their Christian life. . . . This is a book I would recommend for a variety of publics. It could act as a basic text for people attempting to identify discipleship historically and in the contemporary world. It could provide a useful point of departure for faith-sharing groups. And it could satisfy those who are still willing to admit that they seek 'spiritual reading.' . . . It is not only the shadow of [John Howard Yoder] or the tracks of the tradition--nor even the pen of Lee C. Camp--that shows through on every page; the author's moral authority is equally evident, and this, his first book, cries out for a second. . . . There are interesting asides, appropriate stories, and helpful suggestions. Above all, readers will be left, not simply with a clear and progressive presentation embedded in a jargon-free narrative, but also with a degree of clarity about what Christianity could be. This is good both for its faithful practitioners and for a wider world. Camp thus offers an appropriately disturbing challenge to live up to our baptismal call and to start living more like real disciples, before it is too late.--Anthony J. Gittins
I was fortunate to co-write the study guide with Lee (Brazos Press) this past spring. Though I'm still sorting out the implications of the book for my own context (family, teaching, ministry, etc), I find the "demands of discipleship" to be a fresh wind for an all too complacent and success driven church.
Here's the introduction to the work.
Exposing the Foundation of Western Christianity
In Mere Discipleship, Lee Camp is not simply challenging the beliefs of many Western Christians; he is challenging the vessel that births “belief”. Just as Dr. Martin Luther King did not foremost address the dangers of segregation in the United States but instead challenged the foundational philosophy held by White America based on power and greed, Camp is asking questions bigger than those typically asked by Christians. Otherwise stated: it is one thing to identify symptoms, another to diagnose the disease.
For Camp, the shortcomings of Western Christianity cannot be separated into detached compartments for these shortcomings—war, materialism, indifference, abuse of power, exclusion, racism, neglect of the poor— are the result of a poor theological paradigm; a false primal understanding of what it means to be Christian in a world fragmented by the principalities and powers.
The disease revealed in Mere Discipleship is two-fold: a Constantinian Cataract which colors the way most Western Christians think and live, and a Eusebian philosophy which empowers the cataract to run rampant. The Constantinian Cataract, suggests Camp, both climaxed in and was further fostered by the 4th Century marriage of Church and Empire. Some say the wedding was a sight to behold. “You should have been there. It only took the Gospel a few hundred years to take hold the hearts of the great leaders of the time. God truly had his hand in the explosion of the Christian faith.” Others do not remember the wedding with such nostalgia: “In such a way, Christianity becomes its own worst enemy: the triumph of Christianity actually inhibits discipleship,” (Camp, 22). The cataract noted by Camp carries at least two assumptions: (1) the ends justify the means and (2) the way of Christ is not relevant to the way the real world operates. One should agree with the author when he notes that to view the events surrounding 312 A.D. as either a triumph or defeat is too simplistic revealing naiveté and a loss of confidence in God’s ability to work in all settings and situations. But Camp is also correct when he notes that to ignore the ramifications of 312 A.D. and the rest of the Fourth century is irresponsible and dangerous.
The Eusebian philosophy, the other half of the disease, is the conviction held by many that “God sides with the winners,” (Camp, 46). Conveniently, the winners are the ones who end up writing history—a notion, that until recently, has not been entertained in a context were manifest destiny is boasted as a pivotal ideology in its early development and current identity. The Eusebian philosophy not only reiterates the legitimacy of the Constantine event, but furthermore has recently acted as a catalyst in recent developments in the United States (e.g. Iraq: 1990 and beyond).
In summary, Camp reminds the church that to be ignorant of the past is to be orphaned in the present. And so, instead of claiming our identity as children of light (a city on a hill) we orphans are quick to hold to American ideals instead of the demands of the Kingdom.
Revisiting the Language of Faith
After addressing the Constantine Cataract, and the Eusebian philosophy, Camp then sets forth to re-imagine the convictions and practices of the Christian faith; he offers new language for the way in which we understand discipleship, God, Savior, and the Church. Discipleship is not mere “belief”, but the intentional following of Jesus. One can purportedly “believe” and not follow. One can demonstrate reverence in “worship” and not follow. But if one is daring enough to “come and see”, to follow Christ, than they will find themselves engaged in belief and worship in places and with people never before imaginable (e.g. the Book of Acts). Orthopraxy, or right practice, trumps orthodoxy or right belief.
For Camp, God is not an abstract being, but a divine reality who has come near, whose language, though different from our own, can be heard in the cadence of the Gospel.
Camp talks of the church in terms of the collection of disciples. It is a far different depiction than the institutional model that is prevalent in the majority of Western Christianity.
Cruciform Siblings
Taking our queue from the Gospels then, the Church seeks to be Christ in our time and place just as Christ embodied the Kingdom in his own. In doing so, the church acts a certain way because of who we are. And what we do may not make a lot of sense to a world that rests identity in other places. What do we do then as disciples? According to Camp we live (to tell) the story. The church is the unwritten extension of the Gospels. Just as the early church sought to mimic the life of Jesus, the contemporary church seeks not to copy the early church but seeks to pattern itself after the life Jesus. More than telling others about Jesus, evangelism, according to Camp, invites people to live out the life of Jesus in a community. In fact, perhaps people have rejected the Western version of Jesus more than they have the authentic Messiah. This is what it means to evangelize. We also worship (intentionally loving our enemies not segregating worship from ethics). We pray (trusting that God will act the Church abandons the practice of coercion, manipulation, and power games). We baptize (reminding followers that they are Christian, Human, and American in that order). We eat the flesh and drink the blood (remembering that, at the Lord’s table, all are welcome and welcome to share all). These sacraments or symbols point us to the divine reality that Jesus’ Kingdom is already and not yet.
Most Christians make Jesus in our own image. The greatest danger in Christianity is to make God into our own image. This is a fact we cannot escape. We’ve all looked in the well hoping to see Him only to see our own faces. The vision of Jesus lifted up by Camp is the one that makes the narrative come alive in ways that are most “gospel.”
NOTE: Lee Camp is writing in Post-Christendom Post-modern America. His particular religious tribe is Churches of Christ, an off-shoot of the American Restoration Movement. Originally, the Restoration Movement bore semblance to the Anabaptist Movement but has since gradually merged into the largest block of American Christianity: Protestant Evangelical. In Camp’s view, the Churches of Christ, who once opposed the mingling of church and government, have now wed themselves to the state out a desire for prosperity, place, and influence within the broader culture.
Like C. S. Lewis and Dietrich Bonhoeffer before him, Lee Camp is driven by a passionate commitment to the kind of Christianity that offers no shortcuts and promises, no cheap grace, but is radically demanding, fundamentally life-changing, and entirely worth living. Here is a book that was just bursting to be written. Here is Christianity built foursquare upon a developing relationship with Jesus the Christ. . . . The style is highly accessible and the treatment quite reader friendly. This book is not at all difficult to read, yet it is informative, challenging, and provocative enough for all who are looking for a clearer profile of discipleship or a sharper focus to their Christian life. . . . This is a book I would recommend for a variety of publics. It could act as a basic text for people attempting to identify discipleship historically and in the contemporary world. It could provide a useful point of departure for faith-sharing groups. And it could satisfy those who are still willing to admit that they seek 'spiritual reading.' . . . It is not only the shadow of [John Howard Yoder] or the tracks of the tradition--nor even the pen of Lee C. Camp--that shows through on every page; the author's moral authority is equally evident, and this, his first book, cries out for a second. . . . There are interesting asides, appropriate stories, and helpful suggestions. Above all, readers will be left, not simply with a clear and progressive presentation embedded in a jargon-free narrative, but also with a degree of clarity about what Christianity could be. This is good both for its faithful practitioners and for a wider world. Camp thus offers an appropriately disturbing challenge to live up to our baptismal call and to start living more like real disciples, before it is too late.--Anthony J. Gittins
03 August 2006
Tales of Immersion
I've been collecting funny baptism stories over the past few months...
One of the funniest ones comes from my father-in-law Patrick Mead (www.patrickmead.blogspot.com). This is classic.
I was preaching for a military church in Norfolk, VA back in my far, far right days. I was marking time enforcing the traditions of the church until Kami and I could move back to Scotland.
Two young sailors came up to me with another sailor between them. They introduced Antonio, an Italian boy who'd joined the Navy so he could become a citizen much faster. They had been kind to him when everyone else ragged him, messed with his bunk and gear, etc. That made him want to know why. When they told him about Jesus, he was ready! Antonio bear hugged me and announced "I'm gonna be baptized!" I told him we'd certainly talk about that but he had already moved on, hugging other people as he went inside.
I stood up to preach and Antonio came and stood in front of the pulpit. I hadn't said a word yet and was in a dilemma. Do I preach or not? Being a conservative traditionalist, I had to go for it. I shorted the sermon somewhat since Antonio was standing three feet away, staring at me like a puppy who's picked the boy who's going to take him home.
When I offered the invitation, I didn't ask for anyone to come forward because he was already there. I sat him down on the front row (a requirement for the baptism to be valid later) I asked him if he knew what he was doing. "Yes! I'ma gonna be baptized!" I was going to say my standard bit at this time that would go something like "In a few minutes, I will take you through that door right there. Before that, I will ask you to stand up with me and state that you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God."
I didn't get that far.
Once he heard that we were to go through that door, he went. I grabbed onto him and tried to drag him to a stop while asking him if he believed..... I wasn't entirely successful so we assumed that dragging a hefty preacher (I weighed 210 back then) against his will was sufficient evidence of faith.
Upstairs, Antonio headed toward the baptistry when I told him he had to change into other clothes first. He said, "Why?" I was momentarily stumped so said something like, "These are the clothes of unrighteousness. You need to put on the clothes of purity..." So he took off into the little room.
About the time I got my clothes on, Antonio was headed for the baptistry again. I stopped him and said, "I need to go in first." He said, "Why?" In reality it was a safety maneuver. I needed to make sure the stairs weren't slick and the water was warm enough (it was frequently slick with mold and freezing at the same time). Knowing he wouldn't understand I said something like, "I go first to drive the demons from the water!" That was cool with him,
In the tank I turned to him and found him in the pike position ready to dive in headfirst. I waved him off and physically held him, keeping him from plunging under, the whole time I pulled him down the stairs. While I tried to say my bit (I had a bit to say. I'm a preacher. That's what we do) he lifted his legs so that he could slide out of my arms and under the water. I restrained him. Frustrated with me keeping him from meeting Jesus in the water he put a leg up against the side of the tank and shoved. We both went under. I barely got out "in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!" before I was submerged.
We went under with such force that water rolled over the glass partition and fell in a cascade onto the Lords table scattering the communion ware. My first thought was Antonio had only been a Christian two seconds and he was already lost for watering down the communion.
And, sadly, that isn't even the strangest baptism story I have...
More immersion tales to follow.
One of the funniest ones comes from my father-in-law Patrick Mead (www.patrickmead.blogspot.com). This is classic.
I was preaching for a military church in Norfolk, VA back in my far, far right days. I was marking time enforcing the traditions of the church until Kami and I could move back to Scotland.
Two young sailors came up to me with another sailor between them. They introduced Antonio, an Italian boy who'd joined the Navy so he could become a citizen much faster. They had been kind to him when everyone else ragged him, messed with his bunk and gear, etc. That made him want to know why. When they told him about Jesus, he was ready! Antonio bear hugged me and announced "I'm gonna be baptized!" I told him we'd certainly talk about that but he had already moved on, hugging other people as he went inside.
I stood up to preach and Antonio came and stood in front of the pulpit. I hadn't said a word yet and was in a dilemma. Do I preach or not? Being a conservative traditionalist, I had to go for it. I shorted the sermon somewhat since Antonio was standing three feet away, staring at me like a puppy who's picked the boy who's going to take him home.
When I offered the invitation, I didn't ask for anyone to come forward because he was already there. I sat him down on the front row (a requirement for the baptism to be valid later) I asked him if he knew what he was doing. "Yes! I'ma gonna be baptized!" I was going to say my standard bit at this time that would go something like "In a few minutes, I will take you through that door right there. Before that, I will ask you to stand up with me and state that you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God."
I didn't get that far.
Once he heard that we were to go through that door, he went. I grabbed onto him and tried to drag him to a stop while asking him if he believed..... I wasn't entirely successful so we assumed that dragging a hefty preacher (I weighed 210 back then) against his will was sufficient evidence of faith.
Upstairs, Antonio headed toward the baptistry when I told him he had to change into other clothes first. He said, "Why?" I was momentarily stumped so said something like, "These are the clothes of unrighteousness. You need to put on the clothes of purity..." So he took off into the little room.
About the time I got my clothes on, Antonio was headed for the baptistry again. I stopped him and said, "I need to go in first." He said, "Why?" In reality it was a safety maneuver. I needed to make sure the stairs weren't slick and the water was warm enough (it was frequently slick with mold and freezing at the same time). Knowing he wouldn't understand I said something like, "I go first to drive the demons from the water!" That was cool with him,
In the tank I turned to him and found him in the pike position ready to dive in headfirst. I waved him off and physically held him, keeping him from plunging under, the whole time I pulled him down the stairs. While I tried to say my bit (I had a bit to say. I'm a preacher. That's what we do) he lifted his legs so that he could slide out of my arms and under the water. I restrained him. Frustrated with me keeping him from meeting Jesus in the water he put a leg up against the side of the tank and shoved. We both went under. I barely got out "in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!" before I was submerged.
We went under with such force that water rolled over the glass partition and fell in a cascade onto the Lords table scattering the communion ware. My first thought was Antonio had only been a Christian two seconds and he was already lost for watering down the communion.
And, sadly, that isn't even the strangest baptism story I have...
More immersion tales to follow.
22 July 2006
Now That's a Party
In wrestling with some of Jesus' parable from the Gospel of Luke, I stumbled upon this mislaid treasure from an author who impacted me my high school and early college days.
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Philip Yancey recounts a story from the Boston Globe telling of a bride whose dreams were crushed when her expensive wedding was called off. The bride-to-be poured thousands of dollars of her own money into the big day, only to have everything pulled out from under her. The wedding was to take place at the prestigious Hyatt Hotel in downtown Boston. The total cost of the reception was $13,000 dollars. That was just for the reception. And this took place in the early 90’s.
When the groom got cold feet, the “angry bride” went to the hotel manager to get a refund. It was too late. She could either forfeit the money or go ahead with the banquet.
She decided to go ahead with the party, turning what was supposed to be a reception into a blow out party. Just ten years prior, the woman had been living in a homeless shelter. Now she was on her feet, and she did not intend to let this alteration slow her down.
“And so it was that in June of 1990 the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Boston hosted a party such as it had never seen before. The hostess changed the menu to boneless chicken—‘in honor of the groom,’ she said—and sent invitations to rescue missions and homeless shelters. That warm summer night, people who were used to peeling half-gnawed pizza off the cardboard dined instead on chicken cordon bleu,” (What’s So Amazing About Grace, Yancey, 49).
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Philip Yancey recounts a story from the Boston Globe telling of a bride whose dreams were crushed when her expensive wedding was called off. The bride-to-be poured thousands of dollars of her own money into the big day, only to have everything pulled out from under her. The wedding was to take place at the prestigious Hyatt Hotel in downtown Boston. The total cost of the reception was $13,000 dollars. That was just for the reception. And this took place in the early 90’s.
When the groom got cold feet, the “angry bride” went to the hotel manager to get a refund. It was too late. She could either forfeit the money or go ahead with the banquet.
She decided to go ahead with the party, turning what was supposed to be a reception into a blow out party. Just ten years prior, the woman had been living in a homeless shelter. Now she was on her feet, and she did not intend to let this alteration slow her down.
“And so it was that in June of 1990 the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Boston hosted a party such as it had never seen before. The hostess changed the menu to boneless chicken—‘in honor of the groom,’ she said—and sent invitations to rescue missions and homeless shelters. That warm summer night, people who were used to peeling half-gnawed pizza off the cardboard dined instead on chicken cordon bleu,” (What’s So Amazing About Grace, Yancey, 49).
17 July 2006
Joy
I first met her rather innocently five years ago. Her father and I worked together. "No big deal, right?" I was in a season of isolation (reading an unhealthy amount of books each week) and disallusionment--not looking for the "woman of my dreams." And maybe it was because I'd stopped looking that the spirit was alloted the space to move in my life.
Our relationship started rather simple: letters from Detroit to Nashville, email's, phone calls (a lot of phone calls) and a few face to face dates.
After six months of courting, Kara and I had The Talk. It went something like this.
"Well, Kara, I'm a bit nervous."
"Ok, why?"
"Well, this is your first real relationship...and I'm trying to figure out how this will work. You are either a) so picky I'll never be able to live up to your standards or b) a bit innocent and I'll be the greatest thing ever. So...which is it, which will it be?"
Kara's answer was a beautiful foreshadow, "Well, I suppose one day I'll be naive and think your the greatest and the next day, my standards will be higher than what you can live up to," (rough paraphrase).
Today, we've been married for two years. I'm twenty-seven, these two years have been the most meaningful two years of my life.
Kara's name in Gaelic means "dear little girl", in Greek "joy."
God's presence really shows up in smallest but most powerful ways.
Our relationship started rather simple: letters from Detroit to Nashville, email's, phone calls (a lot of phone calls) and a few face to face dates.
After six months of courting, Kara and I had The Talk. It went something like this.
"Well, Kara, I'm a bit nervous."
"Ok, why?"
"Well, this is your first real relationship...and I'm trying to figure out how this will work. You are either a) so picky I'll never be able to live up to your standards or b) a bit innocent and I'll be the greatest thing ever. So...which is it, which will it be?"
Kara's answer was a beautiful foreshadow, "Well, I suppose one day I'll be naive and think your the greatest and the next day, my standards will be higher than what you can live up to," (rough paraphrase).
Today, we've been married for two years. I'm twenty-seven, these two years have been the most meaningful two years of my life.
Kara's name in Gaelic means "dear little girl", in Greek "joy."
God's presence really shows up in smallest but most powerful ways.
13 July 2006
Some Thoughts on Islam, 9-11
NOTE: The church I'm apart of is wrestling with this question: how can we dialogue with people of the Islamic, Hindu, or Buddhist faith? I'm proud to be a part of a church that is interested in asking the question without creating stereotypes or straw men. Below is part of one of these gathering times.
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I got up the morning of September 11, as I would most mornings. Showered, shaved, and ate some breakfast. I’m guessing many did the same. I was preparing to go to a funeral for my best friends’ great grandmother: Ebenezer Baptist Church in Detroit. The funeral was slated for 10am. As I was walking out of the dorm I noticed dozens of people gathered around the televisions placed around campus. “What’s going on?” I asked rather innocently. “You won’t believe it. A plane ran into one of the towers.”
I didn’t really have time to process what was being said, I was late for an important funeral. I rode down to Ebenezer Baptist with two close friends. As I jumped into the car, I sensed they were also caught up in the events surrounding New York City. I heard Peter Jennings voice, now being listened to by thousands of American all over the country on television and radio. He just kept repeating the phrase, “Oh my God. Oh my God.” And he really meant, “Oh my God.”
On the drive down, we learned that at second plane had hit the other tower. Now rumors were swelling around words like war, terrorists, plot and cells.
Needless to say, we did not have time to listen to al the details once we got to the church for the funeral.
This was perhaps one of the most transformative funerals I’ve ever been apart of. Lament, worship, prayer, confession and preaching were all apart of the gathering. I do not remember the name of the young minister who stood up to deliver a message that morning but I owe him a phone call or note of gratitude.
“Did you all hear the news? There was a plane. There was a building. There was plane and a building (at that moment someone in the audience shouted “Twin Towers"). Life is fragile, your decisions matter," the minister reminded us.
I got a little nervous; I know a challenging sermon at a white funeral wouldn’t go over well. But he did not relent in his prophetic role as pastor.
“You all come up in here acting religious. But I know some of y’all. You come up in here when I know where you been last night. You been drinkin’, smokin’, having sex.” No way could I get away with this in a white funeral.
As I left the funeral and drove back home that morning, I had this overwhelming sense that my world had changed. Not just because of the funeral but because of the events happening in New York City. What I didn’t know at the time—this darkness had spread to other American states and cities (Pennsylvania and D.C.)
I was paralyzed watching the news the rest of that day and throughout the week. I stayed in my apartment and watched CNN for hours. The only other time I’ve been that paralyzed for that amount of time was a few years back in the second war in Iraq broke out.
Some of you remember when JFK, Martin Luther King or Bobby Kennedy were shot. Some can recall with little ease, the “one small step” that put America on the moon. Some of you even remember Pearl Harbor. Now, I was going through one of those moments where I knew, “Life will never be the same.” It isn’t that times are changing—times are changed.
***
I have visited ground zero twice in the last eight months. I am still overwhelmed by the sheer destruction and tragedy produced by a small group of men.
There is a church, St. Paul’s Chapel, that sits across from the subway system and where the Twin Towers used to stand. It was the only building in the immediate area not affected by the smoke and the debris from the fire. This church became a hospital of sorts, housing victims, the deceased and the many volunteers who so valiantly served during the ensuing days and weeks.
There is one thing that’s haunted me over the last several months. Approximately three thousand people died in the 9-11 attacks. Some have estimated that the events of 9-11 have cost the U.S. almost 500 billion dollars.
As horrible as this day was, there are nations and people around the world who’ve experienced far greater loss and tragedy; some on a regular basis. The Asian Tsunami eclipses the death toll of 9-11 at an overwhelming rate. Earthquakes in China and Afghanistan have taken ten to thirty times the amount of people. My conclusion: America did not experience something brand new on September 11th; we experienced what most of Russia, Africa and the Far East already know: evil and death are as real as the nose on our faces.
Greg Stevenson (one of the best teachers I've been around) has recently turned my attention to the ways in which musicians responded to 9-11. Though he is a self-proclaimed Barry Manilow fan, I still think Greg is one of the better thinkers on culture and Christianity. See his fantastic blog at www.caritas2.blogspot.com
Using Bruce Springsteen as an example of an artist who “harnessed the power of fiction for a means of analysis and comfort,” Stevenson points us to the places where good theology is being done. Many artists wrote songs as a means of national therapy (like the country song which claims “faith hope and love are some good things, but the greatest is love.” Unfortunately, in this song the writer utters the phrase “I don’t the difference between Iraq and Iran.” But I digress).
According to Stevenson, many of the songs on the album (The Rising) address the grief and passion for revenge that consumed so many Americans. One song in particular (Lonesome Day) is something worthy of our consideration. “…It is sung from the perspective of one who has lost a beloved in the attacks.” The grief is too much to bear; the danger of revenge is greater:
Better ask questions before you shoot
Deceit and betrayal’s bitter fruit
It’s hard to swallow, come time to pay
That taste on your tongue don’t easily slip away
The song ends with faith and hope:
Let kingdom come
I’m gonna find my way
Through this lonesome day
The point to all this: 9-11 has changed the way we think about other religions, regions, spaces and peoples. In some ways this is good, in many ways this is bad. Turbans, darker skin, and accents automatically make persons suspicious. For instance, many assume that all Middle Easterners are Muslim—a far cry from the actual facts. 9-11 has created new categories that did not previously exist: terror alert, homeland security, threat level (orange, pink, and red—FEAR).
If the church is supposed to stand between the pain of the world and the love of God (to paraphrase N.T. Wright), we'd better be aware of the place in which we stand.
The world has changed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I got up the morning of September 11, as I would most mornings. Showered, shaved, and ate some breakfast. I’m guessing many did the same. I was preparing to go to a funeral for my best friends’ great grandmother: Ebenezer Baptist Church in Detroit. The funeral was slated for 10am. As I was walking out of the dorm I noticed dozens of people gathered around the televisions placed around campus. “What’s going on?” I asked rather innocently. “You won’t believe it. A plane ran into one of the towers.”
I didn’t really have time to process what was being said, I was late for an important funeral. I rode down to Ebenezer Baptist with two close friends. As I jumped into the car, I sensed they were also caught up in the events surrounding New York City. I heard Peter Jennings voice, now being listened to by thousands of American all over the country on television and radio. He just kept repeating the phrase, “Oh my God. Oh my God.” And he really meant, “Oh my God.”
On the drive down, we learned that at second plane had hit the other tower. Now rumors were swelling around words like war, terrorists, plot and cells.
Needless to say, we did not have time to listen to al the details once we got to the church for the funeral.
This was perhaps one of the most transformative funerals I’ve ever been apart of. Lament, worship, prayer, confession and preaching were all apart of the gathering. I do not remember the name of the young minister who stood up to deliver a message that morning but I owe him a phone call or note of gratitude.
“Did you all hear the news? There was a plane. There was a building. There was plane and a building (at that moment someone in the audience shouted “Twin Towers"). Life is fragile, your decisions matter," the minister reminded us.
I got a little nervous; I know a challenging sermon at a white funeral wouldn’t go over well. But he did not relent in his prophetic role as pastor.
“You all come up in here acting religious. But I know some of y’all. You come up in here when I know where you been last night. You been drinkin’, smokin’, having sex.” No way could I get away with this in a white funeral.
As I left the funeral and drove back home that morning, I had this overwhelming sense that my world had changed. Not just because of the funeral but because of the events happening in New York City. What I didn’t know at the time—this darkness had spread to other American states and cities (Pennsylvania and D.C.)
I was paralyzed watching the news the rest of that day and throughout the week. I stayed in my apartment and watched CNN for hours. The only other time I’ve been that paralyzed for that amount of time was a few years back in the second war in Iraq broke out.
Some of you remember when JFK, Martin Luther King or Bobby Kennedy were shot. Some can recall with little ease, the “one small step” that put America on the moon. Some of you even remember Pearl Harbor. Now, I was going through one of those moments where I knew, “Life will never be the same.” It isn’t that times are changing—times are changed.
***
I have visited ground zero twice in the last eight months. I am still overwhelmed by the sheer destruction and tragedy produced by a small group of men.
There is a church, St. Paul’s Chapel, that sits across from the subway system and where the Twin Towers used to stand. It was the only building in the immediate area not affected by the smoke and the debris from the fire. This church became a hospital of sorts, housing victims, the deceased and the many volunteers who so valiantly served during the ensuing days and weeks.
There is one thing that’s haunted me over the last several months. Approximately three thousand people died in the 9-11 attacks. Some have estimated that the events of 9-11 have cost the U.S. almost 500 billion dollars.
As horrible as this day was, there are nations and people around the world who’ve experienced far greater loss and tragedy; some on a regular basis. The Asian Tsunami eclipses the death toll of 9-11 at an overwhelming rate. Earthquakes in China and Afghanistan have taken ten to thirty times the amount of people. My conclusion: America did not experience something brand new on September 11th; we experienced what most of Russia, Africa and the Far East already know: evil and death are as real as the nose on our faces.
Greg Stevenson (one of the best teachers I've been around) has recently turned my attention to the ways in which musicians responded to 9-11. Though he is a self-proclaimed Barry Manilow fan, I still think Greg is one of the better thinkers on culture and Christianity. See his fantastic blog at www.caritas2.blogspot.com
Using Bruce Springsteen as an example of an artist who “harnessed the power of fiction for a means of analysis and comfort,” Stevenson points us to the places where good theology is being done. Many artists wrote songs as a means of national therapy (like the country song which claims “faith hope and love are some good things, but the greatest is love.” Unfortunately, in this song the writer utters the phrase “I don’t the difference between Iraq and Iran.” But I digress).
According to Stevenson, many of the songs on the album (The Rising) address the grief and passion for revenge that consumed so many Americans. One song in particular (Lonesome Day) is something worthy of our consideration. “…It is sung from the perspective of one who has lost a beloved in the attacks.” The grief is too much to bear; the danger of revenge is greater:
Better ask questions before you shoot
Deceit and betrayal’s bitter fruit
It’s hard to swallow, come time to pay
That taste on your tongue don’t easily slip away
The song ends with faith and hope:
Let kingdom come
I’m gonna find my way
Through this lonesome day
The point to all this: 9-11 has changed the way we think about other religions, regions, spaces and peoples. In some ways this is good, in many ways this is bad. Turbans, darker skin, and accents automatically make persons suspicious. For instance, many assume that all Middle Easterners are Muslim—a far cry from the actual facts. 9-11 has created new categories that did not previously exist: terror alert, homeland security, threat level (orange, pink, and red—FEAR).
If the church is supposed to stand between the pain of the world and the love of God (to paraphrase N.T. Wright), we'd better be aware of the place in which we stand.
The world has changed.
07 July 2006
Dumb Churches
I know I should be a bit more polite in my language, but I simply cannot resist. There are some dumb churches out there. My greatest evidence, your honor, are the messages that churches actually put on the signs outside their building.
On this issue, I think Protestants could learn a great deal from Catholics and forfeit the "sign strategy" all together.
Here are some of the worst church signs I've seen over the years.
* "Stop, drop and roll won't work in Hell." Now there's a thougtfully constructed view of the point to God's working in the world.
* "Eternity--smoking or non-smoking?" Another articulate way of describing God's redemptive plan for creation and humaniy. So thoughtful and endearing.
* "This church is prayer-conditioned" C'mon...someone needs to fire the committee making these decisions.
* "God Answers Knee-Mail" Yes, God is in the business of anwswering our Christmas shopping lists. Prayer is reduced to "what I need and want."
* "Ch__ch: What's missing? U R" Though the least repulsive on this list, a week ploy for evangelism. Makes a statement someone recently made all the more truer, "So much of evangelism is manipulation."
On this issue, I think Protestants could learn a great deal from Catholics and forfeit the "sign strategy" all together.
Here are some of the worst church signs I've seen over the years.
* "Stop, drop and roll won't work in Hell." Now there's a thougtfully constructed view of the point to God's working in the world.
* "Eternity--smoking or non-smoking?" Another articulate way of describing God's redemptive plan for creation and humaniy. So thoughtful and endearing.
* "This church is prayer-conditioned" C'mon...someone needs to fire the committee making these decisions.
* "God Answers Knee-Mail" Yes, God is in the business of anwswering our Christmas shopping lists. Prayer is reduced to "what I need and want."
* "Ch__ch: What's missing? U R" Though the least repulsive on this list, a week ploy for evangelism. Makes a statement someone recently made all the more truer, "So much of evangelism is manipulation."
29 June 2006
News from the Bronx
Here's an email from Jared Looney, one of the leaders of the house church movement in NYC (the Bronx). He's in the trenches, bearing witness to the way of God.
Dear Friends,
A day in the life in the city. Reflecting on yesterday.... After a 7AM bible study with a man in my building, I met with the summer interns for the entire morning for our weekly group session. After some e-mails and casual conversations, I continued to meet with our missionary apprentice to review many of the issues at hand. After heading home at around 6:30PM, I realized the need to recant a decision I had made about an upcoming meeting, and so after arriving home, I went to the laptop making sure to keep my time brief.
Family time.... playing with Adalia, Hylma folding clothes, daddy reading, dinner late in the evening. Then, around 9PM there was a knock on the door.
A man that is being reached out to brought me out to the elevator. We went down to the basement where another brother and I met the man's friend.
His friend was 'coked up' (translation = high on cocaine). As a means of 'coming down,' he put down 48 ounces of alcohol inside of 30 minutes, smoking cigarettes and a blunt (translation = marajuana), and rambling on mostly in explitives about all the hate and pain in the world, how much he'd like to become a vigilante, and how he needs to divorce his wife. He told me why he hates white people even though he has white friends, and he explained how well he can quote the Bible. I thought to myself how much he needs to KNOW Jesus.
He seemed intrigued with how we just sat and listened. He refused prayer at first, but later agreed to it. As we prayed for him and for the power of the Living God to be at work, he became strangely calm. As we ended the prayer, he sat on the edge of tears, his disposition transformed. We shook his hand and gave him a hug as we returned upstairs, and the man who called us down to meet his friend continued to tell of how God was working in his life.
Continue to pray for us. Pray for the first man whom God is reaching. Pray for his friend who lives in the 'depths of the pit.' Petition the Lord of the harvest for workers. Pray for the power of the Risen Lord to fall upon the city. The war is waging. The Lord is moving.
Another day in the life in the city.
Jared
Dear Friends,
A day in the life in the city. Reflecting on yesterday.... After a 7AM bible study with a man in my building, I met with the summer interns for the entire morning for our weekly group session. After some e-mails and casual conversations, I continued to meet with our missionary apprentice to review many of the issues at hand. After heading home at around 6:30PM, I realized the need to recant a decision I had made about an upcoming meeting, and so after arriving home, I went to the laptop making sure to keep my time brief.
Family time.... playing with Adalia, Hylma folding clothes, daddy reading, dinner late in the evening. Then, around 9PM there was a knock on the door.
A man that is being reached out to brought me out to the elevator. We went down to the basement where another brother and I met the man's friend.
His friend was 'coked up' (translation = high on cocaine). As a means of 'coming down,' he put down 48 ounces of alcohol inside of 30 minutes, smoking cigarettes and a blunt (translation = marajuana), and rambling on mostly in explitives about all the hate and pain in the world, how much he'd like to become a vigilante, and how he needs to divorce his wife. He told me why he hates white people even though he has white friends, and he explained how well he can quote the Bible. I thought to myself how much he needs to KNOW Jesus.
He seemed intrigued with how we just sat and listened. He refused prayer at first, but later agreed to it. As we prayed for him and for the power of the Living God to be at work, he became strangely calm. As we ended the prayer, he sat on the edge of tears, his disposition transformed. We shook his hand and gave him a hug as we returned upstairs, and the man who called us down to meet his friend continued to tell of how God was working in his life.
Continue to pray for us. Pray for the first man whom God is reaching. Pray for his friend who lives in the 'depths of the pit.' Petition the Lord of the harvest for workers. Pray for the power of the Risen Lord to fall upon the city. The war is waging. The Lord is moving.
Another day in the life in the city.
Jared
18 June 2006
Belonging
For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with the ability of humans to survive all types of drama and tragedy. Elie Wiesel’s Night caught my heart at a young age. Imagine, as a young man, being deported from your home, neighborhood and regular routine to “hell on earth”—life in several Nazi concentration camps.
I've been arrested by Anne Frank’s writing and in subsequent dramatic productions. This young girl, able to see God’s presence and paradox through the worst of circumstances, and in the end, teach us about the necessity of hope—the Nazi tactics could touch her family and physical comfort, but they could not touch the spiritual flame that blazed inside.
Jewish people, Israel for that matter, have survived displacement, slavery, bondage, brutal working conditions, food scarcity, the Red Sea—not to mention Persian, Assyrian and Babylonian captivity. Though there communities and individual lives have endured chaos, they survive taking on the strength of that which they’ve overcome.
***
As profound as men and women’s ability to survive, there’s any even greater stirring in the human soul. Even greater than the human ability to survive is the human need to belong.
Gangs, Starbucks small groups (if you don’t believe me, there are many colonies of people who meet at Starbucks three to four times a week) all point to one thing—the women and men who share our neighborhoods and offices are desperate to belong. Desperate to be apart of something other than their individual aspirations and failures.
In belonging, people have identity. When we are named as son, daughter, wife, husband, teacher, coach, elder—we are given reason to live and to live well.
In belonging, people have purpose, a sense of mission. Our world is full of folks who have no other mission in life than to “shop 'til they drop” and to “die with the most toys.” Only until we have a mission worth dying for, can we really begin to live
“In his marvelous book Letters to My Children, Daniel Taylor describes an experience he had in the sixth grade. Periodically the students were taught how to dance. Thank God this kind of thing isn’t done anymore, but the teacher would line up the boy at the door of the classroom to choose their partners. Imagine what it would have been like to be one of the girls waiting to be chosen, wondering if they would be chosen by someone they didn’t like.
One girl, Mary was always chosen last. Because of a childhood illness, on of her arms was drawn up and she had a bad leg. She wasn’t pretty, she wasn’t smart, and she was…well…fat. The assistant teacher of Dan’s class happened to attend his church. One day, she pulled Dan aside and said, “Dan, next time we have dancing, I want you to choose Mary.” Dan couldn’t believe it. Why would anyone pick Mary when there was Linda, Shelley, or even Doreen? Dan’s teacher told him it was what Jesus would have done, and deep down inside, he knew she was right, which didn’t make it any easier. All Dan could hope for was that he would be last in line. That way, he could choose Mary, do the right thing, and no one would be the wiser. Instead, Dan was first in line,” (Messy Spirituality, 84-5)
Dan describes this moment, a fascinating commentary on our dominating desire to belong.
The faces of the girls were turned toward me, some smiling. I looked at Mary and saw that she was only half-turned to the back of the room. (She knew no one would pick her first.)…Mr. Jenkins said, “Okay, Dan-choose your partner!”
I remember feeling very far away. I heard my voice say, “I choose Mary.”
Never has a reluctant virtue been so rewarded. I still see her face undimmed in my memory. She lifted her head, and on her face, reddened with pleasure and surprise and embarrassment all at once, was the most genuine look of delight and even pride that I have ever seen, before or since. It was so pure that I had to look away because I knew I didn’t deserve it.
Mary came back and took my arm, as we had been instructed, and she walked beside me, bad leg and all, just like a princess… (Letters to My Children, 13-17).
I've been arrested by Anne Frank’s writing and in subsequent dramatic productions. This young girl, able to see God’s presence and paradox through the worst of circumstances, and in the end, teach us about the necessity of hope—the Nazi tactics could touch her family and physical comfort, but they could not touch the spiritual flame that blazed inside.
Jewish people, Israel for that matter, have survived displacement, slavery, bondage, brutal working conditions, food scarcity, the Red Sea—not to mention Persian, Assyrian and Babylonian captivity. Though there communities and individual lives have endured chaos, they survive taking on the strength of that which they’ve overcome.
***
As profound as men and women’s ability to survive, there’s any even greater stirring in the human soul. Even greater than the human ability to survive is the human need to belong.
Gangs, Starbucks small groups (if you don’t believe me, there are many colonies of people who meet at Starbucks three to four times a week) all point to one thing—the women and men who share our neighborhoods and offices are desperate to belong. Desperate to be apart of something other than their individual aspirations and failures.
In belonging, people have identity. When we are named as son, daughter, wife, husband, teacher, coach, elder—we are given reason to live and to live well.
In belonging, people have purpose, a sense of mission. Our world is full of folks who have no other mission in life than to “shop 'til they drop” and to “die with the most toys.” Only until we have a mission worth dying for, can we really begin to live
“In his marvelous book Letters to My Children, Daniel Taylor describes an experience he had in the sixth grade. Periodically the students were taught how to dance. Thank God this kind of thing isn’t done anymore, but the teacher would line up the boy at the door of the classroom to choose their partners. Imagine what it would have been like to be one of the girls waiting to be chosen, wondering if they would be chosen by someone they didn’t like.
One girl, Mary was always chosen last. Because of a childhood illness, on of her arms was drawn up and she had a bad leg. She wasn’t pretty, she wasn’t smart, and she was…well…fat. The assistant teacher of Dan’s class happened to attend his church. One day, she pulled Dan aside and said, “Dan, next time we have dancing, I want you to choose Mary.” Dan couldn’t believe it. Why would anyone pick Mary when there was Linda, Shelley, or even Doreen? Dan’s teacher told him it was what Jesus would have done, and deep down inside, he knew she was right, which didn’t make it any easier. All Dan could hope for was that he would be last in line. That way, he could choose Mary, do the right thing, and no one would be the wiser. Instead, Dan was first in line,” (Messy Spirituality, 84-5)
Dan describes this moment, a fascinating commentary on our dominating desire to belong.
The faces of the girls were turned toward me, some smiling. I looked at Mary and saw that she was only half-turned to the back of the room. (She knew no one would pick her first.)…Mr. Jenkins said, “Okay, Dan-choose your partner!”
I remember feeling very far away. I heard my voice say, “I choose Mary.”
Never has a reluctant virtue been so rewarded. I still see her face undimmed in my memory. She lifted her head, and on her face, reddened with pleasure and surprise and embarrassment all at once, was the most genuine look of delight and even pride that I have ever seen, before or since. It was so pure that I had to look away because I knew I didn’t deserve it.
Mary came back and took my arm, as we had been instructed, and she walked beside me, bad leg and all, just like a princess… (Letters to My Children, 13-17).
05 June 2006
Dislocation: Metro Beach (Detroit, MI)
Charles Campbell recently spoke at the church where I am blessed to pastor--May 21st to be precise (http://rccaudio.christianwitness.us/).
His class "Reading the Bible in Dislocation" greatly impacted our church and some of our small groups are taking seriously the challenge of reading the Bible in multiple settings and spaces.
Campbell's premise is that the location, the very location, one reads Scripture in, will drastically shape the experience one has with the holy text. For instance, if I read Luke 4 (a prime story in the Luke narrative) in Starbuck's in downtown affluent Rochester, my experience, my understanding of the text, will be drastically different than if I am reading the text in say, a shelter for abused women. The words "The spirit is upon me to preach good news to the marginalized" can best be heard when it is read among the marginalized.
The key: remember that the goal is not "evangelism" per se but an opportunity for those who normally read the Bible in church, home, etc. to be changed by reading the Bible in the places in which most of Scripture's stories take place: market place, streets, foreign spaces.
One of my favorite lines from Cambpell's teaching time: "It is not that we good Christians posess Jesus in here and then somehow take Jesus outside to others. Jesus is already there--he's already outside! We are simply invited to go (outside) and meet him there," referencing Hebrews 13, "And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then to go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come."
---
So our small group went yesterday to Metro Beach on the outskirts of Detroit to read the text in dislocation. Metro Beach just might be the most visible public space of the melting pot that is Detroit: Arabs, Eastern Europeans, affluent white and black, poor white and black, Asian, Laocian--we read the Creation Psalms and passages about community in Paul's thinking, etc.
It was a subltle shift, not as drastic as reading the text in the other places we plan on doing this summer, but a shift I consistently need in my life. I need the pace and rythym of my sheltered suburban life to be interrupted. And in the process, I hope to meet Jesus.
His class "Reading the Bible in Dislocation" greatly impacted our church and some of our small groups are taking seriously the challenge of reading the Bible in multiple settings and spaces.
Campbell's premise is that the location, the very location, one reads Scripture in, will drastically shape the experience one has with the holy text. For instance, if I read Luke 4 (a prime story in the Luke narrative) in Starbuck's in downtown affluent Rochester, my experience, my understanding of the text, will be drastically different than if I am reading the text in say, a shelter for abused women. The words "The spirit is upon me to preach good news to the marginalized" can best be heard when it is read among the marginalized.
The key: remember that the goal is not "evangelism" per se but an opportunity for those who normally read the Bible in church, home, etc. to be changed by reading the Bible in the places in which most of Scripture's stories take place: market place, streets, foreign spaces.
One of my favorite lines from Cambpell's teaching time: "It is not that we good Christians posess Jesus in here and then somehow take Jesus outside to others. Jesus is already there--he's already outside! We are simply invited to go (outside) and meet him there," referencing Hebrews 13, "And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then to go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come."
---
So our small group went yesterday to Metro Beach on the outskirts of Detroit to read the text in dislocation. Metro Beach just might be the most visible public space of the melting pot that is Detroit: Arabs, Eastern Europeans, affluent white and black, poor white and black, Asian, Laocian--we read the Creation Psalms and passages about community in Paul's thinking, etc.
It was a subltle shift, not as drastic as reading the text in the other places we plan on doing this summer, but a shift I consistently need in my life. I need the pace and rythym of my sheltered suburban life to be interrupted. And in the process, I hope to meet Jesus.
27 May 2006
Christ Plays in Creation: Conversation #4
NOTE: Continuing the dialogue between a pastor in Rochester, MI and two missionaries in Uganda, we are considering the important work of Eugene Peterson's Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology. Right now, we're considering chapter two: Christ Plays in Creation.
I want to hone in on Peterson's description of "Gnosticism," (pg. 59ff). Peterson draws out these primary threads for understanding Gnosticism (which we'll generally define as the privatization/hiddenness of truth or the modern notion that belief and praxis are two separate things). The parallels to Western Christianity are apparent. I'm curious to hear how a westerner writing about western faith resonates with westerners living in Uganda.
*Metaphysical alienation: The material world is temporary, passing away. In fundy lingo, "It's all going to burn anyway, who cares?" Because God is spirit, we should not invest ourselves in the material ignoring the fact that Creation is good/very good and that we (material and spiritual beings) are created in the image of God.
*Secret lore: Hidden truth is the one path to salvation. Da Vinci Code smacks of this--which forces me to ask myself, why are people so attracted to this hidden salvation/revelation? Is it because it lets us off the hook from the radical demands of the gospel, or the sacrificial demands of local faith communities? Is it because Da Vinci code is inherently against metanarratives (Roman Catholics, Universal Church, Opus Dei, Patriarchy).
*Escapism: "We escape from everything except the self, we escape from the world into the self," (61). Peterson will later remind us that I am not myself, when I am by myself. I am made to live in community, relationship and dependency on others (wives, families, faith community, neighborhood's), etc.
*Few souls: This Gnosticism is only found and achieved by a few...good remnant theology. We see this in extreme fundamentalism and extreme liberalism, it's really good ol' fashion pride and arrogance. God is not interested in saving the world (cosmos) BUT in a few people. How depressing is that?
*Individualism: Private interpretation is encouraged (i.e. self taught is a virtue) and it seems that Gnosticism can be prone to a historical reflection.
Stanley Hauerwas said to a group of preachers and professors this week, quoting someone else I believe, "The hardest thing to do is to live where you are."
God places us in specific geographical locations, ethnicities, relationships, times and worldviews to ask the question C.S. Lewis asked when writing about Narnia. "Once I created Narnia, I asked myself, now how would God redeem that world?"
"Gnosticism offers us spirituality without the inconvenience of creation...spirituality without the inconvenience of sin and morality...spirituality without the inconvenience of people who don't like or who aren't 'our kind.' And maybe most attractive of all...a spirituality without God, at least any god other than the spark of divinity I sense within me," (62).
Peace.
Josh
I want to hone in on Peterson's description of "Gnosticism," (pg. 59ff). Peterson draws out these primary threads for understanding Gnosticism (which we'll generally define as the privatization/hiddenness of truth or the modern notion that belief and praxis are two separate things). The parallels to Western Christianity are apparent. I'm curious to hear how a westerner writing about western faith resonates with westerners living in Uganda.
*Metaphysical alienation: The material world is temporary, passing away. In fundy lingo, "It's all going to burn anyway, who cares?" Because God is spirit, we should not invest ourselves in the material ignoring the fact that Creation is good/very good and that we (material and spiritual beings) are created in the image of God.
*Secret lore: Hidden truth is the one path to salvation. Da Vinci Code smacks of this--which forces me to ask myself, why are people so attracted to this hidden salvation/revelation? Is it because it lets us off the hook from the radical demands of the gospel, or the sacrificial demands of local faith communities? Is it because Da Vinci code is inherently against metanarratives (Roman Catholics, Universal Church, Opus Dei, Patriarchy).
*Escapism: "We escape from everything except the self, we escape from the world into the self," (61). Peterson will later remind us that I am not myself, when I am by myself. I am made to live in community, relationship and dependency on others (wives, families, faith community, neighborhood's), etc.
*Few souls: This Gnosticism is only found and achieved by a few...good remnant theology. We see this in extreme fundamentalism and extreme liberalism, it's really good ol' fashion pride and arrogance. God is not interested in saving the world (cosmos) BUT in a few people. How depressing is that?
*Individualism: Private interpretation is encouraged (i.e. self taught is a virtue) and it seems that Gnosticism can be prone to a historical reflection.
Stanley Hauerwas said to a group of preachers and professors this week, quoting someone else I believe, "The hardest thing to do is to live where you are."
God places us in specific geographical locations, ethnicities, relationships, times and worldviews to ask the question C.S. Lewis asked when writing about Narnia. "Once I created Narnia, I asked myself, now how would God redeem that world?"
"Gnosticism offers us spirituality without the inconvenience of creation...spirituality without the inconvenience of sin and morality...spirituality without the inconvenience of people who don't like or who aren't 'our kind.' And maybe most attractive of all...a spirituality without God, at least any god other than the spark of divinity I sense within me," (62).
Peace.
Josh
17 May 2006
Conversation #3
Clearing the Playing Field... revisited
In response to your thoughts on worship, it seems that Peterson could almost substitute the word "Life" where you have used "worship" in your article. I think that worship is a word that is almost dangerous to use now because the working definition for most people in our churches is so hardened. I think that it is a word that needs to be carefully redefined as we use it because it conjures up so many images throughout the conggregation, and so little imaginative freedom. It seems that we cannot break out of a constrictive box because we spend our time arguing, sometimes debating, and in better scenarios wrestling among different terms, most of which have been petrified and void of life for ages. I think that Rochester is a church that is really open to exploration and is taking some great strides that are the exception to our movement as a whole.
The talk about gnosticism made me think of the critique of the whole "historical Jesus" movement by Bultmann (I think?), where Jesus always ended up looking a lot like the person doing the research on the historicity of Christ. To the existentialist Jesus turned out to be, whoa!, and existentialist, to the monastic Jesus was monastic, and to the moralist, the center of the life of Christ was moralism. We seem to hold on to that tendency as many of us today in the Christian church, which overemphasizes (in my opinion) a confession of belief in doctrinal stance, thus underemphasizing a lived out gospel that may or may not make the verbal confession that the church is seeking. I think that Peteson's
discussion of the Word is brilliant in bringing these together. I think
it is scary, though, because it is so hard to define and impossible to confine.
I love this stuff. Mark and our other teammate, Ben are reading the Clearing the Playing Field section now. I think they are both excited about joining the discussion.
Feel free to use any of this on your blog.
Spencer OUT!
In response to your thoughts on worship, it seems that Peterson could almost substitute the word "Life" where you have used "worship" in your article. I think that worship is a word that is almost dangerous to use now because the working definition for most people in our churches is so hardened. I think that it is a word that needs to be carefully redefined as we use it because it conjures up so many images throughout the conggregation, and so little imaginative freedom. It seems that we cannot break out of a constrictive box because we spend our time arguing, sometimes debating, and in better scenarios wrestling among different terms, most of which have been petrified and void of life for ages. I think that Rochester is a church that is really open to exploration and is taking some great strides that are the exception to our movement as a whole.
The talk about gnosticism made me think of the critique of the whole "historical Jesus" movement by Bultmann (I think?), where Jesus always ended up looking a lot like the person doing the research on the historicity of Christ. To the existentialist Jesus turned out to be, whoa!, and existentialist, to the monastic Jesus was monastic, and to the moralist, the center of the life of Christ was moralism. We seem to hold on to that tendency as many of us today in the Christian church, which overemphasizes (in my opinion) a confession of belief in doctrinal stance, thus underemphasizing a lived out gospel that may or may not make the verbal confession that the church is seeking. I think that Peteson's
discussion of the Word is brilliant in bringing these together. I think
it is scary, though, because it is so hard to define and impossible to confine.
I love this stuff. Mark and our other teammate, Ben are reading the Clearing the Playing Field section now. I think they are both excited about joining the discussion.
Feel free to use any of this on your blog.
Spencer OUT!
Conversation #2
It is a bit arrogant to quote yourself, but this is from an article I wrote for Wineskins...I think it rings true in my reading of "Clearing the Playing Field":
The top question of the day for American churches is not whether we are right, rationale, or biblically accurate. Whether we have a progressive worship service on Sunday’s or whether we are on the cutting edge in our particular tribe. The top question for the Church is, “Do we understand who God is and the way he understands worship?” Our lives are worship more than the songs that flow from our lips. The Living God is calling the church to be a prophetic people. To be prophetic in the way Jesus taught and lived while he was among us, revealing the Kingdom of God.
I love what Peterson does with the phrase "spiritual theology." In fact, I'm going to unpack this for a moment.
First, I think we need to talk more about the gnostic tendencies in American Christianity or maybe it is just Christianity in general. I think the appeal to the DaVinci Code, for instance, is that it is simply a new (old really) set of beliefs. If I believe in the right to live, personal responsibility, my country--then I'm a faithful Christian. I can root, cheer, believe, admire, and even worship Jesus so long as I don't actually have to follow his way and teachings. Luke-Acts (in conjunction with a discussion about "belief" in the ancient world vs. modern constructs) would serve as a healthy remedy to the disease of gnosticism.
Second, a sound-byte may illuminate what I'm trying to say. Why are eastern religions so appealing to Westerners? In the West, Christianity presents itself as a philosophical system whereas Eastern religions present themselves as a way of life. What I'm saying, Christianity started out as an eastern religion! Rodney Clapp's phrase "Constantinian Gnosticism" seems appropriate here.
Now to theology. Coming from a religious movement (Restoration Movement) that almost devalues theological education (hence our pride in self-taught preachers) I find this to be an extremely important element. We need women and men who've wrestled with the great thinkers of the twentieth century, who've been challenged by James Cone, Guitterez (sp?) et al. We need folks who understand the complexity and mystery of trinity without offering a Kool-Aid "esque" explanation.
But we need theologians to also be practicioners. That's the genius of Peterson. Here's a first class theologian who's committed to the work of local pastorates.I don't know a whole lot of spiritual theologians. I know a lot of spiritual people who carry around some unhealthy theology (myself included) and I know some great theologians who've never actually embodied the Good Samaritan.
Confession: I would rather hide out in the office, writing this reflection than go and put my arm around the woman in the hallway who just found out her husband is leaving her. So, today, the word from God, is to be less "theological" and more "spiritual" (to use Peterson's language). To be more passionate about living according to the rythyms of the gospel than knowing the text.
P.S. I may put some of our discussion on my blog, if I have your permission to do so.
Peace.
Josh
The top question of the day for American churches is not whether we are right, rationale, or biblically accurate. Whether we have a progressive worship service on Sunday’s or whether we are on the cutting edge in our particular tribe. The top question for the Church is, “Do we understand who God is and the way he understands worship?” Our lives are worship more than the songs that flow from our lips. The Living God is calling the church to be a prophetic people. To be prophetic in the way Jesus taught and lived while he was among us, revealing the Kingdom of God.
I love what Peterson does with the phrase "spiritual theology." In fact, I'm going to unpack this for a moment.
First, I think we need to talk more about the gnostic tendencies in American Christianity or maybe it is just Christianity in general. I think the appeal to the DaVinci Code, for instance, is that it is simply a new (old really) set of beliefs. If I believe in the right to live, personal responsibility, my country--then I'm a faithful Christian. I can root, cheer, believe, admire, and even worship Jesus so long as I don't actually have to follow his way and teachings. Luke-Acts (in conjunction with a discussion about "belief" in the ancient world vs. modern constructs) would serve as a healthy remedy to the disease of gnosticism.
Second, a sound-byte may illuminate what I'm trying to say. Why are eastern religions so appealing to Westerners? In the West, Christianity presents itself as a philosophical system whereas Eastern religions present themselves as a way of life. What I'm saying, Christianity started out as an eastern religion! Rodney Clapp's phrase "Constantinian Gnosticism" seems appropriate here.
Now to theology. Coming from a religious movement (Restoration Movement) that almost devalues theological education (hence our pride in self-taught preachers) I find this to be an extremely important element. We need women and men who've wrestled with the great thinkers of the twentieth century, who've been challenged by James Cone, Guitterez (sp?) et al. We need folks who understand the complexity and mystery of trinity without offering a Kool-Aid "esque" explanation.
But we need theologians to also be practicioners. That's the genius of Peterson. Here's a first class theologian who's committed to the work of local pastorates.I don't know a whole lot of spiritual theologians. I know a lot of spiritual people who carry around some unhealthy theology (myself included) and I know some great theologians who've never actually embodied the Good Samaritan.
Confession: I would rather hide out in the office, writing this reflection than go and put my arm around the woman in the hallway who just found out her husband is leaving her. So, today, the word from God, is to be less "theological" and more "spiritual" (to use Peterson's language). To be more passionate about living according to the rythyms of the gospel than knowing the text.
P.S. I may put some of our discussion on my blog, if I have your permission to do so.
Peace.
Josh
Conversation #1
Warning: The following posts will be discussions between Josh Graves, Spencer Bogle, and Mark Manry. One lives in cozy Rochester Hills, MI and the others live in Jinja, Uganda. All three are dedicated to asking the question, "What does it mean to be an apprentice of Jesus?" The conversation is based upon Eugene Peterson's book "Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology."
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
Conversation 1- Clearing the Playing Field
And so we begin our conversation on “a conversation in spiritual theology.” I will try to offer up ideas which will ignite some dialogue, though it may be tempting to merely converse on the subject of “Eugene Peterson as poet extraordinaire.” I am not sure what structure will work best for this dialogue, but I think that the form my initial entry will consist of my overall understanding of the main points (often times I find in discussion that what I perceive as the main point might not necessarily be so), maybe a quote or two that I see as representative of his argument (or perhaps quotes that just blew my comfortable framework of spirituality to pieces), and then some proposed questions concerning praxis. Let me know what you think if it is not what you expected or wanted.
This guy is a stud- to steal a Mark Manry word, an absolute wordsmith.
I felt that the Introduction and “Clearing the Playing Field”
prolegomena exposed the current (and historical) Gnostic tendencies that separate the spiritual life from the here and now and from the relationships that compose our nexus of existence. It draws back the theologian with head in the clouds as well as the elitist spiritualist who interprets holiness as isolation from the surrounding ‘sinful’world. I guess if I were to choose another sub-title for the book so far it might simply be, “a celebration of Life.” He has such a way of constructing ideas to open eyes to the possibility and the reality of life in everything that exists. All of this, encased in the Word. I love that he states that he will use 2 stories, 3 texts and 4 terms to begin, and the 2 stories and 3 texts are all scripture. I guess I was expecting a good “sermon illustration” story, but found that everything is scripture in here, and it challenges me to see all of life through the Word. His passion for the Word of God, living and played out in
every aspect of life, is apparent on every page. I thought I had a
fairly decent “theology of the Word,” but I was captured in his exegesis of John 3 and 4, as he exposed the creative nature of the word made flesh. He has a way of sharing thoughts that are so profound to me in a way that leaves me feeling like, “why in the world did I not see that? How have I missed it?” In both stories it is comforting to find Christ at the center, creating and recreating, covering a spectrum of influence of which is impossible for me (or the people with whom I
work) to be outside. It is so very freeing.
My thoughts through this section was that it seems that our interpretation of spirituality and tendency to separate it from its sibling translations of the more “here and now” wind and breath have such a profound impact on ecclesiology. It seems that it lends itself to a rather low ecclesiology where it is hard to see the church as the body of Christ in action in the world. It seems that this gnostic spirituality is always waiting for Christ to “use me” or Christ to do something while very rarely reaching the point of identity where we see ourselves as the body of Christ as well as ourselves in direct relation to the body of Christ incarnate in the world. His 4 terms all seem to resound with one theme- Relationship! With everything.
All of the time. How do we see it? How is Christ at the center? To often we have reduced this to a trite moralism that stifles our imagination. My struggle is to find the language that can re-define the terms that our congregations are so “used to” and comfortable with that are now a barrier to imagining the Christian Life in whatever context they find themselves. How do we talk about sin? Salvation?
Grace? How can we use a language that challenges our churches without
leaving them behind with a seminary jargon? How can we challenge
them to use the same imagination that they use with their jobs working on a computer, designing a car, exploring ways to teach a 7th grader, in their walk with Christ? Well, I guess I will spare the quotes this time because I have guests and need to cook something for dinner. I am anxious to hear what you think.
Spencer
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
Conversation 1- Clearing the Playing Field
And so we begin our conversation on “a conversation in spiritual theology.” I will try to offer up ideas which will ignite some dialogue, though it may be tempting to merely converse on the subject of “Eugene Peterson as poet extraordinaire.” I am not sure what structure will work best for this dialogue, but I think that the form my initial entry will consist of my overall understanding of the main points (often times I find in discussion that what I perceive as the main point might not necessarily be so), maybe a quote or two that I see as representative of his argument (or perhaps quotes that just blew my comfortable framework of spirituality to pieces), and then some proposed questions concerning praxis. Let me know what you think if it is not what you expected or wanted.
This guy is a stud- to steal a Mark Manry word, an absolute wordsmith.
I felt that the Introduction and “Clearing the Playing Field”
prolegomena exposed the current (and historical) Gnostic tendencies that separate the spiritual life from the here and now and from the relationships that compose our nexus of existence. It draws back the theologian with head in the clouds as well as the elitist spiritualist who interprets holiness as isolation from the surrounding ‘sinful’world. I guess if I were to choose another sub-title for the book so far it might simply be, “a celebration of Life.” He has such a way of constructing ideas to open eyes to the possibility and the reality of life in everything that exists. All of this, encased in the Word. I love that he states that he will use 2 stories, 3 texts and 4 terms to begin, and the 2 stories and 3 texts are all scripture. I guess I was expecting a good “sermon illustration” story, but found that everything is scripture in here, and it challenges me to see all of life through the Word. His passion for the Word of God, living and played out in
every aspect of life, is apparent on every page. I thought I had a
fairly decent “theology of the Word,” but I was captured in his exegesis of John 3 and 4, as he exposed the creative nature of the word made flesh. He has a way of sharing thoughts that are so profound to me in a way that leaves me feeling like, “why in the world did I not see that? How have I missed it?” In both stories it is comforting to find Christ at the center, creating and recreating, covering a spectrum of influence of which is impossible for me (or the people with whom I
work) to be outside. It is so very freeing.
My thoughts through this section was that it seems that our interpretation of spirituality and tendency to separate it from its sibling translations of the more “here and now” wind and breath have such a profound impact on ecclesiology. It seems that it lends itself to a rather low ecclesiology where it is hard to see the church as the body of Christ in action in the world. It seems that this gnostic spirituality is always waiting for Christ to “use me” or Christ to do something while very rarely reaching the point of identity where we see ourselves as the body of Christ as well as ourselves in direct relation to the body of Christ incarnate in the world. His 4 terms all seem to resound with one theme- Relationship! With everything.
All of the time. How do we see it? How is Christ at the center? To often we have reduced this to a trite moralism that stifles our imagination. My struggle is to find the language that can re-define the terms that our congregations are so “used to” and comfortable with that are now a barrier to imagining the Christian Life in whatever context they find themselves. How do we talk about sin? Salvation?
Grace? How can we use a language that challenges our churches without
leaving them behind with a seminary jargon? How can we challenge
them to use the same imagination that they use with their jobs working on a computer, designing a car, exploring ways to teach a 7th grader, in their walk with Christ? Well, I guess I will spare the quotes this time because I have guests and need to cook something for dinner. I am anxious to hear what you think.
Spencer
13 May 2006
Mom Instincts
I am convicted that I live my life according to the insticts that are embedded deep within. Some instincts are good, some are destructive. The spiritual life is figuring which is which.
I grew up in a nurturing, safe, and empowering home. Many of the insticts I live out come from my mother.
Instinct #1. The instinct to love. Here's the thing: to love someone is to risk everything. We run the risk of being rejected when we choose to love. Those who are willing to invest in others, pursuing them, face the reality that some will not love in return. Long story short--mom taught me to love without conditions, risking all one has for the sake of others. Mom does not exist for herself but for the sake of others. The instinct to love, to risk, is a great gift--full of terror, wonder, pain, and rejection.
Instinct #2. The instinct to work. My mother wove discipline into her children. Nothing comes easy, if it does, be suspicious. Little comes without hard work, if it does, it probably isn't worth having. Right in front of us, mom lived out discipline (going back to college when I was entering the teenage years) juggling a chaotic family, school, and deep fidelity to a local church community.
Instinct #3. The instinct to praise. To praise is to admit the incompleteness of our existence. Not just praise toward the Creator, but praise towards those around her. Constant affirmation, encouragement, and approval--no matter what adventure we invested ourselves in...and there were many.
To love like Jesus. To work for the way of God like Jesus. To praise the Father and those around you like Jesus...what better legacy can a mother leave for her family, those whose lives cross her annointed path?
I grew up in a nurturing, safe, and empowering home. Many of the insticts I live out come from my mother.
Instinct #1. The instinct to love. Here's the thing: to love someone is to risk everything. We run the risk of being rejected when we choose to love. Those who are willing to invest in others, pursuing them, face the reality that some will not love in return. Long story short--mom taught me to love without conditions, risking all one has for the sake of others. Mom does not exist for herself but for the sake of others. The instinct to love, to risk, is a great gift--full of terror, wonder, pain, and rejection.
Instinct #2. The instinct to work. My mother wove discipline into her children. Nothing comes easy, if it does, be suspicious. Little comes without hard work, if it does, it probably isn't worth having. Right in front of us, mom lived out discipline (going back to college when I was entering the teenage years) juggling a chaotic family, school, and deep fidelity to a local church community.
Instinct #3. The instinct to praise. To praise is to admit the incompleteness of our existence. Not just praise toward the Creator, but praise towards those around her. Constant affirmation, encouragement, and approval--no matter what adventure we invested ourselves in...and there were many.
To love like Jesus. To work for the way of God like Jesus. To praise the Father and those around you like Jesus...what better legacy can a mother leave for her family, those whose lives cross her annointed path?
25 April 2006
Global Night Commute for the Invisible Children
According to my good friend, philosopher, and former Ugandan Missionary, John Barton, Christians tend to fall into two camps when it comes to issues of social justice (to paraphrase). One, they are naive and believe that enough money, American ideals (capitalism, democracy), optimism and denial will assure success and triumph. Or, they are cynical, quick to judge, though they themselves are not personally invested in works of mercy with the poor and marginalized. This is especially dangerous in the world of professional ministers and academia.
***
This weekend, the Rochester Church and Rochester College are partnering to participate in the Global Night Commute (this Saturday from 5pm to 2am)--a follow up to the viewing we hosted for Invisible Children.
Americans are closing their eyes to open the worlds’ to an unseen war.
By lying down, we are joining the invisible children in northern Uganda, and demanding that our government put an end to the longest running war in africa, and one of the worst crises in the world today.
FACTS:
Northern Uganda called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today because of the lack of attention
1.7 million people forcibly displaced
AN estimated 20- 50,000 children abducted to fight as soldiers
tens of thousands of children commuting nightly
130 people die per day in Northern Uganda due to violence
On April 29th in over 130 cities across the country, thousands are lying down to demand that our government take a stand and put an end to child abduction, the need for night commuting, and war in northern Uganda.
We ask two things:
President George Bush and The United States Government should press the United Nations and Yoweri Museveni to do everything in their power to:
End the conflict and protect the civilians in Northern Uganda
Ensure adequate humanitarian assistance to the Invisible Children (in the internally Displaced camps and beyond)
This saturday, join us (rich, poor, college students, young, old) for time of reflection, peaceful protest, community, worship, and story-telling. We'll root for the Pistons and American Idol...will we root for the ones who have no voice?
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/theMovement/globalNightCommute/
***
This weekend, the Rochester Church and Rochester College are partnering to participate in the Global Night Commute (this Saturday from 5pm to 2am)--a follow up to the viewing we hosted for Invisible Children.
Americans are closing their eyes to open the worlds’ to an unseen war.
By lying down, we are joining the invisible children in northern Uganda, and demanding that our government put an end to the longest running war in africa, and one of the worst crises in the world today.
FACTS:
Northern Uganda called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today because of the lack of attention
1.7 million people forcibly displaced
AN estimated 20- 50,000 children abducted to fight as soldiers
tens of thousands of children commuting nightly
130 people die per day in Northern Uganda due to violence
On April 29th in over 130 cities across the country, thousands are lying down to demand that our government take a stand and put an end to child abduction, the need for night commuting, and war in northern Uganda.
We ask two things:
President George Bush and The United States Government should press the United Nations and Yoweri Museveni to do everything in their power to:
End the conflict and protect the civilians in Northern Uganda
Ensure adequate humanitarian assistance to the Invisible Children (in the internally Displaced camps and beyond)
This saturday, join us (rich, poor, college students, young, old) for time of reflection, peaceful protest, community, worship, and story-telling. We'll root for the Pistons and American Idol...will we root for the ones who have no voice?
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/theMovement/globalNightCommute/
17 April 2006
Death's Last Day
The week of March 25, 2001 is a week that forever haunts me around the time of Easter. Just a few Sundays before that Dan O’Donnell, a new student from Washington, asked me if I would take him to hear my coach preach at his little church a half hour away. I agreed and we talked about life, decisions, regrets, and hope the whole way their and back. Dan had made some huge mistakes in his life, but he was willing to admit is condition. His honesty was so thorough and threatening--you almost expected him to turn and say, "Now what about you, Josh?"
Thursday of that week (March 25th) I sat down to eat lunch around 11:30am. Normally, I sat with all the basketball players, but I was growing tired of that so I decided to sit next to Jamie. I knew Jamie only a little. She worked in the Day Care of the church where I was involved, so I’d see her every now and then. Jamie had one of those smiles that could light up a room-and fortunate for us, she chose to display as frequently as possible. We just made small talk. She told me she was going home to Toronto for the weekend.
Adam also connected with me the week of March 25. Adam and I had been friends for over a year and a half. He used to sit up in my room until all hours of the night goofing around, asking questions, and getting into trouble. I’ll never forget the Sunday afternoon that Matt walked into my room with a paintball gun and a sly grin. “Want to take some target practice?” I looked at one of my good friends who were in the room with me and we both nodded, “Ok-what did you have in mind?” “Well, see that building across the road?” He was pointing to one of the other dormitories that was visible from my dorm room. “Well, I figured that these orange paintballs would look nice considering they just put a fresh coat of paint on.” I’d like to say that I resisted this devious offer. I would love to be able to tell you this morning that I stood up and said, “I’m a follower of Jesus, I’m a Christian, I can’t do that.” But if I did, I’d be lying. I took that gun and lit up the dorm across the way. A dorm that had just been coated with fresh paint.
The week of March 25th is yet another reminder to me of death's elusiveness. That Friday night, Dan, Jamie, Adam and two of their friends climbed into an S.U.V and headed towards Toronto. They were just going home to visit mom and dad. (I just remembered this part: Adam crossed my path in the dorm on the Friday morning they left--"Josh, we haven't hung out in a while...when I get back..."). A few hours into the trip, everyone in the car became sleepy. The driver also fell asleep and swerved off the road when her sister in the back woke up just in time and yelled. The driver over compensated for her swerves and flipped the car several times. That night three people died. None of them had reached the age of 22. The other two in the car walked away with minor injuries.
For me and many others, the cross and easter is not simply about the forgiveness of sins and the liberation from the principalties and powers creation so desperately awaits--Friday and Sunday are also about those we long to see when King Jesus has promised to "make all things new."
Thursday of that week (March 25th) I sat down to eat lunch around 11:30am. Normally, I sat with all the basketball players, but I was growing tired of that so I decided to sit next to Jamie. I knew Jamie only a little. She worked in the Day Care of the church where I was involved, so I’d see her every now and then. Jamie had one of those smiles that could light up a room-and fortunate for us, she chose to display as frequently as possible. We just made small talk. She told me she was going home to Toronto for the weekend.
Adam also connected with me the week of March 25. Adam and I had been friends for over a year and a half. He used to sit up in my room until all hours of the night goofing around, asking questions, and getting into trouble. I’ll never forget the Sunday afternoon that Matt walked into my room with a paintball gun and a sly grin. “Want to take some target practice?” I looked at one of my good friends who were in the room with me and we both nodded, “Ok-what did you have in mind?” “Well, see that building across the road?” He was pointing to one of the other dormitories that was visible from my dorm room. “Well, I figured that these orange paintballs would look nice considering they just put a fresh coat of paint on.” I’d like to say that I resisted this devious offer. I would love to be able to tell you this morning that I stood up and said, “I’m a follower of Jesus, I’m a Christian, I can’t do that.” But if I did, I’d be lying. I took that gun and lit up the dorm across the way. A dorm that had just been coated with fresh paint.
The week of March 25th is yet another reminder to me of death's elusiveness. That Friday night, Dan, Jamie, Adam and two of their friends climbed into an S.U.V and headed towards Toronto. They were just going home to visit mom and dad. (I just remembered this part: Adam crossed my path in the dorm on the Friday morning they left--"Josh, we haven't hung out in a while...when I get back..."). A few hours into the trip, everyone in the car became sleepy. The driver also fell asleep and swerved off the road when her sister in the back woke up just in time and yelled. The driver over compensated for her swerves and flipped the car several times. That night three people died. None of them had reached the age of 22. The other two in the car walked away with minor injuries.
For me and many others, the cross and easter is not simply about the forgiveness of sins and the liberation from the principalties and powers creation so desperately awaits--Friday and Sunday are also about those we long to see when King Jesus has promised to "make all things new."
06 April 2006
Men of Grace
Last night, Men of Grace (http://www.gracecentersofhope.org/html/men_of_grace.shtml) spent the evening with our church. Herb Mullen, Keith Hayes, Derek Vulcano, Mark Gullery, Duren Gutierrez, et al interfused their amazing testimonies with songs of hope, power, and redemption.
Men of Grace is a group of men who've gone through at least one year of counseling, treatment at the Grace Centers of Hope (http://www.gracecentersofhope.org/html/grace_centers_of_hope.shtml), led by Pastor Kent Clark. I've been investigating communities in the Metro Detroit who are adamant about living the "radical call" of Jesus--naturally, Grace Centers of Hope is one of the first stops we made while filming for the documentary. I knew after ten minutes that God was present and active in this work. Our findings will be unveiled at the Rochester College Sermon Seminar in May (http://www.rc.edu/sermonseminar/).
Here's a description of Men of Grace:
We are Men of Grace, the men's musical group of Grace Centers of Hope. Our membership consists of men that are currently in, or have completed, the one year rehabilitation program at Grace Centers of Hope. Our style is gospel-blues with emphasis on vocal harmony. Our repertoire consists of original compositions and arrangements that draw on a great wealth of musical genres. These include spirituals, hymns, contemporary styles and original music. The Men of Grace have been honored to sing for President Bush, The Detroit Tigers, Sports Hall of Fame Awards Banquet, the Governor's Luncheon, The Michigan State Fair and many more elite events.
Our Purpose:
Cultivate a Standard of Excellence. We strive for excellence in both our music and our lives as we sing the praises of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Develop Responsibility, Dependability and Accountability. Members of Men of Grace gain these life skills through long term commitment to the group and to the standard of excellence that is cultivated in their personal lives.
Demonstrate Hope and Direction. As an outreach of Grace Centers of Hope, the members of Men of Grace are living examples of how a life can be transformed from one of addiction, abuse and violence to one filled with meaning and hope through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Men of Grace have four CD's available, Saved, I Believe, One Child and The Hymns Project, Volumen One. You can order all of them for $50. All proceeds benefit the fine programs of Grace Centers of Hope. Get all the details about Men of Grace...
The name "Men of Grace" is a registered trademark of Grace Publishing.
***
Mark shared his story: A good job and home was crushed by the power of darkness when his wife committed suicide. He locked his home up and decided to live on the streets of Detroit abusing all kinds of drugs. "I would wait for Pizza Hut to throw away their extra pizza. Then I would take the pizza to the dope dealers in exchange for more drugs." Today Mark is a follower of Jesus, completely transformed.
Keith shared his story: A successful chef who got caught up in drugs and alcohol--he too found himself at the end of his rope when Grace Centers of Hope found him. He could have been another statistic save the power of this redemptive community led by Pastor Clark. Today Keith is a follower of Jesus, completely transformed.
Men of Grace performed many songs (Blessed Assurance, Nothing But the Blood) in many different ways (acapella, jazz, sax solo, electrical guitar)-their message, however was uniform--if any woman or man be in Christ, she/he is a new creation.
I never thought I would cry to a sax solo of "What a Friend We Have In Jesus." But then again, I never thought God could become the central character in his own story.
Bono keeps reminding the world that "Grace has a nagging propensity of interrupting karma." I'm grateful for the divine interruptions in my all too often scattered life.
03 April 2006
Seven Ways to Die: Greed
(From a recent teaching time on "greed" at the Rochester Church)
Conservative Christians claim to be a people of the book, but are these folks a people of the whole book? That’s why we’re doing this study on the “Seven Deadly Sins.” It is too easy to reduce sin to legal and medicinal language, as we discussed last week, when Scripture describes sin in relational terms (sexual affairs break the relationship with the trinity, church, and family). It is too easy to reduce our sin list down to whatever I’m comfortable with, or I’ve been exposed to. Scripture has much to say to such reductionistic tendencies. We’re opening up the sin discussion by wrestling with the Hebrew Scriptures and pride, greed, lust, anger, envy, gluttony, sloth.
So turn your hearts and minds to a rather ignored story in Scripture: Ahab and Jezebel in I Kings.
I Kings 16 introduces to two important details pertaining to this new King of Israel: First, “Ahab did everything evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him,” (16:30). The writer also notes that Ahab does more to provoke “the anger of the LORD” than all kings put together. Second, a natural result of his marriage to Jezebel (a foreigner who does not regard the laws of YHWH) is the practice of Baal worship. “You shall have no other gods before me”—yeah, that whole notion is pushed the margins of the collective consciousness.
This section in First Kings is a profound depiction of God’s reign (as understood through the witness of Elijah) and the way of darkness (Ahab and his cohorts). Let’s turn our attention to the story in chapter 21: Naboth’s Vineyard.
***Reading from I Kings***
Greed: Obsessive desire to acquire wealth, notoriety, fame, or attention. From cover to cover, Scripture warns against greed. In fact, scripture warns that the pursuit of wealth over and above the pursuit of God’s reign in our lives will lead to death of the worst kind: spiritual death (Ecclesiastes 5:10-16; Amos 4:1-3; Mt. 19:23-24; Lk. 16:13;I Timothy 6:9-10).
The story from I Kings does not hide from the subject of money and material posession. There are strong implications for those of us under the spell of wealth, material comfort, and luxury (and I confess this was a lot easier to deal with when I was under the poverty line as a grad student). The reality is...most of us are affluent, blessed beyond what we need to sustain health, decent living.
1. Wealth produces a subliminal but strong slavery. Chasing financial security turns you into someone you never intended to be. This is thus the great paradox of the pursuit of wealth. Though one thinks it will provide security, contentment, it only leaves the pursuer in pursuit of more. The pursuit of money and wealth is spiritual quicksand leaving no survivors.
2. Greed reveals a self-mutilation of the soul. We become splintered people killing the whole child of God we were created to be. Our time, thoughts, motives are divided. We almost become two different people: the Christian and the one out to get “his or her’s.”
3. Wealth perverts humans into objects and friends into allies. Though we might be reluctant to participate in outright formal schemes, we’ll turn an eye or participate indirectly if we stand to gain financially (i.e. Ahab). The temptation is to manipulate our tax return. “Well I can qualify for this exemption, if I just fudge a few details here and there.” The temptation is to skim off the top of a budget, to give the waitress a dollar instead of the expected rate of 18 percent.
4. Greed, the greatest grievance, turns our hearts hard toward the poor and suffering. Elijah cannot stand for injustice, exploitation of the poor and innocent. The real terroists, to paraphrase one person, are the Christians who sat on the board of Enron.
The temptation for some is to spiritualize the challenging stories of scripture. “As long as you put God first.” I remind you that save “kingdom language” Jesus (whom the Christian faith believes to be God’s purest revelation) discusses money and material possession more than any other subject in the Gospels. Money, wealth, material possession might be the strongest indicator of one’s discipleship. Don’t believe me? Why are people so defensive in talking about the issue? “This isn’t a religious issue. Don’t bring stuff that has nothing to do with the bible into this discussion.”
Consumerism (to get verses to give away/empty) is the water we swim in, the air we breathe. It is asking someone to describe the color black, when everything is black, no light, only oppressive darkness exists. Consumerism is so much a part of our existence; we are often unable to see it. We accept this fallen attitude/power as normal when Scripture wants to combat such thinking.
Wall Street Movie Quotes (1987)
Michael Douglas (Gordon Gekko): Lunch is for wimps.
Martin Sheen (Carl Fox): Stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life. Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others.
Michael Douglas (Gekko): The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bull. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own.
Charlie Sheen (Bud Fox): How much is enough?
Michael Douglas (Gekko): It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another.
Michael Douglas (Gekko): The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of it's forms - greed for life, for money, knowledge - has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed - you mark my words - will not only save Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you.
The Bible collides with the message of greed. It calls us to choose simplicity over complex purchasing habits. It calls us to ask ourselves “do I really know what difference is between what I ‘want” versus what I ‘need?’” It calls us to change. It calls us to question. It calls us to repent. It calls us to remember the poor. It calls us to remember that we were blessed so that we might bless others.
Oh, Father—we are sometimes a selfish people.
We seek to gain at the expense of others.
We attempt to exploit when it will benefit us.
Teach us to give away, to empty ourselves
Just as Jesus gave away his power, control, and influence.
Amen.
Conservative Christians claim to be a people of the book, but are these folks a people of the whole book? That’s why we’re doing this study on the “Seven Deadly Sins.” It is too easy to reduce sin to legal and medicinal language, as we discussed last week, when Scripture describes sin in relational terms (sexual affairs break the relationship with the trinity, church, and family). It is too easy to reduce our sin list down to whatever I’m comfortable with, or I’ve been exposed to. Scripture has much to say to such reductionistic tendencies. We’re opening up the sin discussion by wrestling with the Hebrew Scriptures and pride, greed, lust, anger, envy, gluttony, sloth.
So turn your hearts and minds to a rather ignored story in Scripture: Ahab and Jezebel in I Kings.
I Kings 16 introduces to two important details pertaining to this new King of Israel: First, “Ahab did everything evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him,” (16:30). The writer also notes that Ahab does more to provoke “the anger of the LORD” than all kings put together. Second, a natural result of his marriage to Jezebel (a foreigner who does not regard the laws of YHWH) is the practice of Baal worship. “You shall have no other gods before me”—yeah, that whole notion is pushed the margins of the collective consciousness.
This section in First Kings is a profound depiction of God’s reign (as understood through the witness of Elijah) and the way of darkness (Ahab and his cohorts). Let’s turn our attention to the story in chapter 21: Naboth’s Vineyard.
***Reading from I Kings***
Greed: Obsessive desire to acquire wealth, notoriety, fame, or attention. From cover to cover, Scripture warns against greed. In fact, scripture warns that the pursuit of wealth over and above the pursuit of God’s reign in our lives will lead to death of the worst kind: spiritual death (Ecclesiastes 5:10-16; Amos 4:1-3; Mt. 19:23-24; Lk. 16:13;I Timothy 6:9-10).
The story from I Kings does not hide from the subject of money and material posession. There are strong implications for those of us under the spell of wealth, material comfort, and luxury (and I confess this was a lot easier to deal with when I was under the poverty line as a grad student). The reality is...most of us are affluent, blessed beyond what we need to sustain health, decent living.
1. Wealth produces a subliminal but strong slavery. Chasing financial security turns you into someone you never intended to be. This is thus the great paradox of the pursuit of wealth. Though one thinks it will provide security, contentment, it only leaves the pursuer in pursuit of more. The pursuit of money and wealth is spiritual quicksand leaving no survivors.
2. Greed reveals a self-mutilation of the soul. We become splintered people killing the whole child of God we were created to be. Our time, thoughts, motives are divided. We almost become two different people: the Christian and the one out to get “his or her’s.”
3. Wealth perverts humans into objects and friends into allies. Though we might be reluctant to participate in outright formal schemes, we’ll turn an eye or participate indirectly if we stand to gain financially (i.e. Ahab). The temptation is to manipulate our tax return. “Well I can qualify for this exemption, if I just fudge a few details here and there.” The temptation is to skim off the top of a budget, to give the waitress a dollar instead of the expected rate of 18 percent.
4. Greed, the greatest grievance, turns our hearts hard toward the poor and suffering. Elijah cannot stand for injustice, exploitation of the poor and innocent. The real terroists, to paraphrase one person, are the Christians who sat on the board of Enron.
The temptation for some is to spiritualize the challenging stories of scripture. “As long as you put God first.” I remind you that save “kingdom language” Jesus (whom the Christian faith believes to be God’s purest revelation) discusses money and material possession more than any other subject in the Gospels. Money, wealth, material possession might be the strongest indicator of one’s discipleship. Don’t believe me? Why are people so defensive in talking about the issue? “This isn’t a religious issue. Don’t bring stuff that has nothing to do with the bible into this discussion.”
Consumerism (to get verses to give away/empty) is the water we swim in, the air we breathe. It is asking someone to describe the color black, when everything is black, no light, only oppressive darkness exists. Consumerism is so much a part of our existence; we are often unable to see it. We accept this fallen attitude/power as normal when Scripture wants to combat such thinking.
Wall Street Movie Quotes (1987)
Michael Douglas (Gordon Gekko): Lunch is for wimps.
Martin Sheen (Carl Fox): Stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life. Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others.
Michael Douglas (Gekko): The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bull. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own.
Charlie Sheen (Bud Fox): How much is enough?
Michael Douglas (Gekko): It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another.
Michael Douglas (Gekko): The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of it's forms - greed for life, for money, knowledge - has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed - you mark my words - will not only save Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you.
The Bible collides with the message of greed. It calls us to choose simplicity over complex purchasing habits. It calls us to ask ourselves “do I really know what difference is between what I ‘want” versus what I ‘need?’” It calls us to change. It calls us to question. It calls us to repent. It calls us to remember the poor. It calls us to remember that we were blessed so that we might bless others.
Oh, Father—we are sometimes a selfish people.
We seek to gain at the expense of others.
We attempt to exploit when it will benefit us.
Teach us to give away, to empty ourselves
Just as Jesus gave away his power, control, and influence.
Amen.
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