Four books to read in 2006:
The Known World by Edward P. Jones (Amistad Publishers). Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this book chronciles the life of Henry Townsend, " black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia." Robbins unexpectedly dies and his widow (Caldonia) takes control--chaos, uncertainty ensue. This books brings into the world of slavery, the incredible will of African-Americans, and the reality of hope in the midst of certain despair.
The Restless Heart: Finding Our Spiritual Home in Times of Loneliness by Ronald Rolheiser (Doubleday Publishers). Lonelinesss is part of the journey for those who know they will never reach their destination this side of the return of King Jesus. Loneliness is prevalent in many people: usually, the more sucessful someone is the more loneliness creeps in.
Bono by Michka Assayas (Riverhead Books). One of the more influential figures in the world, this book is a series of conversations--there is some explicit language but don't let that ruin the incredible story of this Irish boy turned prophet/rock star. When it comes to U2, I'm haunted by this question, "A band that is blatantly spiritual attracts more fans, sells more records than any band in the world. What is it about their understanding of faith that the church can learn?" Though Bono is controversial politically (Patrick and I have fun talking about this)--Bono will challenge stock answers to life's difficult questions.
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down by Frank Fitzpatrick (University of Nebraska Press). Contextualizes the story of the infamous Adolph Rupp and Kentucky (Rupp's Runts) facing off against Texas Western in the 1966 NCAA Championship Game for Men's Basketball. If you enjoyed the movie "Glory Road", you'll love this book. Texas Western changed American Sports and American culture in ways that are just now being understood.
22 March 2006
18 March 2006
The Bronx
I recently spent a week in the Bronx, NY; specifically--the Bronx Fellowship of Christ (www.bronxfellowship.org) led by Jared Looney, Malissa Endsley, Lindy Emerson (Rochester College Grad, partially supported by the Rochester Church)et al.
These ministers are committed to doing tough ministry in perhaps one of the most complex context's in the world. They are well-trained, skilled, bold, and posess the hearts of kingdom servants.
Their mission is to create house churches all throughout the Bronx (the largest of the five borough's with 1.5 million people). While several missional church outfits have been able to reach Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan--the Bronx remains the least "churched" section of New York City.
And so these women and men come from the Northeast, Texas, Missouri with one idea: to increase the kingdom of God in perhaps the most influential city in the western world.
Here's a description from their web page:
Bronx Fellowship of Christ is a community of people who are discovering how to fulfill their potential as their Creator intended. Through His power, we find meaning in life, we overcome struggles, we find comfort in trials, and we celebrate the joy of relationships with each other and with our Lord. We invite you to come & discover what this journey of faith is all about.
Why has this new church been forming in the Bronx? It takes many different churches working together to make a lasting difference in the city. Sometimes people find it difficult to find a place where they can fit in an existing church. No one single church, no matter how large and active, can all by itself meet every need that exists in the city, but we hope that God will use us to be a part of his work to transform life in New York.
We understand that some people have been offended and even hurt by religious experiences. Some have tried religion but feel that there is still something missing. Bronx Fellowship of Christ aims to be a safe opportunity where sincere seekers can grow stronger day-by-day. You are welcome to bring all of your life's experiences with you including your questions and frustrations. We are each challenged to learn and to grow, but we come as we are.
Bronx Fellowship of Christ meets altogether as a church on the first Sunday of each month in a rented space. During the rest of the month, we meet in homes. We see the house church as experiencing family, and the church-wide assembly as a type of family reunion. We have learned that there are many advantages that come from the informality, simplicity, and warmth that are discovered in many house churches. There are increased opportunities for people to encourage each other, pray for one another, and experience the blessing of hospitality in these small group settings.
---
I am struck by three things when I reflect upon BFC.
1. Committment to community. This church model is based on relationships, not charisma, programs, dollars, grants, etc.
2. Emphasis upon calling. In this approach, each disciple is equally vital to Jesus demand of being "salt and light," a "city on a hill." Because they all truly see themselves as ministers of redemption, they do not relegate the "real" work of the church to clergy.
3. Non-institutional hassles. They do not wrestle over large heating bills, mortgage payments, building campaigns, etc. While they're not exempt from some of the political games missionaries all over the world have to play, for the most part, they are free to be bold, innovative, and fresh.
The work is tough. One has to reorient the notion of "success" and "effectiveness." But it is one of the purest kingdom works I've ever been around.
Check out Lindy's blog at www.lindyerin.blogspot.com.
These ministers are committed to doing tough ministry in perhaps one of the most complex context's in the world. They are well-trained, skilled, bold, and posess the hearts of kingdom servants.
Their mission is to create house churches all throughout the Bronx (the largest of the five borough's with 1.5 million people). While several missional church outfits have been able to reach Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan--the Bronx remains the least "churched" section of New York City.
And so these women and men come from the Northeast, Texas, Missouri with one idea: to increase the kingdom of God in perhaps the most influential city in the western world.
Here's a description from their web page:
Bronx Fellowship of Christ is a community of people who are discovering how to fulfill their potential as their Creator intended. Through His power, we find meaning in life, we overcome struggles, we find comfort in trials, and we celebrate the joy of relationships with each other and with our Lord. We invite you to come & discover what this journey of faith is all about.
Why has this new church been forming in the Bronx? It takes many different churches working together to make a lasting difference in the city. Sometimes people find it difficult to find a place where they can fit in an existing church. No one single church, no matter how large and active, can all by itself meet every need that exists in the city, but we hope that God will use us to be a part of his work to transform life in New York.
We understand that some people have been offended and even hurt by religious experiences. Some have tried religion but feel that there is still something missing. Bronx Fellowship of Christ aims to be a safe opportunity where sincere seekers can grow stronger day-by-day. You are welcome to bring all of your life's experiences with you including your questions and frustrations. We are each challenged to learn and to grow, but we come as we are.
Bronx Fellowship of Christ meets altogether as a church on the first Sunday of each month in a rented space. During the rest of the month, we meet in homes. We see the house church as experiencing family, and the church-wide assembly as a type of family reunion. We have learned that there are many advantages that come from the informality, simplicity, and warmth that are discovered in many house churches. There are increased opportunities for people to encourage each other, pray for one another, and experience the blessing of hospitality in these small group settings.
---
I am struck by three things when I reflect upon BFC.
1. Committment to community. This church model is based on relationships, not charisma, programs, dollars, grants, etc.
2. Emphasis upon calling. In this approach, each disciple is equally vital to Jesus demand of being "salt and light," a "city on a hill." Because they all truly see themselves as ministers of redemption, they do not relegate the "real" work of the church to clergy.
3. Non-institutional hassles. They do not wrestle over large heating bills, mortgage payments, building campaigns, etc. While they're not exempt from some of the political games missionaries all over the world have to play, for the most part, they are free to be bold, innovative, and fresh.
The work is tough. One has to reorient the notion of "success" and "effectiveness." But it is one of the purest kingdom works I've ever been around.
Check out Lindy's blog at www.lindyerin.blogspot.com.
28 February 2006
3
In the spirit of my good friend Mark Manry (up and coming theologian and pastor to the people of Jinja, Uganda) I offer the following. See www.manryfamily.com.
*Three affirmations of the Churches of Christ:
Autonomous communties/leadership
Legacy of incredible ministry
Baptism and Eucharist (though we wouldn't dare call it that)
*Three (ok Five) professors and/or courses who have influenced your thinking:
John York/David Fleer: Finding my own voice in preaching and teaching
John Mark Hicks: Theology matters
Lee Camp: Pledging allegiance to the lamb
Rubel Shelly: Bridging the world of academics and pastoral care
*Three academic books which have shaped your thinking:
N.T. Wright "The Challenge of Jesus"
Gustavo Gutierrez "We Drink From Our Own Wells"
James H. Cone "Black Theolgy and Black Power"
*Three CoC/Stone-Campbell books which have shaped your thinking:
C. Leonard Allen "Things Unseen"
Lee Camp "Mere Discipleship"
Gary Holloway and Doug Foster "Renewing God's People"
*Three hopes you have for the future of Churches of Christ:
That we would become autonomous (as we advertise)
That we would be known for ministering the to the marginalized
That we would lead the way in racial reconciliation
*Three fears you have for Churches of Christ:
That we will become obsolete due to our "Christian ghetto" DNA
That we will continue to shoot members of our own army
That we will continue to be engaged in the worship wars; creating a new way of being legalistic.
*Three challenges we will face in Churches of Christ in our generation:
Understanding the post-modern or post-Christian context
Planting churches with healthy DNA
Welcoming the "other"
*Three affirmations of the Churches of Christ:
Autonomous communties/leadership
Legacy of incredible ministry
Baptism and Eucharist (though we wouldn't dare call it that)
*Three (ok Five) professors and/or courses who have influenced your thinking:
John York/David Fleer: Finding my own voice in preaching and teaching
John Mark Hicks: Theology matters
Lee Camp: Pledging allegiance to the lamb
Rubel Shelly: Bridging the world of academics and pastoral care
*Three academic books which have shaped your thinking:
N.T. Wright "The Challenge of Jesus"
Gustavo Gutierrez "We Drink From Our Own Wells"
James H. Cone "Black Theolgy and Black Power"
*Three CoC/Stone-Campbell books which have shaped your thinking:
C. Leonard Allen "Things Unseen"
Lee Camp "Mere Discipleship"
Gary Holloway and Doug Foster "Renewing God's People"
*Three hopes you have for the future of Churches of Christ:
That we would become autonomous (as we advertise)
That we would be known for ministering the to the marginalized
That we would lead the way in racial reconciliation
*Three fears you have for Churches of Christ:
That we will become obsolete due to our "Christian ghetto" DNA
That we will continue to shoot members of our own army
That we will continue to be engaged in the worship wars; creating a new way of being legalistic.
*Three challenges we will face in Churches of Christ in our generation:
Understanding the post-modern or post-Christian context
Planting churches with healthy DNA
Welcoming the "other"
24 January 2006
The Reasons I love Kara
I have been married for about a year and half now. I'm certainly no expert, in fact, some days I believe I'm getting worse :)
Here are some reasons I love my wife.
1. She's the most innocent person I've ever been around. She reminds me of how tainted I've become along the way and the need for purity and holiness in my life.
2. She is constantly aware of our relationship. While I tend to conquer other battles and come up with ideas for everything under the sun--Kara is thinking about me.
3. Kara is one of the funniest people I know. Whether it is her infamous attitude which reminds me "I might be the head, but she's the neck on which the head turns," or her constant one-liners that remind me I am not nearly as important to the affairs of the universe as I often convince myself I am. Kara is the missing charactrer in "Everybody Loves Raymond."
4. Kara loves to watch NFL games (and now Piston games) more than I do! She knows the schedule, time, etc. before I get home from work.
5. Kara lives and breathes relationships. While I like to lock myself away--Kara is talking, writing, thinking about people. She reminds me that we were created for community.
6. Kara has allowed me to be who I am without conforming to her desires from a husband. I have strange passions, probably not what she imagined her husband to be fixated with when she daydreamed as a little girl.
7. She's also put her foot down to let me know when my independent spirit violates our covenant--she gives me grace without letting me walk all over her.
More than the previous, I love Kara because she is a living reminder to me that I am a chid of a God who pursues me in my weakest moments; in my darkest hour. She is a living reminder of the grace that Jesus pours out without stipulation or reservation.
Thanks Kara for for eighteen months, seven days, one hour, 12 minutes of a glimpse of what God has in store for creation.
Here are some reasons I love my wife.
1. She's the most innocent person I've ever been around. She reminds me of how tainted I've become along the way and the need for purity and holiness in my life.
2. She is constantly aware of our relationship. While I tend to conquer other battles and come up with ideas for everything under the sun--Kara is thinking about me.
3. Kara is one of the funniest people I know. Whether it is her infamous attitude which reminds me "I might be the head, but she's the neck on which the head turns," or her constant one-liners that remind me I am not nearly as important to the affairs of the universe as I often convince myself I am. Kara is the missing charactrer in "Everybody Loves Raymond."
4. Kara loves to watch NFL games (and now Piston games) more than I do! She knows the schedule, time, etc. before I get home from work.
5. Kara lives and breathes relationships. While I like to lock myself away--Kara is talking, writing, thinking about people. She reminds me that we were created for community.
6. Kara has allowed me to be who I am without conforming to her desires from a husband. I have strange passions, probably not what she imagined her husband to be fixated with when she daydreamed as a little girl.
7. She's also put her foot down to let me know when my independent spirit violates our covenant--she gives me grace without letting me walk all over her.
More than the previous, I love Kara because she is a living reminder to me that I am a chid of a God who pursues me in my weakest moments; in my darkest hour. She is a living reminder of the grace that Jesus pours out without stipulation or reservation.
Thanks Kara for for eighteen months, seven days, one hour, 12 minutes of a glimpse of what God has in store for creation.
15 January 2006
Voices
Here are some prayer requests from the working poor and homeless of Metro Detroit ministered to by God's Helping Hands. These prayers are honest, raw, and telling. In some ways, the wealthy (myself included) pray the same--in many ways, my prayers are so different.
Jennifer Z. ~ That my soon to be ex-husband will start to support his children. He walked out on us when I was 3 1/2 months pregnant.
Arlyn W. ~ That we get our trailer back in shape from the fire on Thanksgiving Day 2005.
Monetta T. ~ Family needs residents, stability, and healing.
Cyntha T. ~ pray for me and my children.
Tanisha S. ~ Like to pray for my family and friends. A special prayer for Ms. Lavonnda who stays in Detroit that needs help with her utility bill, they have been cut off.
Dorothy R. ~ Prayers.
Shakera P. ~ To have a home of my own after the holidays.
Quanshay M. ~ I want me and everybody in my family to be blessed and I need a job.
Deborah M. ~ Just to find work, happiness, to settle down with someone special, and family.
Regina M. ~ Please pray for me financially. Pray that God will bless my family with a home.
Theresa K. ~ God please look out for me on Christmas day, for my son David and me will we not have the good Christmas we want. Thank you, God.
Pamela K. ~ That God would help us out and that I can find a job.
Darrell J. ~ For a job, health, and guidance.
Linda F. ~ For God to help us with financially and food.
Patricia D. ~ I have no way to buy gifts for my child so I pray that a miracle come before Christmas. So she does not wake up with nothing.
Twanna D. ~ I pray that me and my family turn our lives over to God 100 %. Pray that there will be peace with me and my children.
Tina C. ~ Please say a prayer for my family since we are homeless.
Jeniett B. ~ That me and my children continue to grow stronger. That I receive a job so that I can stop using unemployment. That me and my children continue to have good health.
Mark B. ~ Pray for all my family with the coping of the loss of my grandmother. She was a victim of the Lake George accident.
---
"Oh God: Help us to see those around us as you see them. Help us to weep over the things that cause you to weep. Break our hearts with the things that break your heart. Hear our prayer."
Jennifer Z. ~ That my soon to be ex-husband will start to support his children. He walked out on us when I was 3 1/2 months pregnant.
Arlyn W. ~ That we get our trailer back in shape from the fire on Thanksgiving Day 2005.
Monetta T. ~ Family needs residents, stability, and healing.
Cyntha T. ~ pray for me and my children.
Tanisha S. ~ Like to pray for my family and friends. A special prayer for Ms. Lavonnda who stays in Detroit that needs help with her utility bill, they have been cut off.
Dorothy R. ~ Prayers.
Shakera P. ~ To have a home of my own after the holidays.
Quanshay M. ~ I want me and everybody in my family to be blessed and I need a job.
Deborah M. ~ Just to find work, happiness, to settle down with someone special, and family.
Regina M. ~ Please pray for me financially. Pray that God will bless my family with a home.
Theresa K. ~ God please look out for me on Christmas day, for my son David and me will we not have the good Christmas we want. Thank you, God.
Pamela K. ~ That God would help us out and that I can find a job.
Darrell J. ~ For a job, health, and guidance.
Linda F. ~ For God to help us with financially and food.
Patricia D. ~ I have no way to buy gifts for my child so I pray that a miracle come before Christmas. So she does not wake up with nothing.
Twanna D. ~ I pray that me and my family turn our lives over to God 100 %. Pray that there will be peace with me and my children.
Tina C. ~ Please say a prayer for my family since we are homeless.
Jeniett B. ~ That me and my children continue to grow stronger. That I receive a job so that I can stop using unemployment. That me and my children continue to have good health.
Mark B. ~ Pray for all my family with the coping of the loss of my grandmother. She was a victim of the Lake George accident.
---
"Oh God: Help us to see those around us as you see them. Help us to weep over the things that cause you to weep. Break our hearts with the things that break your heart. Hear our prayer."
13 January 2006
In my freshmen Intro to the New Testament class this semester, I have students from across the religious spectrum. Here is how the class breaks down (I will have about 65 students total so the numbers might be off a bit):
1. Non-denominational (non Churches of Christ): 17
2. Churches of Christ (9)
3. Baptist (7)
4. Roman Catholic (6)
5. Lutheran (5)
6. Pentecostal (4)
7. Non-believer (1)
8. Methodist (2)
9. Christadelphia (1)
10. Unsure (5)
11. Didn't vote (5)
--
I am not interested in converting these students to the tenets of Churches of Christ. I am interested in engaging all of them in the person of Jesus.
This class will seek to allow the world of the New Testament to absorb the world we find ourselves in. The class will discuss the basic features of the Christian faith as presented in the New Testament. Special attention will be given to the Gospel in relation to mission, discipleship, poverty, salvation, trinity, and the church. The class will emphasize the uniqueness of the four Gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke and John); and the various writings of St. Paul and St. John. On occasion, the class will attempt to discuss the Christian faith in light of postmodernity and major world religions. It is my desire to capture the students’ imagination and appreciation for the story of Jesus (the Gospels) and the story of the Jesus Movement (the Church).
I understand the level of exposure to Christianity will be of great diversity. I will do whatever I can to assist you in making this class a powerful experience. Not only am I committed to providing pertinent information, but it is my desire for each of you to experience transformation.
1. Non-denominational (non Churches of Christ): 17
2. Churches of Christ (9)
3. Baptist (7)
4. Roman Catholic (6)
5. Lutheran (5)
6. Pentecostal (4)
7. Non-believer (1)
8. Methodist (2)
9. Christadelphia (1)
10. Unsure (5)
11. Didn't vote (5)
--
I am not interested in converting these students to the tenets of Churches of Christ. I am interested in engaging all of them in the person of Jesus.
This class will seek to allow the world of the New Testament to absorb the world we find ourselves in. The class will discuss the basic features of the Christian faith as presented in the New Testament. Special attention will be given to the Gospel in relation to mission, discipleship, poverty, salvation, trinity, and the church. The class will emphasize the uniqueness of the four Gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke and John); and the various writings of St. Paul and St. John. On occasion, the class will attempt to discuss the Christian faith in light of postmodernity and major world religions. It is my desire to capture the students’ imagination and appreciation for the story of Jesus (the Gospels) and the story of the Jesus Movement (the Church).
I understand the level of exposure to Christianity will be of great diversity. I will do whatever I can to assist you in making this class a powerful experience. Not only am I committed to providing pertinent information, but it is my desire for each of you to experience transformation.
06 January 2006
24 December 2005
Scandalous Night
The following is a dilogue sermon preached by Patrick Mead and Josh Graves. Italics are Patrick, normal font is Josh.
This is a hard day for me. People want me to be involved in a culture war and wear “Merry Christmas” on my sleeve. Christmas has become, in some ways, a political issue.
Others want me to preach against materialism; about how we have thrown away Jesus for a sale at the mall. Still others want me to throw the whole holiday away. It’s just a remnant of a pagan celebration, they say.
But I confess: I love the lights. I love the tinsel and the trees. I love the crowded stores and I love buying presents.
So what’s a Christmas loving, present buying, ornament hanging, eggnog drinking preacher to do?
How about: brace myself for reality. How about: approach the story of the birth of Christ the way it really was and see how that changes things.Strip away the tinsel and the wrapping presents. No more elves, reindeer, and, I’m sorry, but Santa will have to go as well. Shopping malls are demolished, eggnog poured out—we’re stripping Christmas of its pomp and flair. This means there will be no credit card statements in January to fret over (now there’s good news). This also implies the pressure is off to buy that perfect gift.
Yes, we’re stripping Christmas. Please turn in your lists of things you “need” and exchange it for something much more meaningful. Turn off the cheesy Christmas music (not “Silent Night”…no, no—I’m talking about the Christmas music that isn’t really about anything at all).
In fact, while we’re at it. We’re going to tear down this church building. Yep, I’m sorry but the building has to go. “Why?” you ask. Well, we’re stripping Christmas for everything it has morphed into over the last several decades: buildings, possessions, sales, institutions, commercialization, deals and…well, anything that clouds the real scandal of the night when God chose to enter into the human drama.
Like a playwright, I can see God going over the script in his mind. “Ok, we’ve got all the characters in place: Mary, the young maiden, will play the role of unassuming hero. She will bear God into the world. I will choose the least likely person for the most significant role: woman, youth, uneducated, lower class—that’s should remove any doubt about the kind of people I work with. Now, for my next character, I need Joseph. Joseph will have to make good out of a messy situation. His name will be slandered and his reputation put in jeopardy. His fiancé is pregnant and he’s not the father, at least he’s not the biological father. Ok this is shaping up to be a fine drama. Now, a couple of distant characters need to be brought into this action: Caesar and Herod. Caesar, the most powerful man in the entire world. Commander of a Nation that stretches from England to Africa, France to Arabia—the one whom all Roman citizens and subjects must confess, ‘Caesar is Lord.’ More dangerous than Caesar though will be Herod. Herod shall be an extension of Caesar. Yes, Jewish but much more concerned about his place in the Roman Empire than the covenant community that is Israel. Oh, these two political power players will have huge implications for the One who is about to enter into the world. And let’s throw in Zechariah and Elizabeth—yes they’ll experience a similar shock to Mary and Joseph only their gift will pave the way for the One. Add Simeon (the one person who will truly understand the scandal of divinity mixing with flesh) and the stage is set for the One to enter into to his own story.”
And they shall call him Yeshua, which means God will rescue and save you from the powers and principalities. And they shall call him Immanuel, which means God once roamed the earth in bodily form. And they shall call him son of David, demonstrating the faithfulness of God through many centuries. And they shall call him the Lion who rules over all things. And they shall call him the lamb that takes away the sin of the world. And they shall call him Messiah, which means he has been anointed to embody the Way of God in a broken world. And they shall call him Son of God because he is truly the one unique manifestation of God. And they shall call him Lord…because he is the author and perfector of our faith—in him all of creation is held together. King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
Those are impressive titles are the not? Unfortunately, these titles do not emerge, or at least they do not begin to impact the early followers of Jesus until a few generations after his death and resurrection. The easy thing to is to make Jesus so divine in his earthly life that we render him an ancient superman of sorts.
But, don’t do this.
Here’s where I think the pagan part comes in. I love nativity scenes, but let’s be real: the real barn would have been dark, full of dust, motes of straw, blood, the smell of sweat from Mary – and Joseph, the stink of animals… When we remove all that and put white faces on Mary, Joseph and Jesus, put adoring, sweet looking angels around them and maybe a few shepherds… we have turned the story of the birth of Christ into some Nordic myth. We have the birth of Thor the Sincrusher, not the lamb of God.
That is just the beginning of the problem. If we have a sterile birth scene we lose the power of God at work in the middle of pain, fear, darkness, confusion, and… well, a very bad place. (Norman Rockwell gifts) God works in lives that look not even a little like a Norman Rockwell painting.
We tend to want to “pretty up” the stories in the Bible. We want to wipe the sweat off of Mary, hide all the blood, make the swaddling clothes white and clean, but…
The stories in Matthew and Luke do not allow us to do this. Let him be as human as he was created to be by His father. Allow him to have a sense of humor, to be angry with the religious leaders, to show his emotion in all its different colors. Please, allow Jesus to be a man. Let him develop as a man of intense faith. Don’t make him out to be the 12-year-old genius and wizard (as some of the Apocryphal works do)—Jesus, like you and I, is in process. Remember he doesn’t officially hit the public scene until he is about the age of 30.
This concept of a developing Christ might be strange to you, but remember what you read when we went through the gospels. Jesus is surprised by some people’s faith, he is angered, he cries. He is, in a word, human. And he has human parents.
And please allow his parents to speak a fresh word of encouragement this morning. In Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph is the focal point—the one on whom all the angels and creation lean in asking, “What will he say? Will he say yes to God?” Will he believe the angel or will he chalk it up to bad Chinese food or stress at the office? What will this Joseph think? Will he allow his wife-to-be to endure shame, and gossip. “There’s goes Jesus—who’s his father anyway?” It is scary to think, that had Jesus been born today, he might be a candidate for abortion.
"In our own age of people who raise children without benefit of marriage, the issue of legitimacy sounds a bit quaint, but the heart of the story is much bigger and more profound than that. The heart of the story is about a just man who wakes up one day to find his life wrecked: his wife pregnant, his trust betrayed, his name ruined, his future revoked. It is about a righteous man who surveys a mess he has had absolutely nothing to do with and decides to believe that God is present in it…He claims the scandal and it gives it a name. He owns the mess—he legitimates it—and the mess becomes the place where the Messiah is born," (Barbara Brown Taylor in Gospel Medicine).
I’m really glad that Joseph didn’t do what many conservative Christians say they would do in any given situation, “Well, I’ll just do what the Bible tells me to do,” as if the Bible can just be mined for any situation without thought or interpretations. As one man reminded me this week, do we know what the Bible Joseph read instructed him to do in this situation? It instructed him to take the woman out “and stone her death in front of the people,” what about that (Deut. 22)? Joseph understood that the Scriptures must always be read through the heart and character of God. I’m glad he didn’t just read the Bible and do what it says. Aren’t you?
Don’t run from this or do the standard cop-out of “well, they didn’t have the Bible, but we do.” It isn’t that simple. Every life is new; a new story and a new opportunity for God to work mighty things in frightening ways in that life. THIS IS NEW. And so is your life.
Just as Josh did for this story – in every story you need to establish and name the characters who will play a part in the plot. And you have to find a hero. So, in this story, who is the star? Matthew and Luke have different opinions about this.
And as insistent as Matthew is about the centrality of Joseph in the birth story, Luke is equally insistent that Mary is in fact the lynch pin to this whole divine scandal. For Luke, this makes sense. Remember he’s writing a gospel in which everything is turned upside down and inside out. Reversals of class, education gender, religion—these are all the results of the in-breaking work of God through the prophet from Nazareth. Naturally, Mary is chosen in the starring role.
But if she is a star, she is a young star. Probably no older than 13, Mary would not be able to vote, drink wine at dinner—she wouldn’t even be able to sit in a high school classroom or go to the prom. Yet, God reaches into Mary’s world and says, “I think you are exactly the kind of person I’m looking for. You might feel overwhelmed and under-equipped. But Mary, I don’t call the qualified, I qualify the called.” [Please repeat and emphasize this, Josh]
And if she is a star, she is a hesitant star. Mary remains humble throughout the entire affair. She waits on the movement of God. She’s obedient—going and speaking every place and word she’s been instructed.
But, as alone as Mary is, she isn’t totally alone. Her life serves as a reminder of what it means to let God write the story of your life. In every story – including yours – you have to decide who the players are going to be. What allegiances will you make? Which ones will you avoid? Mary could have chosen Herod’s path: compromise Jewish teaching for a higher place in the culture. Our kids are tempted to do that almost every day in school. All they have to do is go along a little more with the culture and they will be more accepted, loved, and less alone.
Mary's allegiance was to the one true God. She did not bow down to any other lord, any other state, nor did she go along to get along with anyone or anything. She chose to walk with God even when that path was dark, uncertain and frightening.
It isn’t just Mary and Joseph, though. What about Jesus? What kind of hero was he?
What does the birth say about Jesus?
1. Humble.
2. Approachable.
3. Underdog.
4. Warrior.
The Bible is essentially about the movement and activity of God. It isn’t so much about our accomplishments and failings as it is about the steadfast goodness of the one who started this whole story. The writer and creator of the play decided to become a character in his own creation. We do not choose him, he initially chooses us.
But unless we respond to the work of God, the Kingdom is thwarted. As with Joseph and Mary, all of heaven is waiting to hear our response. Will we cower away and hide behind family responsibilities and perceived “morality?” Will we hide behind our fears and insecurity? Will we hide because we are more passionate about Herod and his agenda or the rule of Caesar than we are risking everything for the sake of the Gospel?
Mary could have hidden behind the “but I’m a good person” wall and done nothing with her life. She chose to be the obedient handmaiden of God.
And now the story comes to us and invites us in. God is moving no less now than then. The star that shone over Bethlehem wants to shine again; this time in your life. God wants to break into your story. And when He does, it will not look like a scrubbed and backlight nativity scene. Are you ready to say ‘yes’ anyway?
This Christmas, God is inviting you and I to birth his good news into a dark world. The angels are waiting for our answer and they promise to go with us should we choose to say, “yes.”
This is a hard day for me. People want me to be involved in a culture war and wear “Merry Christmas” on my sleeve. Christmas has become, in some ways, a political issue.
Others want me to preach against materialism; about how we have thrown away Jesus for a sale at the mall. Still others want me to throw the whole holiday away. It’s just a remnant of a pagan celebration, they say.
But I confess: I love the lights. I love the tinsel and the trees. I love the crowded stores and I love buying presents.
So what’s a Christmas loving, present buying, ornament hanging, eggnog drinking preacher to do?
How about: brace myself for reality. How about: approach the story of the birth of Christ the way it really was and see how that changes things.Strip away the tinsel and the wrapping presents. No more elves, reindeer, and, I’m sorry, but Santa will have to go as well. Shopping malls are demolished, eggnog poured out—we’re stripping Christmas of its pomp and flair. This means there will be no credit card statements in January to fret over (now there’s good news). This also implies the pressure is off to buy that perfect gift.
Yes, we’re stripping Christmas. Please turn in your lists of things you “need” and exchange it for something much more meaningful. Turn off the cheesy Christmas music (not “Silent Night”…no, no—I’m talking about the Christmas music that isn’t really about anything at all).
In fact, while we’re at it. We’re going to tear down this church building. Yep, I’m sorry but the building has to go. “Why?” you ask. Well, we’re stripping Christmas for everything it has morphed into over the last several decades: buildings, possessions, sales, institutions, commercialization, deals and…well, anything that clouds the real scandal of the night when God chose to enter into the human drama.
Like a playwright, I can see God going over the script in his mind. “Ok, we’ve got all the characters in place: Mary, the young maiden, will play the role of unassuming hero. She will bear God into the world. I will choose the least likely person for the most significant role: woman, youth, uneducated, lower class—that’s should remove any doubt about the kind of people I work with. Now, for my next character, I need Joseph. Joseph will have to make good out of a messy situation. His name will be slandered and his reputation put in jeopardy. His fiancé is pregnant and he’s not the father, at least he’s not the biological father. Ok this is shaping up to be a fine drama. Now, a couple of distant characters need to be brought into this action: Caesar and Herod. Caesar, the most powerful man in the entire world. Commander of a Nation that stretches from England to Africa, France to Arabia—the one whom all Roman citizens and subjects must confess, ‘Caesar is Lord.’ More dangerous than Caesar though will be Herod. Herod shall be an extension of Caesar. Yes, Jewish but much more concerned about his place in the Roman Empire than the covenant community that is Israel. Oh, these two political power players will have huge implications for the One who is about to enter into the world. And let’s throw in Zechariah and Elizabeth—yes they’ll experience a similar shock to Mary and Joseph only their gift will pave the way for the One. Add Simeon (the one person who will truly understand the scandal of divinity mixing with flesh) and the stage is set for the One to enter into to his own story.”
And they shall call him Yeshua, which means God will rescue and save you from the powers and principalities. And they shall call him Immanuel, which means God once roamed the earth in bodily form. And they shall call him son of David, demonstrating the faithfulness of God through many centuries. And they shall call him the Lion who rules over all things. And they shall call him the lamb that takes away the sin of the world. And they shall call him Messiah, which means he has been anointed to embody the Way of God in a broken world. And they shall call him Son of God because he is truly the one unique manifestation of God. And they shall call him Lord…because he is the author and perfector of our faith—in him all of creation is held together. King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
Those are impressive titles are the not? Unfortunately, these titles do not emerge, or at least they do not begin to impact the early followers of Jesus until a few generations after his death and resurrection. The easy thing to is to make Jesus so divine in his earthly life that we render him an ancient superman of sorts.
But, don’t do this.
Here’s where I think the pagan part comes in. I love nativity scenes, but let’s be real: the real barn would have been dark, full of dust, motes of straw, blood, the smell of sweat from Mary – and Joseph, the stink of animals… When we remove all that and put white faces on Mary, Joseph and Jesus, put adoring, sweet looking angels around them and maybe a few shepherds… we have turned the story of the birth of Christ into some Nordic myth. We have the birth of Thor the Sincrusher, not the lamb of God.
That is just the beginning of the problem. If we have a sterile birth scene we lose the power of God at work in the middle of pain, fear, darkness, confusion, and… well, a very bad place. (Norman Rockwell gifts) God works in lives that look not even a little like a Norman Rockwell painting.
We tend to want to “pretty up” the stories in the Bible. We want to wipe the sweat off of Mary, hide all the blood, make the swaddling clothes white and clean, but…
The stories in Matthew and Luke do not allow us to do this. Let him be as human as he was created to be by His father. Allow him to have a sense of humor, to be angry with the religious leaders, to show his emotion in all its different colors. Please, allow Jesus to be a man. Let him develop as a man of intense faith. Don’t make him out to be the 12-year-old genius and wizard (as some of the Apocryphal works do)—Jesus, like you and I, is in process. Remember he doesn’t officially hit the public scene until he is about the age of 30.
This concept of a developing Christ might be strange to you, but remember what you read when we went through the gospels. Jesus is surprised by some people’s faith, he is angered, he cries. He is, in a word, human. And he has human parents.
And please allow his parents to speak a fresh word of encouragement this morning. In Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph is the focal point—the one on whom all the angels and creation lean in asking, “What will he say? Will he say yes to God?” Will he believe the angel or will he chalk it up to bad Chinese food or stress at the office? What will this Joseph think? Will he allow his wife-to-be to endure shame, and gossip. “There’s goes Jesus—who’s his father anyway?” It is scary to think, that had Jesus been born today, he might be a candidate for abortion.
"In our own age of people who raise children without benefit of marriage, the issue of legitimacy sounds a bit quaint, but the heart of the story is much bigger and more profound than that. The heart of the story is about a just man who wakes up one day to find his life wrecked: his wife pregnant, his trust betrayed, his name ruined, his future revoked. It is about a righteous man who surveys a mess he has had absolutely nothing to do with and decides to believe that God is present in it…He claims the scandal and it gives it a name. He owns the mess—he legitimates it—and the mess becomes the place where the Messiah is born," (Barbara Brown Taylor in Gospel Medicine).
I’m really glad that Joseph didn’t do what many conservative Christians say they would do in any given situation, “Well, I’ll just do what the Bible tells me to do,” as if the Bible can just be mined for any situation without thought or interpretations. As one man reminded me this week, do we know what the Bible Joseph read instructed him to do in this situation? It instructed him to take the woman out “and stone her death in front of the people,” what about that (Deut. 22)? Joseph understood that the Scriptures must always be read through the heart and character of God. I’m glad he didn’t just read the Bible and do what it says. Aren’t you?
Don’t run from this or do the standard cop-out of “well, they didn’t have the Bible, but we do.” It isn’t that simple. Every life is new; a new story and a new opportunity for God to work mighty things in frightening ways in that life. THIS IS NEW. And so is your life.
Just as Josh did for this story – in every story you need to establish and name the characters who will play a part in the plot. And you have to find a hero. So, in this story, who is the star? Matthew and Luke have different opinions about this.
And as insistent as Matthew is about the centrality of Joseph in the birth story, Luke is equally insistent that Mary is in fact the lynch pin to this whole divine scandal. For Luke, this makes sense. Remember he’s writing a gospel in which everything is turned upside down and inside out. Reversals of class, education gender, religion—these are all the results of the in-breaking work of God through the prophet from Nazareth. Naturally, Mary is chosen in the starring role.
But if she is a star, she is a young star. Probably no older than 13, Mary would not be able to vote, drink wine at dinner—she wouldn’t even be able to sit in a high school classroom or go to the prom. Yet, God reaches into Mary’s world and says, “I think you are exactly the kind of person I’m looking for. You might feel overwhelmed and under-equipped. But Mary, I don’t call the qualified, I qualify the called.” [Please repeat and emphasize this, Josh]
And if she is a star, she is a hesitant star. Mary remains humble throughout the entire affair. She waits on the movement of God. She’s obedient—going and speaking every place and word she’s been instructed.
But, as alone as Mary is, she isn’t totally alone. Her life serves as a reminder of what it means to let God write the story of your life. In every story – including yours – you have to decide who the players are going to be. What allegiances will you make? Which ones will you avoid? Mary could have chosen Herod’s path: compromise Jewish teaching for a higher place in the culture. Our kids are tempted to do that almost every day in school. All they have to do is go along a little more with the culture and they will be more accepted, loved, and less alone.
Mary's allegiance was to the one true God. She did not bow down to any other lord, any other state, nor did she go along to get along with anyone or anything. She chose to walk with God even when that path was dark, uncertain and frightening.
It isn’t just Mary and Joseph, though. What about Jesus? What kind of hero was he?
What does the birth say about Jesus?
1. Humble.
2. Approachable.
3. Underdog.
4. Warrior.
The Bible is essentially about the movement and activity of God. It isn’t so much about our accomplishments and failings as it is about the steadfast goodness of the one who started this whole story. The writer and creator of the play decided to become a character in his own creation. We do not choose him, he initially chooses us.
But unless we respond to the work of God, the Kingdom is thwarted. As with Joseph and Mary, all of heaven is waiting to hear our response. Will we cower away and hide behind family responsibilities and perceived “morality?” Will we hide behind our fears and insecurity? Will we hide because we are more passionate about Herod and his agenda or the rule of Caesar than we are risking everything for the sake of the Gospel?
Mary could have hidden behind the “but I’m a good person” wall and done nothing with her life. She chose to be the obedient handmaiden of God.
And now the story comes to us and invites us in. God is moving no less now than then. The star that shone over Bethlehem wants to shine again; this time in your life. God wants to break into your story. And when He does, it will not look like a scrubbed and backlight nativity scene. Are you ready to say ‘yes’ anyway?
This Christmas, God is inviting you and I to birth his good news into a dark world. The angels are waiting for our answer and they promise to go with us should we choose to say, “yes.”
20 December 2005
When You Least Expect (part one)
This post (today's at www.mikecope.blogspot.com) reminded me of a story currently playing in my family.
---
George grew up in a difficult family. In fact, he rarely discusses his youth in any context. It's almost as if life begins at 17 in his mind.
George was a young boy when his father died in tragic accident; falling of the roof to his death in his early 30's. George spent time in the homes of many relatives until he was old enough to enlist in the Navy; to join the U.S. military efforts in Korea. George was only 17. He was so desperate to make a clean break, he forged his age (as did so many desperate and eager young men a half century ago).
It was in the Navy, that George's appetite for life came alive--alcohol, gambling and women--at least that's the way he describes it.
Once out of the Navy, George went to school to become an engineer. Highly intelligent and savvy, George was destined for a bright and secure future. One problem persisted--his love for alcohol grew to an "out of control" status. George would spend much time and money gambling and drinking. His late 20's and 30's were spent in the bars and casino's. His wife (Winnie) spent countless hours raising the children wondering if her husband could ever remove himself from the trappings of the bottle.
On one of Winnie's birthday's, 1978 to be exact, George came home wasted. The conversation went something like this.
"I can't take this anymore," Winnie pleaded. "I want you to leave this life you've carved out. Give me a wish George...just one wish, that's all I'm asking you. Can you at least do that?"
"Ok...I'm listening," stammered George.
"I want you to be sober for one day. Just one day, I want a husband who's not intoxicated."
Infuriated George left the room. Knowing the demand just placed on him, he retreated to the upstairs room. Looking himself in the bathrooom mirror he thought, "When's the last time I went a day without a drink? I don't know if I can do it?"
As George watched T.V. that night, he knew something had to change. "I was watching a movie about a woman who was an alcoholic...she couldn't see herself for who she really was."
It was in that moment that George saw himself for who he really was--a man broken with little direction and less light.
Since that day in the late 1970's George has not touched a bit of alcohol. In part two, I'll tell you the rest of the story; the story that is my grandpa George.
---
George grew up in a difficult family. In fact, he rarely discusses his youth in any context. It's almost as if life begins at 17 in his mind.
George was a young boy when his father died in tragic accident; falling of the roof to his death in his early 30's. George spent time in the homes of many relatives until he was old enough to enlist in the Navy; to join the U.S. military efforts in Korea. George was only 17. He was so desperate to make a clean break, he forged his age (as did so many desperate and eager young men a half century ago).
It was in the Navy, that George's appetite for life came alive--alcohol, gambling and women--at least that's the way he describes it.
Once out of the Navy, George went to school to become an engineer. Highly intelligent and savvy, George was destined for a bright and secure future. One problem persisted--his love for alcohol grew to an "out of control" status. George would spend much time and money gambling and drinking. His late 20's and 30's were spent in the bars and casino's. His wife (Winnie) spent countless hours raising the children wondering if her husband could ever remove himself from the trappings of the bottle.
On one of Winnie's birthday's, 1978 to be exact, George came home wasted. The conversation went something like this.
"I can't take this anymore," Winnie pleaded. "I want you to leave this life you've carved out. Give me a wish George...just one wish, that's all I'm asking you. Can you at least do that?"
"Ok...I'm listening," stammered George.
"I want you to be sober for one day. Just one day, I want a husband who's not intoxicated."
Infuriated George left the room. Knowing the demand just placed on him, he retreated to the upstairs room. Looking himself in the bathrooom mirror he thought, "When's the last time I went a day without a drink? I don't know if I can do it?"
As George watched T.V. that night, he knew something had to change. "I was watching a movie about a woman who was an alcoholic...she couldn't see herself for who she really was."
It was in that moment that George saw himself for who he really was--a man broken with little direction and less light.
Since that day in the late 1970's George has not touched a bit of alcohol. In part two, I'll tell you the rest of the story; the story that is my grandpa George.
15 December 2005
The Gospel Broke Out in NY City
I just returned from a brief road trip with my twin brother (Jason) and my father (Phil). Though we do not spend as much time together as we should, these are the two closest men in my life. When I have relationship dilemma's, I go to them. When I have financial questions, I call Jason (he's a VP for commercial loans for a bank at the age of 26...you could say, we're a bit different). When I have other concerns, ideas, I usually bounce them off my dad. When I wanted to move to Texas to try coaching at the college level, my dad was the first person I called. These two men have been with me for a long time. They've seen all my sides, good and not so good.
The last two days of our trip was spent in New York city. I was not prepared for the sheer size and popluation of this country within a state.
We went to Ground Zero. I imagined what it would have been like to hear the screams, and chaos of that awful day in 2001. Smoke, fire, death--the smell overwhelms my imagination. The horror of this day is easily accessible as I stood outside the perimeter of the property. God be merciful to us.
We also ventured to Times Square (spent too much money trying to beat my brother in games at the ESPN ZONE), Rockefeller Center, and Central Park. New York is truly a city with a thousand personalities, and a million different ethnicities.
Perhaps, my favorite leg of the New York tour, was Liberty Island--more famous for housing the Statue of Liberty than its name. As we approached the dock to board the ferry (you pay to get to the island, then you pay to actually tour the statue...gotta love NYC) an older man stood in my path singing an old hymn. "My father...in my father's house...won't that be the day? Won't that be the day?"
In a city with several million people, the world's finest restaurant's, fashion mecca, center for much intellectual progress--I was captivated by this old man and his song.
Think of the insanity of his claim...a day when buildings, material posession, degrees, titles, homes, vehicles, attire--none of these things will we be able to hide behind.
I'm not of the escapist persuasion when it comes to the end of the world. In fact, I hate that phrase "the end of the world." My faith says that God created everything good and humankind in his own image. My faith says that although God made the world "the world is not the way God made it." My faith says that despite the broken, chaotic, and violent world we live in...God is on the move. He's up to something so great, even our greatest minds cannot concieve what that will be.
In the meantime, like the man standing on the dock in New York city, we wait. And we sing. We sing about something we cannot prove. We sing a song of light in a dark world.
The last two days of our trip was spent in New York city. I was not prepared for the sheer size and popluation of this country within a state.
We went to Ground Zero. I imagined what it would have been like to hear the screams, and chaos of that awful day in 2001. Smoke, fire, death--the smell overwhelms my imagination. The horror of this day is easily accessible as I stood outside the perimeter of the property. God be merciful to us.
We also ventured to Times Square (spent too much money trying to beat my brother in games at the ESPN ZONE), Rockefeller Center, and Central Park. New York is truly a city with a thousand personalities, and a million different ethnicities.
Perhaps, my favorite leg of the New York tour, was Liberty Island--more famous for housing the Statue of Liberty than its name. As we approached the dock to board the ferry (you pay to get to the island, then you pay to actually tour the statue...gotta love NYC) an older man stood in my path singing an old hymn. "My father...in my father's house...won't that be the day? Won't that be the day?"
In a city with several million people, the world's finest restaurant's, fashion mecca, center for much intellectual progress--I was captivated by this old man and his song.
Think of the insanity of his claim...a day when buildings, material posession, degrees, titles, homes, vehicles, attire--none of these things will we be able to hide behind.
I'm not of the escapist persuasion when it comes to the end of the world. In fact, I hate that phrase "the end of the world." My faith says that God created everything good and humankind in his own image. My faith says that although God made the world "the world is not the way God made it." My faith says that despite the broken, chaotic, and violent world we live in...God is on the move. He's up to something so great, even our greatest minds cannot concieve what that will be.
In the meantime, like the man standing on the dock in New York city, we wait. And we sing. We sing about something we cannot prove. We sing a song of light in a dark world.
30 November 2005
C.S. Lewis: Alive and Well
As is most of the Western World--I've been going back and re-reading several works belonging to one of the great Christian minds: C.S. Lewis.
Remembering how he captured my imagination the first time I read about the mystical world of Narnia. Or how he absolutely nailed me in Screwtape Letters. His comments on sex, evil, suffering, and ethics surface in my life in some of the strangest moments. Or how in Until We Have Faces I began to understand (albeit for the first time) a true picture of transformation.
A recent experience as a pastor reminded me of these famous words, "There are two errors which are race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an unhealthy and excessive interest in them." I know plenty of people in both ditches; some who have made an awful amount of money; some who look eerily similar to my own reflection.
In a recent article, the step-son of Jack (as his friends called him) Lewis recounted a story of C.S. and J.R.R. Tolkien. Apparently, Tolkien and Lewis were walking when approached by a man asking for money. Lewis obliged the man and gave him the requested funds. After the man walked away, Tolkien commented, "Jack, don't you know he'll spend that on liquor." To which Jack commented, "I'd probably do the same."
C.S. Lewis will continue to live in the words and teachings of Christians because he understood the essential paradox of faith. Though reason, proof, and intellect are crucial to the human experience, they cannot replace faith, imagination, and hope.
Remembering how he captured my imagination the first time I read about the mystical world of Narnia. Or how he absolutely nailed me in Screwtape Letters. His comments on sex, evil, suffering, and ethics surface in my life in some of the strangest moments. Or how in Until We Have Faces I began to understand (albeit for the first time) a true picture of transformation.
A recent experience as a pastor reminded me of these famous words, "There are two errors which are race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an unhealthy and excessive interest in them." I know plenty of people in both ditches; some who have made an awful amount of money; some who look eerily similar to my own reflection.
In a recent article, the step-son of Jack (as his friends called him) Lewis recounted a story of C.S. and J.R.R. Tolkien. Apparently, Tolkien and Lewis were walking when approached by a man asking for money. Lewis obliged the man and gave him the requested funds. After the man walked away, Tolkien commented, "Jack, don't you know he'll spend that on liquor." To which Jack commented, "I'd probably do the same."
C.S. Lewis will continue to live in the words and teachings of Christians because he understood the essential paradox of faith. Though reason, proof, and intellect are crucial to the human experience, they cannot replace faith, imagination, and hope.
23 November 2005
Grateful
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5023760
NPR ran a piece last night that is a testimony to God's spirit at work in the world. As I've written about before, Brian and Lisa Cain (founding directors of God's Helping Hands) are part of the Rochester Church family. When they were down and out, the shepards of this church stepped in and paid their mortgage. Overcome with relief, joy, and sheer gratitude--in addition to the sickness and eventual death of their son Kevin--the Cain's were broken by the things that break the heart of God.
God's Helping Hands is primarily supported by the Rochester Church in addition to help from local congregations. Many are just now showing interest--the future looks bright for this ministry.
On Saturday, GHH helped over 200 families (800 people). 140 disciples of Jesus volunteered to spend the majority of their Saturday engaged in this great work.
Today and this week I'm grateful to be a part of a group of people who are committed to becoming transformed, as each day passes, into the image of Jesus.
I had the priveledge of interviewing many of the individuals and families who are supported by God's Helping Hands. Many single mothers (young and old) told stories of pain and sheer tragedy. When asked, "What would you say to those Christians who financially support this ministry," many of the people cried in thanksgiving. To think that our crumbs are an overwhelming gift to these people is something I can't quiet get over.
NPR ran a piece last night that is a testimony to God's spirit at work in the world. As I've written about before, Brian and Lisa Cain (founding directors of God's Helping Hands) are part of the Rochester Church family. When they were down and out, the shepards of this church stepped in and paid their mortgage. Overcome with relief, joy, and sheer gratitude--in addition to the sickness and eventual death of their son Kevin--the Cain's were broken by the things that break the heart of God.
God's Helping Hands is primarily supported by the Rochester Church in addition to help from local congregations. Many are just now showing interest--the future looks bright for this ministry.
On Saturday, GHH helped over 200 families (800 people). 140 disciples of Jesus volunteered to spend the majority of their Saturday engaged in this great work.
Today and this week I'm grateful to be a part of a group of people who are committed to becoming transformed, as each day passes, into the image of Jesus.
I had the priveledge of interviewing many of the individuals and families who are supported by God's Helping Hands. Many single mothers (young and old) told stories of pain and sheer tragedy. When asked, "What would you say to those Christians who financially support this ministry," many of the people cried in thanksgiving. To think that our crumbs are an overwhelming gift to these people is something I can't quiet get over.
16 November 2005
We Were Made for Such More
This is from Patrick's blog (Senior Minister at the church I work for)
Invisible Children
Go to invisiblechildren.com and watch the trailer. Then order the DVD. For $20 they'll send you two of them. Watch the hour or so movie and it will change your life, if you have a heart and are paying attention. The Rochester Church has is dedicating one Wednesday night to it and many of our small groups are gathering with their neighbors to watch it. What is it?
A few young men, indistinguishable from the average sloucher or slacker you might shrug past in the mall, decided to go to Africa and film what they found there. They stumbled into the middle of child soldiers, abductions, extreme poverty, displacement, and horror upon horror. He found the Acholi people of southern Sudan who fled into Northern Uganda to escape the genocide there only to be set upon by a weird cult called the Lord's Resistance Army (look it up on Wikipedia).
For 17 years this has been going on and governments are doing nothing. So these kids are doing something. They are, first, getting peoples' attention and prayers. Second, they are dreaming big; funding a huge safe village for the children who are fleeing the terror of their lives. They are doing it one DVD at a time, one T shirt at a time, and one remembrance bracelet at a time.
Do this for me for Christmas: no presents, no cards... just watch the video, gather friends and watch it again. Sell cookies to your fellow workers or students and get them to watch it. Gather members of your congregation and watch it. Write your senators and congressman and tell them to watch it.
Care about these children. They are the most beautiful children in the world and they need you. Invisiblechildren.com ...... now.......
***
We're attempting to host one or two showings at the Rochester Church in the next several months as part of the Invisible Children National Campaign. We're challenging everyone to get involved, to show the video to anyone and everyone who might be interested.
This movement is taking off like wildfire. We have missionaries in Uganda who are aware of these efforts as well as former missionaries--they are conveying the same sense of urgency and need.
Invisible Children
Go to invisiblechildren.com and watch the trailer. Then order the DVD. For $20 they'll send you two of them. Watch the hour or so movie and it will change your life, if you have a heart and are paying attention. The Rochester Church has is dedicating one Wednesday night to it and many of our small groups are gathering with their neighbors to watch it. What is it?
A few young men, indistinguishable from the average sloucher or slacker you might shrug past in the mall, decided to go to Africa and film what they found there. They stumbled into the middle of child soldiers, abductions, extreme poverty, displacement, and horror upon horror. He found the Acholi people of southern Sudan who fled into Northern Uganda to escape the genocide there only to be set upon by a weird cult called the Lord's Resistance Army (look it up on Wikipedia).
For 17 years this has been going on and governments are doing nothing. So these kids are doing something. They are, first, getting peoples' attention and prayers. Second, they are dreaming big; funding a huge safe village for the children who are fleeing the terror of their lives. They are doing it one DVD at a time, one T shirt at a time, and one remembrance bracelet at a time.
Do this for me for Christmas: no presents, no cards... just watch the video, gather friends and watch it again. Sell cookies to your fellow workers or students and get them to watch it. Gather members of your congregation and watch it. Write your senators and congressman and tell them to watch it.
Care about these children. They are the most beautiful children in the world and they need you. Invisiblechildren.com ...... now.......
***
We're attempting to host one or two showings at the Rochester Church in the next several months as part of the Invisible Children National Campaign. We're challenging everyone to get involved, to show the video to anyone and everyone who might be interested.
This movement is taking off like wildfire. We have missionaries in Uganda who are aware of these efforts as well as former missionaries--they are conveying the same sense of urgency and need.
03 November 2005
I Just Kept Running...26.2
I've had time to process my first marathon from a few weeks back. This is straying a bit from my normal subject lines but might be appropriate for some. Here are "lessons learned" from training and running a marathon.
1. The training is more rewarding than the actual event.
2. All shapes and sizes run and finish 26.2. Don't judge a book by its cover. I got waxed by some men and women who didn't look like they grew up in West Africa in the mountains.
3. Those on the sidelines are either the greatest encouragement or extremely annoying.
4. Parts of Detroit are incredible. Parts are discouraging.
5. I found out my wife really does admire me and she's a constant encouragement. She had much for confidence in me than I did in myself.
6. My running coach and mentor, Andy Harrison, apprenticed me. He taught me how to train and prepare BECAUSE he himself had been there. One cannot take another person to a place they have never been themselves.
7. On the course, women would encourage folks with words...men encouraged with their presence. Women offered advice. Men would ask "what's your pace time?" You can run with me." And that's the extent of the conversation.
1. The training is more rewarding than the actual event.
2. All shapes and sizes run and finish 26.2. Don't judge a book by its cover. I got waxed by some men and women who didn't look like they grew up in West Africa in the mountains.
3. Those on the sidelines are either the greatest encouragement or extremely annoying.
4. Parts of Detroit are incredible. Parts are discouraging.
5. I found out my wife really does admire me and she's a constant encouragement. She had much for confidence in me than I did in myself.
6. My running coach and mentor, Andy Harrison, apprenticed me. He taught me how to train and prepare BECAUSE he himself had been there. One cannot take another person to a place they have never been themselves.
7. On the course, women would encourage folks with words...men encouraged with their presence. Women offered advice. Men would ask "what's your pace time?" You can run with me." And that's the extent of the conversation.
20 October 2005
Lonely People
I wonder how church marketing experts would respond to the following: one of the major cross-sections of people the Church in the West has failed are those who can legitmately be called lonely. By lonely I mean isolated, marginalized, invisible, etc.
One of my good friends (and future super theologian) recently reminded me of the lyrics from a popular artist.
Ben Folds, Fred Jones, part 2
Fred sits alone
at his desk in the dark
there's an awkward
young shadow that waits in the hall
he has cleared all his things
and he's put them in boxes
things that remind him
that life has been good
twenty-five years
he's worked at the paper
a man's here
to take him downstairs
and "I'm sorry,
Mr. Jones, it's time"
there was no party
and there were no songs
'cause today's just a day
like the day that he started
and no one is left here
that knows his first name
yeah, and life barrels on
like a runaway train
where the passengers change
they don't change anything
you get off
someone else can get on
and "I'm sorry,
Mr. Jones, it's time"
the streetlight
it shines through the shades
casting lines on the floor
and lines on his face
he reflects on the day
Fred gets his paints out
and goes to the basement
projecting some slides
onto a plain white canvas
and traces it,
fills in the spaces
he turns off the slides
and it doesn't look right
yeah, and all of these bastards
have taken his place
he's forgotten, but not yet gone
and "I'm sorry, Mr. Jones"
and "I'm sorry, Mr. Jones"
and "I'm sorry, Mr. Jones, "it's time"
“The song paints a portrait of an under-appreciated, long-term employee who for too long equated what he did with who he was, and here he is on his last day struggling with feelings of insignificance in the face of the big picture of his life. Where now? What was left? Why was he even here anymore? Why didn’t anyone care? Why didn’t anyone even notice?” (N. Adam Hill).
---
A prayer for churches trying to resuce lonely people.
God give us your eyes. When we see the other help us to see you. When we see unimpressive help us to see your son working as a carpenter. When we see homeless help us to remember your son told us “he had no place to lay his head.” When we see poverty help us to remember that you often identified with those the world would call the least. When we encounter divorced and abused help us to bring a healing touch and soothing word. When we see the lonely help us to bring relationship and life.
One of my good friends (and future super theologian) recently reminded me of the lyrics from a popular artist.
Ben Folds, Fred Jones, part 2
Fred sits alone
at his desk in the dark
there's an awkward
young shadow that waits in the hall
he has cleared all his things
and he's put them in boxes
things that remind him
that life has been good
twenty-five years
he's worked at the paper
a man's here
to take him downstairs
and "I'm sorry,
Mr. Jones, it's time"
there was no party
and there were no songs
'cause today's just a day
like the day that he started
and no one is left here
that knows his first name
yeah, and life barrels on
like a runaway train
where the passengers change
they don't change anything
you get off
someone else can get on
and "I'm sorry,
Mr. Jones, it's time"
the streetlight
it shines through the shades
casting lines on the floor
and lines on his face
he reflects on the day
Fred gets his paints out
and goes to the basement
projecting some slides
onto a plain white canvas
and traces it,
fills in the spaces
he turns off the slides
and it doesn't look right
yeah, and all of these bastards
have taken his place
he's forgotten, but not yet gone
and "I'm sorry, Mr. Jones"
and "I'm sorry, Mr. Jones"
and "I'm sorry, Mr. Jones, "it's time"
“The song paints a portrait of an under-appreciated, long-term employee who for too long equated what he did with who he was, and here he is on his last day struggling with feelings of insignificance in the face of the big picture of his life. Where now? What was left? Why was he even here anymore? Why didn’t anyone care? Why didn’t anyone even notice?” (N. Adam Hill).
---
A prayer for churches trying to resuce lonely people.
God give us your eyes. When we see the other help us to see you. When we see unimpressive help us to see your son working as a carpenter. When we see homeless help us to remember your son told us “he had no place to lay his head.” When we see poverty help us to remember that you often identified with those the world would call the least. When we encounter divorced and abused help us to bring a healing touch and soothing word. When we see the lonely help us to bring relationship and life.
11 October 2005
Making the World Better One Step at a Time
One could say there's a better more productive way to spend an afternoon. One could argue "what did you really accomplish?" One could call the time spent Sunday afternoon futile, idealistic, pie in the sky, etc.
This past Sunday, a few of us from the Rochester Church of Christ participated in Focus: Hope (Celebrating diverstiy since 1968) WALK 2005: Making a better world one step at a time, Stand up for the dignity of all people.
This event was started as a witness over and against the darkness represented on all fronts during the race riots of Detroit in the late 1960's. The riots that took place in Detroit are among the worst ever recorded in U.S. history. The walk covered an 8 mile stretch that was the epicenter of the riots. This time, black and white Christians marched in peaceful demonstration symbolzing the love, redemption, and unity that should characterize those who profess Jesus as Lord.
WALK History (see http://www.focushope.edu/news/walk.htm)
The annual walk through the streets of Detroit celebrates our rich diversity. It also raises awareness of social and economic problems that continue to haunt us. Much like the nonviolent marches led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Focus: HOPE WALK brings together people who believe in civil and human rights and who are committed to fighting poverty, racism, and injustice.
In the days since the 1967 Detroit riots, much has changed in the city. While you will see neighborhoods and business areas that have rebounded, you will also pass abandoned buildings and homes that are awaiting renewal. The Focus: HOPE complex has evolved to seven-building campus, with a landscaped boulevard and a new park, dedicated to the memory of co-founder Father William Cunningham (1930-1997). It stands as a testament to what people can accomplish when they work together.
The route passes a number of sites that are significant in the histories of Detroit and Highland Park.
The first Ford Motor Company automotive production facility. It opened in 1914 and drew workers from all over the country, seeking the $5 per day wages that were double what other companies paid at the time.
A pocket park on Clairmont and Rosa Parks Boulevard that marks the spot of the blind pig raided by police in 1967 that precipitated the Detroit riots.
*The original Motown recording studios.
*Headquarters of World Medical Relief.
*The elegant Boston-Edison neighborhood.
This route is the same one followed since 1988. Before then, the walk took on different forms. It began in 1970 with a three-day festival called Hope Happenings. Originally held on the Kern block and later moved to the Riverfront, the festival featured fireworks, food, music, amusement rides, and games. It drew crowds larger than the Michigan State Fair. The riverfront event evolved into the weekend ethnic festivals on Hart laza. In 1975, to mark Detroit’s 275th anniversary, the Happening became a walk, patterned after the marches led by Dr. King
---
Waste of time? Idealistic? Naive?
I wonder if some ancient folks in the Near East said the same thing about the mission and teaching of a carpenter from Nazareth?
This past Sunday, a few of us from the Rochester Church of Christ participated in Focus: Hope (Celebrating diverstiy since 1968) WALK 2005: Making a better world one step at a time, Stand up for the dignity of all people.
This event was started as a witness over and against the darkness represented on all fronts during the race riots of Detroit in the late 1960's. The riots that took place in Detroit are among the worst ever recorded in U.S. history. The walk covered an 8 mile stretch that was the epicenter of the riots. This time, black and white Christians marched in peaceful demonstration symbolzing the love, redemption, and unity that should characterize those who profess Jesus as Lord.
WALK History (see http://www.focushope.edu/news/walk.htm)
The annual walk through the streets of Detroit celebrates our rich diversity. It also raises awareness of social and economic problems that continue to haunt us. Much like the nonviolent marches led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Focus: HOPE WALK brings together people who believe in civil and human rights and who are committed to fighting poverty, racism, and injustice.
In the days since the 1967 Detroit riots, much has changed in the city. While you will see neighborhoods and business areas that have rebounded, you will also pass abandoned buildings and homes that are awaiting renewal. The Focus: HOPE complex has evolved to seven-building campus, with a landscaped boulevard and a new park, dedicated to the memory of co-founder Father William Cunningham (1930-1997). It stands as a testament to what people can accomplish when they work together.
The route passes a number of sites that are significant in the histories of Detroit and Highland Park.
The first Ford Motor Company automotive production facility. It opened in 1914 and drew workers from all over the country, seeking the $5 per day wages that were double what other companies paid at the time.
A pocket park on Clairmont and Rosa Parks Boulevard that marks the spot of the blind pig raided by police in 1967 that precipitated the Detroit riots.
*The original Motown recording studios.
*Headquarters of World Medical Relief.
*The elegant Boston-Edison neighborhood.
This route is the same one followed since 1988. Before then, the walk took on different forms. It began in 1970 with a three-day festival called Hope Happenings. Originally held on the Kern block and later moved to the Riverfront, the festival featured fireworks, food, music, amusement rides, and games. It drew crowds larger than the Michigan State Fair. The riverfront event evolved into the weekend ethnic festivals on Hart laza. In 1975, to mark Detroit’s 275th anniversary, the Happening became a walk, patterned after the marches led by Dr. King
---
Waste of time? Idealistic? Naive?
I wonder if some ancient folks in the Near East said the same thing about the mission and teaching of a carpenter from Nazareth?
04 October 2005
Mary's Song
Today, Kara and I will attend the funeral of one of Kara's lifelong best friends: Dr. Mary Morris. Kara has known Mary since she was a little girl growing up in the shadows of the mountains in Morgantown, WV. Mary worked and taught at Lipscomb University and had been battling colon cancer for well over a year.
When Kara and I moved from ACU back to Lipscomb to finish graduate school, we decided to move directly across the street from Mary's condo. Kara and Mary had a Wednesday night tradition of watching (and critiquing) "American Idol"--along with many evenings watching movies together.
One night, Mary's mother (Lois) called in a state of panic: "Mary's real sick. Could you take us to the ER?" Kara and I got out of bed and spent the next five hours in the Vanderbilt ER with Lois and Mary. We were watching our friend die right before our very eyes.
Seeing Mary's body yesterday was a numbing experience. There are no words in the English language to capture the overwhelming sense of confusion when one sees the body of a person they knew so well. A body that can no longer sigh, laugh, snicker, snap back...nothing.
The first blog I ever wrote (last year) was about Mary. Here's what I wrote.
***
I spent time yesterday evening with my friend who has stage 4 cancer. We talked about the parousia/heaven (coming of the Lord) and what eternity "will be like." I told her my struggle with the Platonic dualism that's invaded Christian thinking (body-bad, spirit-good) rendering many incapable of seeing the Genesis announcement by YHWH of Creation " made in his own image," and "very good."
We talked about heaven as a return to the Garden, the shalom (peace) in which God intended for us from the very start. We talked about God's longing to redeem all of Creation-leaving us fully in his presence and fully aware of ourselves. And we talked about how in this very moment we are only slivers of our true selves; that God sees us from every moment in the past and every moment in the future. This is who we are, our total identity.
"And then I saw a new heaven, and a new earth..." I'm grateful this morning for John's picture of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel in which Jesus' new body demonstrates our own pending ressurection (not reincartion) and the breath which brings forth new life (the Johannine Pentecost and Genesis 1 poetic description).
The Book of Isaiah declares that God will make all things new. This is hope for one whose body is ravaged with cancer and for her friend trying to make sense of the divine rumors seeping into our suffering world.
I have little time for theology which boasts "God needed another angel" (As if God is a child who doesn't have a sufficient amount of toys) or "Her soul has left her body and is now in heaven" (ignoring Jesus and Paul's witness of bodily ressurection).
Just before Mary died this week she came out of a coma and sang a few of her favorite hymns which declared the presence of God, not the provision. Mary, if only for a brief moment, came out of the tomb to declare something only she could see.
All of creation is in bondage, longing to be restored and remade.
I am anxious to watch Mary dance in New Jerusalem.
When Kara and I moved from ACU back to Lipscomb to finish graduate school, we decided to move directly across the street from Mary's condo. Kara and Mary had a Wednesday night tradition of watching (and critiquing) "American Idol"--along with many evenings watching movies together.
One night, Mary's mother (Lois) called in a state of panic: "Mary's real sick. Could you take us to the ER?" Kara and I got out of bed and spent the next five hours in the Vanderbilt ER with Lois and Mary. We were watching our friend die right before our very eyes.
Seeing Mary's body yesterday was a numbing experience. There are no words in the English language to capture the overwhelming sense of confusion when one sees the body of a person they knew so well. A body that can no longer sigh, laugh, snicker, snap back...nothing.
The first blog I ever wrote (last year) was about Mary. Here's what I wrote.
***
I spent time yesterday evening with my friend who has stage 4 cancer. We talked about the parousia/heaven (coming of the Lord) and what eternity "will be like." I told her my struggle with the Platonic dualism that's invaded Christian thinking (body-bad, spirit-good) rendering many incapable of seeing the Genesis announcement by YHWH of Creation " made in his own image," and "very good."
We talked about heaven as a return to the Garden, the shalom (peace) in which God intended for us from the very start. We talked about God's longing to redeem all of Creation-leaving us fully in his presence and fully aware of ourselves. And we talked about how in this very moment we are only slivers of our true selves; that God sees us from every moment in the past and every moment in the future. This is who we are, our total identity.
"And then I saw a new heaven, and a new earth..." I'm grateful this morning for John's picture of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel in which Jesus' new body demonstrates our own pending ressurection (not reincartion) and the breath which brings forth new life (the Johannine Pentecost and Genesis 1 poetic description).
The Book of Isaiah declares that God will make all things new. This is hope for one whose body is ravaged with cancer and for her friend trying to make sense of the divine rumors seeping into our suffering world.
I have little time for theology which boasts "God needed another angel" (As if God is a child who doesn't have a sufficient amount of toys) or "Her soul has left her body and is now in heaven" (ignoring Jesus and Paul's witness of bodily ressurection).
Just before Mary died this week she came out of a coma and sang a few of her favorite hymns which declared the presence of God, not the provision. Mary, if only for a brief moment, came out of the tomb to declare something only she could see.
All of creation is in bondage, longing to be restored and remade.
I am anxious to watch Mary dance in New Jerusalem.
25 September 2005
Still Speaking of Sin?
Karl Mennenger wrote What Ever Happened to Sin? in the 70's. Barbara Brown Taylor has written a book in the recent past entitled Speaking of Sin: The Lost Language of Salvation.These two books have prompted much thinking in my mind about the language of the Christian faith.
I agree with many contemporary theologians who note the "otherness" of being Christian. Some have noted that Chrisitanity is a learned pracitce; to be Christian is to learn the values, ethics, attitudes and language of the community (see Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon). To be a follower of Jesus, one must apprentice themselves to one or many people who have been living the Christian faith. NT Wright uses the piano metaphor (learning to play the right notes) while Brian McLaren uses the violinist analogy. In all of this the point is clear: The Christian faith does not come naturally to most of us. To be Christian is to be oriented to a whole new way of thinking and living; a whole new approach to seeing the world.
Taylor, in Speaking of Sin, states that "...sin might just be the last best hope of the church." Unless we understand the power of sin over creation we cannot appreciate the ways in which Jesus exposes, names, resists and defeats these cosmic powers. In fact, I encouraged our church this morning to read Romans in light of the ministry of Jesus in the scope of this divine/human drama; the battle between the powers of sin and the powers of Creator God.
Though sin has been a huge focus of evangelical churches for the last several decades, I'm not necessarily advocating more of the same company stuff. I believe we need to talk more about wider definitions of sin (racism, injusice, classism, and sexism) as well as the way in which the Old Testament and New Testament bear witness to God's interest in the communal sins of His people. Conservative Christians often focus only on the "private individual sins" as oppposed to the ways in which the darkness can hold collective groups in a hazy fog.
One need look no further than the way in which conservative churches reacted during the Civil Rights Era in the 1960's in America or the way in which a large portion of Lutherans in the middle of the 20th Century wholesale pledged themselves to the ideologies of the Thrid Reich. I am afraid to ask whether or not the contemporary church might be blind to the call of God in our American culture.
Communal sin is dangerous to the Kingdom of God. And a wider defintion of sin will prevent us from only being passionate about rated R movies, alcohol, and ....well you get the point.
Thank God, He is still pursuing us and empowering us to become more like him. "I am not the man I want to be nor the man with God's help I'll someday become--but thank God I am not the man I used to be," Martin Luther King Jr.
I agree with many contemporary theologians who note the "otherness" of being Christian. Some have noted that Chrisitanity is a learned pracitce; to be Christian is to learn the values, ethics, attitudes and language of the community (see Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon). To be a follower of Jesus, one must apprentice themselves to one or many people who have been living the Christian faith. NT Wright uses the piano metaphor (learning to play the right notes) while Brian McLaren uses the violinist analogy. In all of this the point is clear: The Christian faith does not come naturally to most of us. To be Christian is to be oriented to a whole new way of thinking and living; a whole new approach to seeing the world.
Taylor, in Speaking of Sin, states that "...sin might just be the last best hope of the church." Unless we understand the power of sin over creation we cannot appreciate the ways in which Jesus exposes, names, resists and defeats these cosmic powers. In fact, I encouraged our church this morning to read Romans in light of the ministry of Jesus in the scope of this divine/human drama; the battle between the powers of sin and the powers of Creator God.
Though sin has been a huge focus of evangelical churches for the last several decades, I'm not necessarily advocating more of the same company stuff. I believe we need to talk more about wider definitions of sin (racism, injusice, classism, and sexism) as well as the way in which the Old Testament and New Testament bear witness to God's interest in the communal sins of His people. Conservative Christians often focus only on the "private individual sins" as oppposed to the ways in which the darkness can hold collective groups in a hazy fog.
One need look no further than the way in which conservative churches reacted during the Civil Rights Era in the 1960's in America or the way in which a large portion of Lutherans in the middle of the 20th Century wholesale pledged themselves to the ideologies of the Thrid Reich. I am afraid to ask whether or not the contemporary church might be blind to the call of God in our American culture.
Communal sin is dangerous to the Kingdom of God. And a wider defintion of sin will prevent us from only being passionate about rated R movies, alcohol, and ....well you get the point.
Thank God, He is still pursuing us and empowering us to become more like him. "I am not the man I want to be nor the man with God's help I'll someday become--but thank God I am not the man I used to be," Martin Luther King Jr.
13 September 2005
No Longer...
Men and women gathered, this past Sunday, from all different walks of life to pray and raise money for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. People from black and white backgrounds sang prayed to their Creator for healing and divine presence. People from different neighborhoods uttered the classic words "Our God, He is Alive." African American ministers preaced with their unique cadence and pace. White ministers told their best stories of faith in the midst of joy. It was truly a time in which, if you looked close enough, Christ was present in the tears, confession, and prayers of his people.
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus," The words of St. Paul in Galatians 3:28.
The words of America's greatest preacher were on my mind throughout the entire program: "At times, life is hard, as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and painful moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of a river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of the summers and the piercing chill of its winters. But through it all, God walks with us. Never forget that God is able 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," (Martin Luther King Jr., Eulogy for the Martyred Children, 1963).
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus," The words of St. Paul in Galatians 3:28.
The words of America's greatest preacher were on my mind throughout the entire program: "At times, life is hard, as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and painful moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of a river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of the summers and the piercing chill of its winters. But through it all, God walks with us. Never forget that God is able 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," (Martin Luther King Jr., Eulogy for the Martyred Children, 1963).
07 September 2005
Rabbi Yeshua
NOTE: The following is based on NT Wright, Rob Bell (Nooma Videos and Velvet Jesus), and Ray Vanderlaan’s “One Focus" teaching from a National Pastors Conference held this year.
Jesus the Rabbi. One of the more compelling aspects of the Jewish world I’ve studied over the last few years is the relationship between rabbi and disciple. Jesus was often referred to as rabbi (teacher). Many have written on this subject, some on academic levels and others on more popular levels. It is thought that there were three basic divisions in the Jewish educational system in the ancient world.
1.Bet-serif. This began about the age of 6. Young boys would spend most of their time memorizing the Torah. Now, for some of us recovering legalists, we have to remember that Torah is not LAW but “teaching, instruction, the way.” The Torah is not the Ten Commandments only it is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These young boys would be able to recite these first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Memorized! Genesis-Deuteronomy—and I thought my grad program was tough.
2.Bet-Talmud. Most boys would move into apprenticeship roles after this first level of education. But for those who showed exceptional ability some would continue in their religious studies. In this period (from 10 to 15 or so) the young men would memorize the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures: Genesis to Malachi!
3.Bet-midrash. Now the playing field gets dwindled down even smaller. After 15 or so, some men would approach different rabbis in order to become their full-time disciples. Most were turned away but some were chosen by the rabbi. Typically a young boy would latch himself to a rabbi, learning the way of a rabbi (his yoke) until he was ready to step out and become a rabbi himself. This usually didn’t happen until age 30. The point of following the rabbi is fascinating. These men do not simply desire to think like the rabbi—they want to do what the rabbi does because they want to be like the rabbi.
Now, think about this in the context of Jesus for a minute. Jesus comes along around the age of 30 and approaches some individual men who are fishermen, and tax collectors. These are not the elite these are the “he’ll do” men in the given region. They’ve been passed over at some point in the past because they didn’t have what it took to become a religious star. Jesus comes along and says, “Follow me.” Essentially he’s saying, “I think you have what it takes to become a disciple and possibly rabbi.” No wonder the men drop their nets, and ledger books to follow Jesus. Jesus believes in them. “You didn’t choose me, I chose you!”
These men will stumble to understand his teachings, the nature of the Kingdom, the purpose of the cross and the implications of the resurrection. But at the end of their fumbling, Jesus looks at them and commissions them to go into the world to make disciples of all people-regardless of region, gender, education and money. By the grace and power of the spirit Jesus sends them off to be light in the darkness. As one pastor says, “your faith may waver in God, but his faith in you is rock solid.”
Jesus the Rabbi. One of the more compelling aspects of the Jewish world I’ve studied over the last few years is the relationship between rabbi and disciple. Jesus was often referred to as rabbi (teacher). Many have written on this subject, some on academic levels and others on more popular levels. It is thought that there were three basic divisions in the Jewish educational system in the ancient world.
1.Bet-serif. This began about the age of 6. Young boys would spend most of their time memorizing the Torah. Now, for some of us recovering legalists, we have to remember that Torah is not LAW but “teaching, instruction, the way.” The Torah is not the Ten Commandments only it is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These young boys would be able to recite these first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Memorized! Genesis-Deuteronomy—and I thought my grad program was tough.
2.Bet-Talmud. Most boys would move into apprenticeship roles after this first level of education. But for those who showed exceptional ability some would continue in their religious studies. In this period (from 10 to 15 or so) the young men would memorize the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures: Genesis to Malachi!
3.Bet-midrash. Now the playing field gets dwindled down even smaller. After 15 or so, some men would approach different rabbis in order to become their full-time disciples. Most were turned away but some were chosen by the rabbi. Typically a young boy would latch himself to a rabbi, learning the way of a rabbi (his yoke) until he was ready to step out and become a rabbi himself. This usually didn’t happen until age 30. The point of following the rabbi is fascinating. These men do not simply desire to think like the rabbi—they want to do what the rabbi does because they want to be like the rabbi.
Now, think about this in the context of Jesus for a minute. Jesus comes along around the age of 30 and approaches some individual men who are fishermen, and tax collectors. These are not the elite these are the “he’ll do” men in the given region. They’ve been passed over at some point in the past because they didn’t have what it took to become a religious star. Jesus comes along and says, “Follow me.” Essentially he’s saying, “I think you have what it takes to become a disciple and possibly rabbi.” No wonder the men drop their nets, and ledger books to follow Jesus. Jesus believes in them. “You didn’t choose me, I chose you!”
These men will stumble to understand his teachings, the nature of the Kingdom, the purpose of the cross and the implications of the resurrection. But at the end of their fumbling, Jesus looks at them and commissions them to go into the world to make disciples of all people-regardless of region, gender, education and money. By the grace and power of the spirit Jesus sends them off to be light in the darkness. As one pastor says, “your faith may waver in God, but his faith in you is rock solid.”
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