dicristina

The Messiah, 8

2011-12-06T09:44:00.001-06:00

Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Emmanuel, GOD WITH US.

(Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23)

The Messiah, 5-7

2011-12-04T22:08:00.001-06:00

The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts.

(Malachi 3:1)

But who may abide the day of His coming, and who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner's fire.

(Malachi 3:2)

And He shall purify the sons of Levi, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

(Malachi 3:3)

The Messiah, 4

2011-12-04T22:06:00.001-06:00

Thus saith the Lord, the Lord of Hosts; Yet once a little while and I will shake the heav'ns and the earth, the sea and the dry land: And I will shake all nations; and the desire of all nations shall come.

(Haggai 2:6-7)

The Messiah, 2-3

2011-12-03T07:26:00.001-06:00

Ev'ry valley shall be exalted, and ev'ry mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight, and the rough places plain (Isaiah 40:4)

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40:5)

The Messiah, 1

2011-11-29T13:59:00.002-06:00

I've begun my favorite Advent tradition, which is listening to Handel's Messiah, a lot.

I thought I'd include the words to one piece a day, and see where that takes us. God bless your Advent preparation.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplish'd, that her Iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness; prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

(Isaiah 40:1-3)

New Wonders

2011-11-18T08:42:00.003-06:00

New Wonders

by Sandra McCracken

I really enjoy Sandra's music. This is from "In Feast or Fallow" which she calls "new old hymns." You can hear this song and the rest of the album at www.newoldhymns.com

Look again, at the cross

where you are found and lost

Make a new song of praise

Fill you cup, at the the mouth of the spring

and new wonders we will sing

as the Spirit blows the embers of our hearts.

Tell the story, of Jesus, the Christ

and his promises we write

on the doorway of our house

Hold the mirror, and remember your own face,

brother, do not forfeit grace

as the Savior, pleads your pardon with his blood.

Look around, every sparrow, every flower

all creation sings out loud, of a grand design

You are small, but you are filled with breath and life

If you seek, then you will find

as the Father looks with favor on his child.

Oh, the Savior pleads your pardon with his blood.

And the Spirit blows the embers of our hearts.

let me count the ways... to brew good coffee

2011-10-24T10:18:00.004-05:00

There are lots of ways to brew a delicious cup of coffee...

Here's cool site brew methods - via one of the brew masters at Coava Coffee in Portland, OR

Red Sox woes

2011-09-26T21:59:00.004-05:00

oh boy, two games left in the season and the Red Sox are now tied with Tampa Bay for the wild card playoff spot... it's strange to be rooting for the Yankees

good coffee

2011-09-09T15:32:00.003-05:00

check out this new metal cone filter made for the chemex style coffee brewing system.

saw it (and tasted it!) at Coava Coffee Roasters in Portland. Great coffee, great space shared with .

brought home some "David Mancia", grown in Honduras... awesome!

better off?

2011-09-08T07:11:00.003-05:00

reposted from "The Restoration Project"

"The world would be better off if people tried to become better.

And people would become better if they stopped trying to become better off."

- Peter Maurin (co-founded the Catholic Worker movement with Dorothy Day)

Aseity and promeity

2011-08-04T09:40:00.002-05:00

I came across these two words in some reading online, referencing Bonhoeffer's work among others. "Aseity" rang a bell but had never heard of "promeity." Here's what I've found:

Aseity is God's existing totally independent of anything else.

"Ens a se" - A medieval term for a kind of being , which contrasts with being out of itself ( ens ex se ) and with being that depends upon another thing as the ground of its existence ( ens ab alio ). In medieval philosophy, ens a se is a thing that is completely self-sufficient and depends on nothing else for its existence, and this description is ascribed solely to God. The idea is derived from the biblical teaching that God is the Creator. God is ens a se by existing independent of anything else, but all created things, including human beings, are ens ex se because they depend on God for their existence. The term aseity (Latin aseitas ) was formed from ens a se for the abstract property of being completely independent.

(from Blackwell Reference Online)

As best I can tell, promeity is Christ's nature of existing for us (not independent of us, as in God's aseity), perhaps from the Latin "pro me" (for me), that he as fully God and fully human he is not free from human beings but free for human beings.

Christ is Christ, not just for himself, but in relation to me. His being Christ is his being for me, pro me. This being pro-me is not to be understood as an effect emanating from him, nor as an accident; but it is to be understood as the essence, the being of the person himself. The core of the person himself is pro-me (Bonhoeffer, "Christ the Center", p 47).

This was quoted in a blog, the writer (a Canadian Anglican Priest named Patrick McManus) continues:

"Christ cannot be thought of other than in his being as pro-me. It is only by acknowledging Christ’s promeity that Christology can properly proceed to discuss him as 'contemporaneous' and contemporaneously present only existing as Word, Sacrament, and Church."

This is really interesting, to me anyway. I am looking forward to reading Bonhoeffer's "Christ the Center" (after reading "Sanctorum Communio").

David Shannon-Lier Photography

2011-08-01T11:58:00.002-05:00

Brooke's nephew David, and his wife Alison and son Emmett, visited with us on their way to Arizona State University where David will pursue a Masters in Fine Arts. David graduated from the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston this spring, with a major in photography.

Check out his web site - David Shannon-Lier Photography

coffee and cancer

2011-05-18T14:06:00.001-05:00

can it really be true?

More cups of coffee may mean less chance of cancer...

video

The path to peace

2011-04-08T10:54:00.001-05:00

The fruit of silence is prayer,
The fruit of prayer is faith,
The fruit of faith is love,
The fruit of love is service,
The fruit of service is peace.
(Mother Teresa)

Sacred Otherness

2011-04-04T11:28:00.002-05:00

in light of our reflections on those evil Pharisees in John 9, whom we are so very much like, perpetuating our own blindness, at least in part through our judging and categorizing people, with full confidence of who's in and who's out, who's good and who's evil; through our unwillingness to see God do a new thing, our fear to affirm God at work outside of our defined and limited vision... I pass this quote along posted today from Emergent Village:

Sacred otherness

Sometimes it's the very otherness of a stranger, someone who doesn't belong to our ethnic or ideological or religious group, an otherness that can repel us initially, but which can jerk us out of our habitual selfishness, and give us intonations of that sacred otherness, which is God.

Karen Armstrong

a pastor

2011-03-11T08:07:00.002-06:00

I am encouraged (once again) by Eugene Peterson's reflections on pastoral ministry. Commenting on the high rate of people leaving ministry, and of churches desiring more effective or successful "leaders" he writes:

I wonder if at the root of the defection is a cultural assumption that all leaders are people who “get things done,” and “make things happen.” That is certainly true of the primary leadership models that seep into our awareness from the culture – politicians, businessmen, advertisers, publicists, celebrities, and athletes. But while being a pastor certainly has some of these components, the pervasive element in our two-thousand year pastoral tradition is not someone who “gets things done” but rather the person placed in the community to pay attention and call attention to “what is going on right now” between men and women, with one another and with God – this kingdom of God that is primarily local, relentlessly personal, and prayerful “without ceasing.”

(The Pastor, Eugene Peterson, p. 5)

the way of the cross on behalf of the powerless

2011-03-03T10:59:00.001-06:00

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Minority Affairs was assassinated.

An advocate for minorities Bhatti was outspoken, bold and fearless in protecting their rights. Among his life accomplishments Bhatti received the International Religious Freedom Award for rendering services to the Christian community, becoming the first Pakistani to receive this prestigious award.

Bhatti had defied death threats since the assassination of Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer on Jan 4. Taseer was killed for supporting Asia Noreen, the first Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan on blasphemy charges. Bhatti was Pakistan’s only cabinet-level Christian and was in charge of a committee to amend the law against blasphemy.

In this compelling video recorded several months ago Bhatti conceded that he was “the highest target right now” but vowed to continue his work and trusting his life to God.

Dorothy Sayers, "Why Work"

2011-02-24T09:59:00.001-06:00

This is a marvelous essay, think I'll include various quotes for a few days...

In nothing has the Church so lost Her hold on reality as in Her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. She has allowed work and religion to become separate departments, and is astonished to find that, as result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and destructive ends, and that the greater part of the world’s intelligent workers have become irreligious, or at least, uninterested in religion.

But is it astonishing? How can any one remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life? The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.

Love and violence

2011-02-22T17:20:00.001-06:00

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44)

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount teaching on the advance of his kingdom through hearts transformed by love obviously has far-reaching consequences, in our families, our communities and nation, and our world. I shared Sunday about “creative non-violent engagement” as Jesus’ “Third Way” of responding to evil (rather than violence or withdrawal), and how often we “do violence” in our hearts when we do not (cannot) love our neighbor, let alone our enemy.

Ultimately, Jesus lived this to the full when he went to the cross, neither violently attacking those in power nor running away into the Judean desert. Along the way to the cross he taught us, in Matthew 18, how to engage one another when we experience conflict, offense, or sin in our relationships. In essence, he said, “creatively and non-violently engage one another (and guard your heart in this process!); don’t attack, don’t hide; go and talk face to face seeking restoration and reconciliation, if that doesn’t work then slowly expand the circle of people committed to bringing about restoration and reconciliation… trust me, and know this, I’ll authorize your loving and courageous engagement, I’ll hear your prayers, and truly, I’ll be there in the midst of you.”

I’ve been thinking of an old and beautiful song that came out of the Jesus movement called “Charity” by Kenn Gullicksen (check it out on YouTube). It’s basically 1 Corinthians 13. The refrain is my prayer for me and for us:

If I have not charity

If love does not flow from me

I am nothing

Jesus reduce me to love

peaceful overseers, righteous taskmasters...

2011-02-10T06:51:00.003-06:00

We've been talking in church some about the Kingdom of God, and seeing how it has everything to do with the Redemption and Reign of God (cf. Dwight Pryor); the context is virtually always with regard to the captivity or affliction or bondage of God's people and creation.

Here's a clear and beautiful connection, from Isaiah 60, with regard to the Kingdom of God being about redemption from bondage unto the reign of a gracious Savior King:

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.
3 And nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising...

16 and you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
and instead of iron I will bring silver;
instead of wood, bronze,
instead of stones, iron.
I will make your overseers peace
and your taskmasters righteousness.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
devastation or destruction within your borders;
you shall call your walls Salvation,
and your gates Praise.

Andre Trocme - Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution

2011-02-07T14:31:00.004-06:00

Here are some comments from the Introduction to Andre Trocme's "Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution." Andre Trocme was a French pastor during WWII, whose community sheltered and helped safely transport thousands of Jews to safety. The end of this reminds me both of our Matthew study discussion of Jesus' Third Way (Walter Wink) in reference to Jesus' arrest in the Gethsemane, and of Isaiah 58 which we discussed yesterday in church:

"Yet, as Trocmé shows, Jesus refused both the way of violence and of spiritual quietism. He called for practical changes but rejected violence as a means of achieving social change. Instead he articulated and exemplified a way of life that obviates the kind of social order that produces injustice and poverty, and the violence inherent in them. Jesus’ nonviolence was not a philosophy or a tactic, but a matter of obedience to God.

"Trocmé makes it clear that Jesus should be the center of the church’s life and practice, not nonviolence or revolution or justice. Jesus’ nonviolent revolution, and ours, is rooted in the cross. Jesus was ready to sacrifice his “cause,” the liberation of his people, for the sake of a single human being in need of healing. Human need–be it physical, emotional, spiritual, or social–was Jesus’ reason for being, and should be ours. Jesus’ sacrifice makes possible a new social order where human lives are dignified with justice, uplifted in compassion, and nurtured by peace." (p. x)

Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution is available at Plough Press as a free downloadable ebook.

Yoder on communion as an economic, even political, act

2011-01-08T14:30:00.003-06:00

We looked at Jesus' "institution of the Lord's Supper" in Matthew 26 this week. The following are some reflection from John Howard Yoder's little book "Body Politics: Five Practices of the Christian Community Before the Watching World."

He notes that there’s a whole pattern of living and believing connecting with eating together in the New Testament, and in that world. When Jesus says "as often as you do this..." Yoder suggests that Jesus means, whenever you have a communal meal - whenever you share a meal, sharing your resources, making sure no one is hungry- you are participating in 'economic ethics.' This, for Yoder, more important than a privatized spiritual experience, me receiving Jesus. Note his comment about "real presence."

The synthesis of Christianity and empire beginning in the fourth century had to replace the economic meaning of breaking bread together with something else… (p. 15)

[Some of the background to the Passover communal meal...]

1. …the simple social fact, undeniable in the record but often not taken to be important, that men and women left their jobs, homes, and families to constitute with Jesus a new “family,” a community of consumption, in which he exercised the role of head-of-household. Scholars have sometimes compared the disciples’ meals to the kind of gathering then called chabourah or “fellowship,” where friends would gather regularly for prayer and food, while remaining in the residential and vocational settings.

2. thanksgiving – every meal in a Jewish household was an act of worship…

3. context of Passover – liberation, deliverance, a new people…

4. memory of feeding crowds in the desert. (First proposed to Jesus as a temptation…); anticipating the Messianic banquet

What the New Testament is talking about wherever the theme is “breaking bread” is that people actually were sharing with one another their ordinary day-to-day material sustenance… Bread eaten together is economic sharing… That basic needs are met is a mark of the messianic age. (Acts 4:34; Deut. 15:4)

To do rightly the practice of breaking bread together is a matter of economic ethics.

Vocation (banking, real estate, judge, etc.) then will be to find ways to implement jubilee amnesty, to work for meeting basic human needs. “Technical vocational sphere expertise in each professional area will be needed not to reinforce but to undercut competently the claimed sovereignty of each sphere by planting signs of the new world in the ruins of the old. Baptism is one of those signs, and so is open housing. The Eucharist is one, but so is feeding the hungry. One is not more 'real presence' than the other."

(p. 18-27, Body Politics, John Howard Yoder)

Social Justice / or Justice is Right Relationships

2011-01-07T08:43:00.002-06:00

Some of us have been having some heated debates with regard to "social justice." It was triggered by discussion of Eric Metaxis' great book, Bonhoeffer. In particular, our (really, I should say my) heatedness came from hearing Glen Beck, again, demean churches that talk about "social justice."

Granted, I do think some of this confusion is generated by semantics. But I do think it's a good thing to talk about this, and once again, to reclaim our heritage. We could rather use the term "biblical justice" or "biblical social justice," but we need to be careful there too - lest we sound like we're advocating a Rushdoony vision for ordering our society (you can check him out).

I got Tim Keller's Generous Justice for Christmas...
Justice is Right Relationships

We must have a strong concern for the poor, but there is more to the Biblical idea of justice than that. We get more insight when we consider a second Hebrew word that can be translated as "being just," though it is usually translated as "being righteous." The word is tzadeqah, and it refers to a life of right relationships. Bible scholar Alec Motyer difines "righteous" as those "right with God and therefore committed to putting right all other relationships in life."

This means, then, that Biblical righteousness is inevitably "social," because it is about relationships. When most modern people see the word "righteousness" in the Bible, they tend to think of it in terms of private morality, such as sexual chastity or diligence in prayer and Bible study. But in the Bible tzadeqah refers to day-to-day living in which a person conducts all relationships in family and society with fairness, generosity, and equity. It is not surprising, then, to discover that tzadeqah and mishpat are brought together scores of times in the Bible...

More Americans in poverty

2011-01-06T07:21:00.004-06:00

from the front page of the Boston Globe, Thursday, January 6, 2010 - Epiphany

New formula finds more Americans in poverty

Health costs push tally to 47 million

WASHINGTON — The number of poor people in the United States in 2009 was millions higher than previously known, with 1 in 6 Americans — many of them 65 and older — struggling in poverty due to rising medical care and other costs, according to preliminary census figures released yesterday.

read rest of article

Advent Conspiracy

2010-11-10T09:39:00.002-06:00

the advent of Advent is near

2 weeks from Sunday -

check out "The Advent Conspiracy"

I love this movement to make our celebration of the Incarnation more meaningful and just more about what Christmas is really about... through these commitments, to:
Worship Fully
Spend Less
Give More
Love All

to "Give Presence"

Christmas can [still] change the world

I will not fear

2010-11-03T15:31:00.001-06:00

I've been carrying around the following for several years, looked at it again today, still a good word:

"I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

"But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face the perils alone."

(Thomas Merton)

$3 billion

2010-11-03T12:56:00.003-06:00

Ralph Nader commenting on the approximately 3 billion dollars spent on campaign ads this past election cycle:

the public airways, as we know, belong to the people, and they’re the landlords, and the radio and TV stations are the licensees. They’re the tenants, so to speak. They pay no money to the FCC for their annual license. And therefore, it’s really quite persuasive, were we to have a public policy to condition modestly the license to this enormously lucrative control of the public airways twenty-four hours a day by these TV and radio stations and say, as part of the reciprocity for controlling this commons, so to speak, you have to allow certain amount of time, free time, on radio and TV for ballot-qualified candidates. I supported this and talked about this in my presidential campaigns over the years. And third party candidates are doing that. But today, as you say, the money coming into the radio and TV stations, Amy, are so massive they completely overwhelm the profits from soap and toothpaste and hot dogs and cars, and the elections have become a commodity, a profit center for these radio and TV stations.

(Democracy Now, Nov. 2, 2010)

"The gospel" N.T. Wright

2010-09-29T16:51:00.002-05:00

from Romans, a Commentary by N.T. Wright (The New Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 10), p. 427
well, well said -

"The gospel," in Paul's terminology, was not primarily a message about sinful human beings and how they attained justification and salvation. We can, of course, us words however we wish, but if we are to understand and appropriate Paul we will do well to use his words in his way. For him, "the gospel" was the sovereign message, from none other than God, concerning Jesus the Messiah, God's unique son. This message was not simply the offer of a new reordering of one's private spiritual interiority, a new clearing up of a morally dysfunctional life via forgiveness for the past and new moral energy for the present. It was not simply a new vocation to live for God and for others inthe world. It was, rather, news about God and about Jesus; news that this Jesus had become the spearhead of God's "age to come"; news that, within this new age, the principalities and powers, including earthly rulers, the powers of darkness, and sin and death themselves had been defeated and were now summoned to allegiance. "the gospel" was a command requiring obedience, much more than an invitation seeking a response.

Magnificent

2010-06-21T13:04:00.003-05:00

U2 performing "Magnificent" with the Soweto Gospel Choir. I think I read somewhere that "Magnificent" is based on Mary's Magnificat. They seem to be the official band of the World Cup. Good stuff.

Magnificent
Oh, oh, magnificent

I was born, I was born
To be with you in this space and time
After that and ever after
I haven't had a clue only to break rhyme
This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue, oh, oh

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

I was born, I was born to sing for you
I didn't have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice from the womb
My first cry, it was a joyful noise, oh, oh

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar
Justified, till we die you and I will magnify, oh, oh
Magnificent, magnificent, oh, oh

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love unites our hearts
Justified, till we die you and I will magnify, oh, oh
Magnificent, magnificent, magnificent

O tree of glory: sweetest wood, sweetest iron, sweetest weight

2010-04-02T08:29:00.001-06:00

Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle; of the mighty conflict sing;
tell the triumph of the victim, to his cross thy tribute bring.
Jesus Christ, the world’s Redeemer from that cross now reigns as King.

Thirty years among us dwelling, his appointed time fulfilled,
born for this, he meets his passion, this the Savior freely willed:
on the cross the Lamb is lifted, where his precious blood is spilled.

He endures the nails, the spitting, vinegar, and spear, and reed;
from that holy body broken blood and water forth proceed:
earth, and stars, and sky, and ocean, by that flood from stain are freed.

Faithful cross! above all other, one and only noble tree!
None is foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit thy peer may be:
sweetest wood and sweetest iron! sweetest weight is hung on thee.

Bend thy boughs, O tree of glory! Thy relaxing sinews bend;
for a while the ancient rigor that thy birth bestowed, suspend;
and the King of heavenly beauty gently on thine arms extend.

Praise and honor to the Father, praise and honor to the Son,
praise and honor to the Spirit, ever Three and ever One:
one in might and one in glory while eternal ages run.

Words. Venantius Honorius Forunantus (540?-600?) John Mason Neale (1818-1866)

a Social Justice discussion...

2010-04-02T07:52:00.003-06:00

Whether or not you've heard about Glenn Beck's rants re. Social Justice and churches, here's a fun video the Sojourners group put out yesterday...

here's the blog site where it's posted God's Politics

Collects for Holy Week

2010-03-30T14:20:00.001-06:00

Monday of Holy Week
AAlmighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Tuesday of Holy Week
OO God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Wednesday of Holy Week
LLord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Lent and Fasting 7

2010-03-30T13:32:00.002-06:00

Here are the last two paragraphs from the section entitled "...But By Prayer and Fasting" in Alexander Schmemann's "Great Lent."

"After all this is said, one must still remember that however limited our fasting, if it is true fasting it will lead to temptation, weakness, doubt, and irritation. In other terms, it will be a real fight and probably we shall fail many times. But the very discovery of Christian life as fight and effort is the essential aspect of fasting. A faith which has not overcome doubts and temptation is seldom a real faith. No progress in Christian life is possible, alas, without the bitter experience of failures. Too many people start fasting with enthusiasm and give up after the first failure. I would say that it is at this first failure that the real test comes. If after having failed and surrendered to our appetites and passions we start all over again and do not give up no matter how many times we fail, sooner or later our fasting will bear its spiritual fruits. Between holiness and disenchanted cynicism lies the great and divine virtue of patience - patience, first of al with ourselves. There is no short-cut to holiness; for every step we have to pay the full price. Thus it is better and safer to begin at a minimum - just lightly above our natural possibilities - and to increase our effort little by little, than to try jumping too high at the beginning and to break a few bones when falling back to earth.

"In summary: from a symbolic and nominal fast - the fast as obligation and custom - we must return to the real fast. Let it be limited and humble but consistent and serious. Let us honestly face our spiritual and physical capacity and act accordingly - remembering however that there is no fast without challenging that capacity, without introducing into our life a divine proof that things impossible with men are possible with God."
(pages 98-99)

The Happy Debtor

2010-03-29T14:11:00.003-06:00

I keep hearing Tim Keller quote John Newton hymns so I decided to try to find a collection of them. Olney Hymns is a collection of his hymns, and of his friend William Cowper, that he put together for use in his parish.

The Happy Debtor, # 67

1. Ten thousand talents once I owed,
and nothing had to pay;
But Jesus freed me from the load,
and wash'd my debt away.

2. Yet since the Lord forgave my sin,
and blotted out my score,
Much more indebted I have been
Than e'er I was before

3. My guilt is cancell'd quite, I know,
And satisfaction made,
But the vast debt of love I owe,
Can never be repaid.

4. The love I owe for sin forgiven,
For power to believe,
For present peace and promis'd heaven,
No angel can conceive.

5. That love of thine, Thou sinner's Friend!
Witness thy bleeding heart!
My little all can ne'er extend
To pay a thousandth part.

6. Nay, more; the poor returns I make,
I first from thee obtain;
And tis of grace, that Thou wilt take
Such poor returns again.

7. "Tis well - it shall my glory be,
(Let who will boast their store)
In time and to eternity,
to owe Thee more and more.

Lent and Fasting 6

2010-03-29T09:23:00.002-06:00

The Book of Common Prayer directs two fast days for Christians in its tradition: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Also "the other weekdays of Lent and of Holy Week... and all other Fridays of the year, in commemoration of the Lord's crucifixion, except for Fridays in the Christmas and Easter seasons" are "observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial." (BCP, p. 17)

Here is the second to the last post from Schmemann's "Great Lent" on fasting:

"Then comes the fast in itself. In accordance with what has been said above, it should be practiced on two levels: first, as ascetical fast; and second, as total fast. The ascetical fast consists of a drastic reduction of food so that the permanent state of a certain hunger might be live as a reminder of God and a constant effort to keep our mind on Him. Everyone who has practiced it - be it only a little - knows that this ascetical fast rather than weakening us makes us light, concentrated, sober, joyful, pure. One receives food as a real gift of God. One is constantly directed at that inner word which inexplicably becomes a kind of food in its own right. The exact amount of food to be received in this ascetical fasting, its rhythm and its quality, need not be discussed here; they depend on our individual capacities, the external conditions of our lives. But the principle is clear: it is a state of half-hunger whose 'negative' nature is at all times transformed by prayer, memory, attention, and concentration into a positive power. As to the total fast, it is of necessity to be limited in duration and coordinated with the Eucharist. In our present condition of life, its best form is the day before the evening celebration of the Presanctified Liturgy. Whether we fast on that day from early morning or from noon, the main point here is to live through that day as a day of expectation, hope, hunger for God Himself. It is a spiritual concentration on that which comes, on the gift to be received, and for the sake of which one gives up all other gifts." (pages 97-98)

Lent and Fasting 5

2010-03-23T11:29:00.002-06:00

"How far we are by now from the usual understanding of fasting as a mere change of diet, as what is permitted and what is forbidden, from all that superficial hypocrisy! Ultimately, to fast means only one thing: to be hungry - to go to the limit of that human condition which depends entirely on food and, being hungry, to discover that this dependency is not the whole truth about man, that hunger itself is first of all a spiritual state and that it is in its last reality hunger for God. In the early Church, fasting always meant total abstinence, a state of hunger, pushing the body to the extreme. It is here, however, that we discover also that fasting as a physical effort is totally meaningless without its spiritual counterpart: "... by fasting and prayer." This means that without the corresponding spiritual effort, without feeding ourselves with Divine Reality, without discovering our total dependence on God and God alone, physical fasting would indeed be suicide. If Christ Himself was tempted while fasting, we have not a single chance of avoiding that temptation. Physical fasting, essential as it is, is not only meaningless, it is truly dangerous if it is disconnected from the spiritual effort - from prayer and concentration on God. Fasting is an art fully mastered by Saints; it would be presumptuous and dangerous for us if we attempted that art without discernment and caution. The entire lenten worship is a constant reminder of the difficulties, the obstacles, and the temptations that await those who think that they may depend on their will power and not on God.

"It is for this reason that we need first of all a spiritual preparation for the effort of fasting. It consists in asking God for help and also in making our fast God-centered. We should fast for God's sake. We must rediscover our body as the Temple of His Presence. We must recover a religious respect for the body, for food, for the very rhythm of life. All this must be done before the actual fast begins so that when we begin to fast, we would be supplied with spiritual weapons, with a vision, with a spirit of fight and victory."

(Alexander Schmemann, "Great Lent," pages 96-97. italics are the author's)

Lent and Fasting 4

2010-03-17T09:49:00.002-06:00

More from Alexander Schmemann:

"What is fasting for us Christians? It is our entrance and participation in that experience of Christ Himself by which He liberates us from the total depndence on food, matter, and the world. By no means is our liberation a full one. Living still in the fallen world, in the world of the Old Adam, being part of it, we still depend on food. But just as our death - through which we still must pass - has become by virtue of Christ's Death a passage into life, the food we eat and the life it sustains can be life in God and for God. Part of our food has already become "food of immortality" - the Body and Blood of Christ Himself. But even the daily bread we receive from God can be in this life and in this world that which strengthens us, our communion with God, rather than that which separates us from God. Yet it is only fasting that can perform that transformation, giving us the existential proof that our dependence on food and matter is not total, not absolute, that united to prayer, grace, and adoration, it can itself be spiritual.

"All this means that deeply understood, fasting is the only means by which man recovers his true spiritual nature. It is not a theoretical but truly a practical challenge to the great Liar who managed to convince us that we depend on bread alone and built all human knowledge, science, and existence on that lie. Fasting is a denunciation of that lie and also the proof that it is a lie. It is highly significant that it was while fasting that Christ met Satan and that He said later that Satan cannot be overcome 'but by fasting and prayer.' Fasting is the real fight against the Devil because it is the challenge to that one all-embracing law which makes him the 'Prince of this world.' Yet if one is hungry and then discovers that he can truly be independent of that hunger, not destroyed by it but just on the contrary, can transform it into the source of spiritual power and victory, then nothing remains of that great lie in which we have been living since Adam.
(p. 96)

Lent and Fasting 3

2010-03-12T08:56:00.002-06:00

from Alexander Schmemann's book "The Great Lent" - this is good stuff. This is similar in concept to John Milton's "Paradise Regained" which is basically Irenaeus' theory of "recapitulation" - that Jesus was representative Adam (and Israel) and faithfully lived out and won back through his life, death and resurrection all God's promises for a new humanity.

"Christ is the New Adam. He comes to repair the damage inflicted on life by Adam, to restore man to true life, and thus He also begins with fasting 'When He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He became hungry' (Matt. 4:2). Hunger is that state in which we realize our dependence on something else - when we urgently and essentially need food - showing thus that we have no life in ourselves. It is that limit beyond which I either die from starvation or, having satisfied my body, have again the impression of being alive. It is, in other words, the time when we face the ultimate question: on what does my life depend? And, since the question is not an academic one but is felt with my entire body, it is also the time of temptation. Satan came to Adam in Paradise; he came to Christ in the desert. He came to two hungry men and said: eat, for your hunger is the proof that you depend entirely on food, that your life is in food. And Adam believed and ate; but Christ rejected that temptation and said: man shall not live by bread alone but by God. He refused to accept that cosmic lie which Satan imposed on the world, making that lie a self-evident truth not even debated any more, the foundation of our entire world view, of science, medicine, and perhaps even of religion. By doing this, Christ restored that relationship between food, life, and God which Adam broke, and which we still break every day." (pp. 95-96)

Lent and Fasting 2

2010-03-11T10:18:00.002-06:00

Here's the next paragraph from this great section on fasting by Alexander Schmemann (italics are his):

"In the Orthodox teaching, sin is not only the transgression of a rule leading to punishment; it is always a mutilation of life given to us by God. It is for this reason that the story of the original sin is presented us as act of eating. For food is means of life; it is that which keeps us alive. But here lies the whole question: what does it mean to be alive and what does 'life' mean? For us today this term has a primarily biological meaning: life is precisely that which entirely depends on food, and more generally, on the physical world. But for the Holy Scripture and for Christian Tradition, this life 'by bread alone' is identified with death because it is mortal life, because death is a principle always at work in it. God, we are told, 'created no death.' He is the Giver of Life. How then did life become mortal? Why is death and death alone the only absolute condition of that which exists? The Church answers: because man rejected life as it was offered and given to him by God and preferred a life depending not on God alone but on 'bread alone.' Not only did he disobey God for which he was punished; he changed the very relationship between himself and the world. To be sure, the world was given to him by God as 'food' - as means of life; yet life was meant to communion with God; it had not only its end but its full content in Him. 'In Him was Life and the Life was the light of man.' The world and food were thus created as means of communion with God, and only if accepted for God's sake were to give life. In itself food has no life and cannot give life. Only God has Life and is Life. In food itself God - and not calories - was the principle of life. Thus to eat, to be alive, to know God and be in communion with Him were one and the same thing. The unfathomable tragedy of Adam is that he ate for its own sake. More than that, he ate 'apart' from God in order to be independent of Him. And if he did it, it is because he believed that food had life in itself and that he, by partaking of that food, could be like God, i.e., have life in himself. To put it very simply: he believed in food, whereas the only object of belief, of faith, of dependence is God and God alone. World, food, became his gods, the sources and principles of his life. He became their slave. Adam - in Hebrew - means 'man.' It is my name, our common name. Man is still Adam, still the slave of 'food' He may claim that he believes in God but God is not his life, his food, the all-embracing content of his existence. He may claim that he receives his life from God but he doesn't live in God and for God. His science, his experience, his self-consciousness are all built on that same principle: 'by bread alone.' We eat in order to be alive but we are not alive in God. This is the sin of all sins. This is the verdict of death pronounced on our life." (pp. 94-95)

Matthew 18:6-9, the severity of sin

2010-03-09T10:41:00.006-06:00

Matthew 18:6-9
6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! 8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

It's critical to see this in light of what seems to be the central section of this chapter. Davies and Alison emphasize this, and I think they're right. Matthew seems to surround verses 15-20 (or really, verses 15-17: dealing with a brother's sin, with the possibility of ultimately having no fellowship with him) with teaching to guard and protect a potentially divisive and hurtful process.

With that in mind, here we have extreme language (very similar to what we heard in the Sermon on the Mount, Mt. 5:29-30) with regard causing others to sin - which may include undermining their faith or leading them to forsake the Lord, and with regard to dealing severely with sin in our own lives. It is almost like he's saying, "Don't you dare even think about calling your brother on his sin unless and until you deal with yours." Sounds like the "log in your eye, speck in your brother's eye" teaching (again in the Sermon on the Mount, Matt. 7:1-5).
>I think it was Davies and Alison who commented that salvation (“the kingdom”) is in part a social process or project. Just as we hear the word preached by a sent one (Romans 10) and are saved; so it seems we can be scandalized, by another, and so potentially even lose “life.”

As we have often said, this new thing that is begun in Jesus is a new humanity, a new community. It is about so much more than me not going to hell; it is about so much more than individualism. Our lives are interconnected, we are to be interdependent on one another.

[It has also been suggested that perhaps Matthew is implying that this "cut off your hand or foot" section may be a more positive introduction to the concept of dealing with sin in the "body of Christ." While in a sense it could be applied in that way, this would be a very harsh way for Jesus to refer to members of his movement, his kingdom - especially when in the next sentence he will refer to straying sheep very compassionately.]

In discussing the "Aims and Purposes" of the ministry of the Catholic Worker Houses of Hospitality, Dorothy Day wrote in 1940,

"Together with the Works of Mercy, feeding, clothing, and sheltering our brothers, we must indoctrinate. We must 'give the reason for the faith that is in us.' Otherwise we are scattered members of the Body of Christ, we are not 'all members one of another.' Otherwise our religion is an opiate, for ourselves alone, for our comfort or for our individual safety or indifferent custom.

"We cannot live alone. We cannot go to heaven alone. Otherwise, as Peguy said, God will say to us, 'Where are the others?'"

Lent and Fasting 1

2010-03-09T09:15:00.004-06:00

I have been rereading Alexander Schmemann's "Great Lent: Journey to Pascha". In particular, a section on fasting that is really good. I may end up just sharing paragraph by paragraph the section entitled "3. ...But by Prayer and Fasting." Stay with it, there are parts of this that are so good, it's worth reading all the installments!

"There is no Lent without fasting. It seems however, that many people today either do not take fasting seriously or, if they do, misunderstand its real spiritual goals. For some people, fasting consists in a symbolic 'giving up' of something; for some others, it is a scrupulous observance of dietary regulations. But in both cases, seldom is fasting referred to the total lenten effort. Here as elsewhere, therefore, we must first try to understand the Church's teaching about fasting and then ask ourselves: how can we apply this teaching to our life?

"Fasting or abstinence from food is not exclusively a Christian practice. It existed and still exists in other religions and even outside religion, as for example in some specific therapies. Today people fast (or abstain) for all kinds of reasons, including sometimes political reasons. It is important therefore, to discern the uniquely Christian content of fasting. It is first of all revealed to us in the interdependence between two events which we find in the Bible: one at the beginning of the Old Testament and the other at the beginning of the New Testament. The first event is the "breaking of the fast" by Adam in Paradise. He ate of the forbidden fruit. This is how man's original sin is revealed to us. Christ, the New Adam - and this is the second event - begins by fasting. Adam was tempted and he succumbed to temptation; Christ was tempted and He overcame that temptation. The results of Adam's failure are expulsion from Paradise and death. The fruits of Christ's victory are the destruction of death and our return to Paradise. The lack of space prevents us from giving a detailed explanation of the meaning of this parallelism. It is clear, however that in this perspective fasting is revealed to us as something decisive and ultimate in its importance. It is not a mere 'obligation,' a custom; it is connected with the very mystery of life and death, of salvation and damnation." (pp. 93-94)

The Meaning and Mystery of God's Wrath

2010-03-04T16:05:00.002-06:00

I'm reading another Marva Dawn book, "Unfettered Hope: Living faithfully in an affluent society" and she quoted Abraham Joshua Heschel while talking about God's anger. It's a section I have highlighted in my copy of "The Prophets, Volume II, which Marv Wilson had us read back at Gordon College. It's from chapter 5, "The Meaning and Mystery of Wrath" and it's really good stuff. I love the last line:

"This is the mysterious paradox of Hebrew faith: The All-wise and Almighty may change a word that He proclaims. Man has the power to modify His design... The anger of the Lord is instrumental, hypothetical, conditional, and subject to His will. Let the people modify their line of conduct, and anger will disappear. Far from being an expression of "petulant vindictiveness," the message of anger includes a call to return and to be saved. The call of anger is a call to cancel anger. It is not the expression of irrational, sudden, and instinctive excitement, but a free and deliberate reaction of God's justice to what is wrong and evil. For all its intensity, it may be averted by prayer. There is no divine anger for anger's sake. It's meaning is, as already said, instrumental: to bring about repentance; its purpose and consummation is its own disappearance."

the worst has already happened

2010-02-09T09:43:00.002-06:00

In an article entitled "Inventory" (1951) in which she is talking about the peace movement, about making sacrifices, and even martyrdom she writes

"we proclaim our faith. Christ has died for us. Adam and Eve fell, and as Julian of Norwich wrote, the worst has already happened and been repaired..."

In living and serving and loving and repairing the world, we followers of Jesus are to "fear not." The worst has already happened (!) when all creation was ruined, nothing worse can possibly happen. And in the second Adam it has been and is being repaired. Let us give ourselves in hope and courage and perseverance to this great work, this great story in which we find ourselves.
for the glory of the Lord

Preparing for Jesus' 2nd Advent

2009-12-08T07:59:00.002-06:00

12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3; from 1st Sunday of Advent)

9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1; from 2nd Sunday of Advent)

I've been struck this year by this emphasis in Paul's letters, actually in Paul's prayers, which we heard on each of the first two Sundays of Advent. It is love that prepares us to greet Jesus the Messiah when he comes again in glory to make all things right.

Paul does not exhort moral behavior, disciplined religiosity, or law keeping as the way to prepare oneself to meet the Lord. In fact, he says it's the quality of our relationships with other human beings (the horizontal relationships, if you will) that will determine our posture or attitude or disposition with regard to our relationship ultimately with our creator, redeemer, sustainer, and judge.

It is abounding love alone that can make us blameless, unashamed and prepared to meet our king and judge and savior. It is this agape (selfless, sacrificial) love that bears the kind of fruit that lasts, that satisfies, and that renews and heals the world.

May God answer Paul's prayers in me and you.

Oliver

2009-12-07T07:27:00.002-06:00

Welcome Oliver! Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy...

running post

2009-11-29T06:55:00.002-06:00

Two weeks till our Half Marathon - Dec. 12 in Point Clear, AL.

had a good run yesterday. ran 13.1 and broke 100 minutes...

Thanksgiving Beard

2009-11-29T06:53:00.002-06:00

new urban dictionary phrase - yeah, just shaved mine...

November 29: Thanksgiving Beard

An unintentional beard started over the 4 day Thanksgiving weekend, where you're too lazy to shave it off Monday morning. Usually continues until Christmas or New Year's Day.

Also known as a Holiday Beard

Boss: You look like you haven't shaved in days. That's unprofessional.
Employee: Sir, that's my Thanksgiving beard. It's my way of honoring our forefathers.
Boss: Oh, I didn't realize that. Maybe I'll grow one too.

in my name

2009-11-23T14:57:00.002-06:00

We continued in Jesus' "Discourse on Community" in Matthew 18 last week.

5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me"

This verse compares with verse 20
20 "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Both these statements by Jesus include a condition and a similar result, with the same central premise: "in my name."

The context again is the community, relating together, guarding the unity, which includes dealing with sin individually and in the community. We saw previously how important humility is as the fundamental and most important quality for Jesus' followers to have in relationship with one another.

What does "in my name" mean?
It could mean:

because of me
for my sake
because I have commanded it
and perhaps even, as if the child were me

Whatever it means the result is that Jesus is present if (v. 5) the person is received "in his name" or if (v. 20) two or three gather "in his name."

What is his name? His name is Jesus, as the angel commanded (1:21), for he will save his people from their sins. But we also read in 1:23 that "they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means God with us). This created for us (the readers) an interesting tension: we are listening for his naming as Immanuel - and we never hear it. He is never called Immanuel in his story.

But we have this promise of his presence somehow through his name, and his own promise at the end of the story - "behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (28:20)

I love this, I think this is very significant - Jesus seems to be saying, "Remember, I am Immanuel, God with us. When you encounter one another, whether it's a simple welcome or gathering to pray through restoration and reconciliation, and you do so remembering that I am with you, that I am in the midst, that as you receive the presence of a brother or sister you do so as you would receive me, as if you were receiving me, you will find and discover that you are receiving me, that I am there.

There is also the name by which he is called, "Jesus," and it may also figure into this whole discourse, but that's to consider another day.

Also, we heard in the Discourse on Mission (ch. 10), and will hear in the final Discourse in chapter 25, more about receiving Jesus. In chapter 10, we heard Jesus say "whoever receives you receives me" (v. 40), and we'll hear in the end-time judgment scene the king, the Son of Man, say that "as you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me" (v. 40). Again, we have more of Jesus so identifying with his disciples, with the little ones, with those living and serving and going "in his name" that when we receive his disciple we receive him, and when we serve a hurting, little one we are serving him.

Lord Jesus, help me serve you and receive you, by receiving and serving those around me. Forgive me for treating so lightly, so thoughtlessly, sometimes so arrogantly, those whose lives touch mine. Thank you for you humility, your gentleness, your faithfulness.

Why Do I Run?

2009-11-17T13:57:00.004-06:00

So why do I run?

I shared that I was asking myself this question last week, as I prepared my sermon on endurance. Again, the call to endure always has that context of struggle / trial / distress on the one hand and the promise / reward / joy on the other. We do not endure to earn something or convince God we deserve a reward, but to realize what has been promised but not yet fully realized.

Why I run:

I run because I can.
I run because I like to run.
I run because I feel better physically when I run.
I run because I feel better about myself in general when I run.
I run to improve myself, to push myself beyond my present limits.
I run to eat (but more and more I eat to run - there is a difference).
I run because I am vain and narcissistic.
I run because I don't want to be fat (or because I want to look good).
I run because I like people to know I'm a runner, that I'm still active and an athlete.
I run because, even though sometimes it's really difficult physically and/or mentally, sometimes it's the best experience and a great feeling to finish a long, hard run.

There you go, the good, the bad and the ugly.
God give me grace to trust in your goodness and grace as my deepest truest consolation, hope and joy.

Speaking of "why do I run?" Here's the trailer for Saint Ralph -

Walk On

2009-11-16T17:47:00.001-06:00

In preparing for my sermon on endurance I remembered U2's song, "Walk On," from their album "All that you can't leave behind." That album title comes from the song "Walk On." I found out that the inspiration for the song came from the movie "Beyond Rangoon" which tells the story of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese activist who was sentenced to house arrest in 1989 for protesting her government. Earlier that year, while walking with some of her supporters, soldiers blocked their path and pointed rifles at them. Suu Kyi kept walking, despite orders to stop. The soldiers threatened to shoot her, but didn't. Her actions have been closely monitored by the government, but she remains an influential leader and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

I love this song. Listen to the end of it, Bono and the Edge seem to incorporate their faith into it -

Endurance

2009-11-16T17:26:00.005-06:00

God's word to us Sunday was about Endurance.

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. (Hebrews 10:34)

Endurance, or steadfastness, perseverance, patience - seems to always connect a time of trouble, trial or tribulation with the promise, goal, reward, or joy to come. It's not something we do to get something we don't have, at least in pledge or promise - but something we hold onto, something we hold out for. Endurance means, in effect, faithfulness - hence the writer ends this section with that appeal.

In this passage we see confidence connected with reward, endurance with the promise, and faith with life.

And there is one of the keys - what is the reward, the "life" that we are seeking? We won't endure for something if there's a satisfactory trade-off that's easier, quicker, etc. We only sin because in that moment something holds out for us more satisfaction than Jesus, something seems more life-giving than trusting in God's love and grace...

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. ( 1 John 2:28)

The greatest motivation for endurance, of course, is Jesus' enduring the cross and the shame for the joy set before him - in order to secure our salvation, because in some real sense we were his joy...

Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Humility

2009-11-11T09:49:00.002-06:00

Andrew Murray's "Humility" is a classic. I read it years ago, and it's making the rounds at Church of the Apostles. I borrowed Robert's copy (my old one is lost - maybe in Ivan) to review it some for the first section of Matthew 18, Jesus' Discourse on Community, where Jesus calls for humility first off, before going any further about relationships in the Christian community.

From the preface of Murray's "Humility":
There are three great motivations to humility: it becomes us as creatures; it becomes us as sinners; it becomes us as saints. Humility is first seen in the angels, in man before the Fall, and in Jesus as the Son of Man. In our fallen state, humility point us to the only way by which we can returen to our rightful place as creatures. As Christians, the mystery of grace teaches us that as we lose ourselves in the overwhelming greatness of redeeming love, humility becomes to us the consummation of everlasting blessedness.

It is common in Christian teaching to find the second aspect taught almost exclusively (ie. that it becomes us as sinners) and [some] have thought that the strength of self-condemnation is the secret of humility... the Christian life has suffered where believers have not been guided to see that even in our relationships as creatures, nothing is more natural and beautiful and blessed than to be nothing in order that God may be everything. It needs to be made clear that it is not sin that humbles but grace. It is the soul occupied with God in His wonderful glory as Creator and Redeemer that will truly take the lowest place before Him."

Humility is really just knowing who you really are. In Greek and Roman culture, humility was shameful; but for the Jew and the Christian is was and is the highest virtue. Who we are before God, before Jesus, is at the same time nothing, so very, very small, and yet also beloved, precious, worth the "precious blood" of the Son of God. Humility is being occupied with God, and not with ourselves. The way toward humility is not, as Murray says, self-condemnation (focusing on ourselves), but God-exaltation (focusing on the goodness and greatness of God). Our own sense of smallness and preciousness will inevitably follow.

Our sense of importance will not be in relation to others ("who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"), but only that we know we are important to the heart and love of God, to the kingdom of our humble savior king.

Thank you Lord Jesus for your great humility, in incarnation, in obedience, in suffering and death, and even now in your intercession for us. Be formed more and more in us, as we mroe and more look to and trust in you.

Jesus' Discourse on Community, Matthew 18

2009-11-11T09:37:00.002-06:00

We began Matthew 18 last night - this is the 4th "discourse" in Matthew's gospel. Let's call it the Discourse on Community. It's all about relationships among disciples, sorting them out, keeping them right, helping one another along.

It begins with a question from the disciples: "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

Peter has gotten a lot of attention and seems to have received the mantle of leadership among the disciples in the previous two chapters. He was given the keys of the kingdom after identifying Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God; he was chosen (along with James and John) to observe the transfiguration and Moses and Elijah; he was the one that the tax collectors came to and was asked a question as Jesus' representative. And "at that time" the disciples asked Jesus about who was the greatest.

Jesus uses a child as the model for both entrance into the kingdom and as a measure of greatness in the kingdom. It's as if Jesus is saying that this question is the totally wrong way of thinking. "Become like a child" - could mean everything from being trusting, filled with awe and wonder, being powerless and/or unpretentious, to beginning all over (ie. being "born again").

Then Jesus calls for humility. Humility, the cardinal virtue, is the first order of business when discussing relationships in the community of Jesus. It's the foundation of all the other concerns: for seeking the straying, not scandalizing "little ones," confronting sin in a brother, or forgiving seven hundred and ninety times.

Ben's engaged

2009-11-09T12:31:00.002-06:00

Ben is engaged!

He and Kelly made it official yesterday, and called us from the rugged coast of Oregon. Brooke and I got to spend some time with Kelly and her family in September, and we love her. They are planning on getting married next August.
Hurray!!

injustice and persecution

2009-11-05T06:42:00.003-06:00

On the Side of the Angels
by Joseph D'Souza and Ben Rogers

[I posted this in March, 2008 - and repost it today in anticipation of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church and an email I just received with an article/blog posted Nov. 4 by Ben Rogers "Inside the North Korean Gulag" - check it out.]

In preparing for a small group at which we will be discussing "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake," I read this book (finally); it was also triggered by reading an article by Ziya Meral, "Bearing the Silence of God," in Christianity Today (March, 2008). Ziya is Turkish, grew up Muslim and became a Christian when he was 17. He works with Christian Solidarity Worldwide, as does Ben Rogers. Our son, Ben, met Ziya at the University of Toronto while attending a summer course on genocide, and has spoken of him often. Ben Rogers has been to Church of the Apostles several times as a guest of Tom and Lisa Yearwood; Ben human rights work focuses on Pakistan, Burma, and Sri Lanka. Lisa told me Sunday of Ziya and Ben Rogers' connection at CSW.

The book is a call to Christians to become advocates for human rights. One of the strengths of the book is its strong emphasis that Christian human rights advocacy is indeed our kingdom mission calling, and that it is not to be aimed just at human rights for Christians, but for all people regardless of their faith. We are to love all our neighbors, and this includes working for freedom, which demands freedom of faith... which means we love our neighbors who freely choose not to be Christians.

In the chapter, "Good and Evil," the authors suggest that perhaps the best description of the kingdom is found in the beatitudes. Then they share that in the book The Lost Message of Jesus, Steve Chalke and Alan Mann "describe the kingdom as 'the in-breaking shalom of God,' available to us all. We often think of shalom as being synonymous with peace, but in fact the word, used many times throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, incorporates 'contentment, health, justice, liberation, fulfillment, freedom and hope' and affects us in every aspect of life - 'socially, economically, spiritually, and politically.'"

In the chapter "Salt and Light," D'Souza and Rogers describe how Christians in India (in particular, the All India Christian Council, of which D'Souza is the president) have stood with and advocated for the rights of both Muslims and Dalit (the continuing untouchable caste). Even after many Dalit chose to convert, not to Christianity, but to Buddhism, Christians supported their right to be free and reaffirmed their love and support for them. They conclude this section with the beatitude, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

In the chapter "What Next" they speak of our human and Christian responsibility, and requirement, to make a difference, specifically to be advocates for justice. There are two equally valid and interdependent categories of advocacy - private and public forms of advocacy, or described as engagement and protest. They point out it would be difficult for an individual or organization to do both of these.

There are two sets of essential principles to guide efforts on behalf of the oppressed. (1) Pray, protest, and provide. Mostly prayer is private, and protest and provision is public. In the service of advocacy (2) authenticity, aid, and accountability overlap and deepen the first three.

Prayer is first and foremost, especially for Christian human rights advocacy. Brooke prays everyday through a couple of prayer lists provided by International Justice Mission and Voice of the Martyrs. Every year in November we observe the "International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church."

One form of protest that they write persuasively about is letter writing - to officials who are charged with responding to their constituents concerns and to work for the public good, and to those who are suffering injustice (even if they don't receive them, their captors may read the letters). They quote a letter that Francesco Miranda Branco, an East Timorese prisoner of conscience, sent in reply to an activist in the UK:

My brother, God is very kind and just, and he loves us, you and me who believe in Him. We can never feel angry and upset at God when we suffer, because behind all the suffering He has a beautiful surprise for us.

Secondly they discuss demonstration, both in one's own country (basically safe) and in the country where injustice is occurring. [I could not help but think of Martin Luther King. I recently finished reading "The Autobiography of Martin Luther King" (by MLK, Jr, and Clayborne Carson). Of course, it was really more about nonviolent resistance to unjust laws, or the lack of enforcing just laws, but usually in the context of peaceful demonstration.]

In terms of provision they cite time (volunteering with a human rights organization); financial sacrifice; material assistance (books, clothing, medicine, etc.); providing expertise in various fields (law, computer technology, medicine, construction, land mine clearance, agriculture, etc.); or pursuing a career in order to be an influence for advocacy (such as elected office, State Department, the World Bank, or journalism).

Finally, they conclude in the chapters entitled "Never Give Up!" and "Faith in Action" to call for perseverance in serving the Kingdom mission and doing God's will, for integrating faith and action.

"A Christian approach to human rights is distinguished by love. It is not simply about a cause, a political movement, or a philosophy - it is about human relationships, love, and dignity. As Philip Yancey writes,
A political movement by nature draws lines, makes distinctions, pronounces judgment; in contrast, Jesus' love cuts across lines, transcends distinctions and dispenses grace. Regardless of the merits of a given issue... political movements risk pulling onto themselves the mantle of power that smothers love. From Jesus I learn that, whatever activism I get involved in, it must not drive out love and humility, or otherwise I betray the kingdom of heaven" ( in The Jesus I Never Knew). (p. 183-184)

down from the mountain-top

2009-11-02T14:24:00.002-06:00

Last Tuesday we discussed the encounter Jesus had with the desperate father and his demonized son after coming down from the Mountain of Transfiguration. Here are a few of the things we talked about:

There may be an inference here to when Moses came down from the mountain the first time and the people were worshiping a golden calf... great disappointment, disbelief, trust misplaced.

Comparing this account with Mark’s account –

> In both, Jesus addresses all the people, including his disciples with a cry of exasperation and frustration – they are an unbelieving generation. Matthew adds "perverse" to the description of this generation, likely a reference to Moses' speech in Deuteronomy 32:5. This "little faith" seems to be such a big deal to Jesus. "How long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?" In another place Jesus says, "nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on the earth?"(Lk 18:8)

> In Mark, Jesus engages the boy’s father with regard to faith, and he responds “I believe, help my unbelief.” In Mark, the issue with the disciples as to why they couldn't do it was that it required prayer. Here in Matthew he tells his disciples it was specifically because of their little faith.

In this "narrative" section (ch. 14-17) the failures of the disciples is emphasized -

(14:16f, 26f, 28f; 15:16, 23, 33; 16:5, 22; 17:4, 10f).

Jesus had given them authority to cast out demons (10:1,8). I don’t think Matthew ever records them doing so, whereas Mark and Luke do (Mk 6:13, Lk 9:6; 10:17).

We talked again about faith – just what is it??

Hebrews 11:6 - without it we can't please God

Ephesians 2:8 - it is a gift

It is trust. It is reliance. It does include a content or intellectual or doctrinal side (ie. sincerity does not equal faith - believe all you want in the tooth fairy or Santa Claus, but...).

There’s a kind of prayer / ministry that trusts in prayer or the ministry (ie. the formula), and not really in God.

One of the group members shared a story of misplaced trust in Bible reading and prayer, which was revealed and healed when a spiritual director encouraged her to go a month without reading the Bible or praying...

Perhaps this section in Matthew reflects a time in the early church when miracles weren't happening as frequently or dramatically as previously. Perhaps it was a time when "failure" was something they were talking and praying about. This is honest, gritty, life as a disciple. Doesn't always go the way we hope and pray and read about. But though Jesus cries out in exasperation, "How long am I to be with you?" he does affirm them at the end of the story, "Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (28:20)

Thank you, Lord.

“We who read these accounts should be growing in our faith relationship with Jesus as Jesus expected of his first disciples. How often do needs around us go unmet because we neglect radical trust in God, especially on behalf of others?” (Matthew, Keener, p. 281)

phrase of the day

2009-10-22T09:11:00.002-05:00

Phrase of the Day...

This is also what husbands get when their wife utters those terrifying words: "I'd like to talk with you."

Selective Fatigue Syndrome

Fatigue which is used as an excuse when one does not want to perform undesirable tasks such as work.

My co-worker claimed her Chronic Fatigue Syndrome kept her from coming to work, but she had no problems making it to the nightclubs. What she really has is Selective Fatigue Syndrome.

(this comes from Urban Word of the Day: disclaimer - some of the entries can be crude or offensive... but some are really good)

John's Transfiguration account

2009-10-21T15:25:00.002-05:00

Why didn't John include the Transfiguration story in his gospel?

I think John intended his whole gospel to manifest the glory of Jesus. This is his stated purpose in recording Jesus' "signs" - "This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him." (John 2:11)

The first half of John's gospel is devoted to these signs (often called "The Book of Signs"), the second is focused on Jesus' passion ("The Book of the Passion"). It is John who refers to the crucifixion as the beginning of Jesus' glorification (eg. 12:23f; 13:31; 17:1).

I still don't know why John wouldn't include the story, except that he had one exaltation alone in mind, the one that begin with the "lifting up" on the cross and concluded with the resurrection. In this the Father is glorified (13:31; 17:1f); in this he displays the light and beauty and glory of God the Father.

"Shine, Jesus, shine, fill this land with the Father's glory..."

a summary of Transfiguration sharing

2009-10-21T15:19:00.002-05:00

In addition to the connection with the Feast of Tabernacles and the strong Mosaic inferences, here are some summarizing thoughts of our looking at the Transfiguration according to Matthew -

(1) At the very beginning of his ministry Matthew quoted Isaiah re. Jesus

the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light,

and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,

on them a light has dawned.” (Matt. 4:16)

This is a literal culmination of this prophecy, a high point – but really only a fleeting moment (the old “mountain top experience”) -

“When Jesus, in circumstances strongly reminiscent of Ex. 24 and 34, goes up on a mountain and is transfigured into light, the reader is to infer that history has come full circle, that the eschatological expectations of Judaism have begun to find their fulfillment. The eschatological prophet, the one like Moses and Elijah, has appeared, and the light of the resurrection and parousia has already shone forth. Israel’s primal history is being recapitulated by her Messiah, God’s Son, the eschatological embodiment of true Israel.” (Davies, p. 705)

(2) emphasis on the Messiah who is “the Son” and the revelation from heaven. (Matthew 16:16-17; 17:5)

(3) one last interesting thought is a possible play against the crucifixion –

· three disciples are named as observing in both;

· there are two people with him in each account;

· in one his clothes shine, in the other they are stripped off;

· one is filled with light, one with darkness;

· one is private, one is public;

· Jesus confessed as Son of God in both;

· Elijah there or referenced in both;

· up on a mountain, up on a cross;

· glorification, humiliation;

· six days, six hours...

a New Moses?

2009-10-19T16:08:00.003-05:00

Last week in looking at the Transfiguration in Matthew 17 we considered the allusions to Moses' experiences on Mount Sinai. Some of these may be a stretch, but taken all together I think it's convincing that there's a connection.

Matthew 17 compared with Exodus 24 & 34:

- Same setting: a high mountain (Ex 24:12, 15-18; 34:3; Mt 17:1)

- A cloud descends and overshadows the mountain (Ex 24:15-18; 34:5; Mt 17:5)

- A voice comes from the cloud (Ex 24:16; Mt 17:5)

- The central figures become radiant (Ex 34:29-30, 35; Mt 17:2)

- Those who see the radiance / hear the voice become afraid (Ex 34:30; Mt 17:6* (they hear); Mk 9:6)

- The event takes place after six days (Ex 24:16; Mt 17:1)

- A select group of 3 people is mentioned (Ex 24:1; Mt 17:1)

- Moses and Elijah are only OT figures of whom it is said that they spoke with God on Mount Sinai. (Elijah in 1 Kings 19 is on "Mount Horeb" - understood to be Sinai). Their appearance on a mountain should evoke the thought of Sinai.

And compared with Mark's account, if indeed Matthew was using Mark's account or its equivalent, it looks like Matthew made the following changes:

> Moses now comes before Elijah

> Matthew says Jesus’ “face shone like the sun” while Mark only mentions garments (cf. Ex. 34:29-35)

> Adds adjective “bright” to the cloud (a paradox) that overshadows. Shekinah?

“with whom I am well pleased” is same as in baptism (not in Mark or Luke), quotes the suffering servant of Isaiah 42:1.

In the group last Tuesday, one of our members brought up the idea that Peter and James and John may have been observing Moses talking with God on the mountain, and Elijah talking with God on the mountain (it was seconded by two others)... in a kind of time warp (aka "Lost" or some other sci fi fantasy) - or chronos (linear time) vs kairos (God's special specific time). What an amazingly interesting idea!

I'm open to this, but we still have to probe and ask why the Holy Spirit, and why Matthew, recorded this story here at this point in the gospel?

Sukkot / Tabernacles and Transfiguration, 5 and postscript

2009-10-12T12:32:00.002-05:00

Okay, a few more thoughts to bring the relevance of "the Feast" to the time of Jesus.

In John 7, Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. It is there, on the last and great day of the feast, that Jesus declared the promise of living water - the Holy Spirit - to those who believe in him (vs. 37-39).

Two themes were strongly associated with the Feast during Jesus' day: (1) water, and (2) light. The priests ritually poured water on the altar as a kind of prayer to God for the rain to come in its season, and on the last day they would really douse it so that water would even start running out of the temple. And there were huge menorahs standing in the temple courts that were lit all through the Feast and lit up the whole area. John picks up on this light theme as well, in chapter 8 and 9, as Jesus twice says "I am the light of the world" and enlightens darkened eyes.

We see these themes in Zechariah and Isaiah as they point to the Day of the Lord and even to the Feast of Tabernacles in the age to come.

In the first post I quoted some from the Jewish Prayer Book for Sukkos. As I was looking for a closing prayer(s) to end this series of posts I saw again how many pages including various litanies of pleas that God would "please save, now." This is also a prayer that we Christians pray a lot, in short it's the prayer "Hosanna!" (Hoshana in Hebrew)

I'll close with this prayer called "Farewell to the Succah:"
"May it be Your will, LORD, our God and the God of our forefathers, that just as I have fulfilled [the mitzvah, or "commandment"] and dwelled in this succah, so may I merit in the coming year to dwell in the succah of the skin of Leviathan. Next year in Jerusalem."

[here's the commentary on this strange and interesting petition... "The Leviathan was a monstrous fish created on the fifth day of Creation. Its story is related at length in the Talmud (Bava Basra 74b), where it is told that the Leviathan will be slain and its flesh served as a feast to the righteous in Time to Come, and its skin used to cover the tent where the banquet will take place."]

Christians say it this way: "Maranatha." "Come quickly, Lord," and make all things right and all things new. By the grace of God in Messiah, may all God's people dwell with him in the new earth.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place (tabernacle) of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
(Revelation 21:1-4)

Sukkot / Tabernacles and Transfiguration, 4

2009-10-12T11:09:00.002-05:00

Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, had some strong eschatological themes associated with it. These come principally from Zechariah 14.

Zechariah speaks of a great day of the LORD that is coming when all nations will be gathered against Jerusalem to fight against her, houses will be plundered and women raped (v.1-2).

Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives... (vs. 2-3)

The Mount of Olives will split and the people will flee, but
5 Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. 7 And there shall be a one day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. 8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. 9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

The chapter continues with talk of panic and punishment, but includes this:

Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. (v. 16)

Everyone who survives, of all the nations, shall go to Jerusalem every year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast.

Related to this picture of the the Lord renewing all things and reigning in his world, there are some texts in Isaiah that also inform us:
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go the law (or teaching),
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2:2-4; also in Micah 4)

Then in Isaiah 4, we hear of a cloud that will cover Mount Zion and the assembly (recalling the Shekinah cloud that descended on the Tabernacle, which may have been expected to return at the consummation), and of a "booth" or tabernacle:
Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6 There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

To try to summarize how Tabernacles may be related to the Transfiguration:
- the Lord will come and stand on a mountain and manifest his sovereignty in victory
- the true and final culmination of the Exodus is coming
- the Word / Torah / Law of the Lord will go forth from Jerusalem. Justice and righteousness, light and truth, for all the nations shall be brought about on that final day.
- the Lord himself will be our refuge and shelter, and dwell in our midst in all his glory
- we will rejoice with all the nations over God's provision and protection, and in the revelation of his Word, and his executing of justice

I think Peter had some or all of this (and surely more) in mind as he blurted out his offer to make three booths for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. This vision of Jesus had everything to do with the victory of God in Christ and consummating all things in his glorious kingdom.

Sukkot / Tabernacles and Transfiguration, 3

2009-10-12T07:37:00.003-05:00

Here's the next installment trying to understand a possible Tabernacles undercurrent or influence on the Transfiguration of Jesus.

We read in Nehemiah 8 of a time after the people of Israel had returned from exile, had restored the temple and rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem, when the Torah was read to all the people gathered. They wept and grieved upon hearing it. This is when we hear that well known verse: Ezra encourages the people not to grieve, but that "the joy of the Lord is your strength." (v. 10)

The text continues to say that the leaders got together to study God's Word and found in it that God ordered them to dwell in booths during "the feast of the seventh month" (v. 14) and

"that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” (v. 15)

And so they did, apparently there were booths everywhere... and the passage concludes

And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. 18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days... (vs. 17-18)

So, again, associated with the Feast of Tabernacles is great rejoicing and the reading of whole Torah, all that God revealed to his people.

The great rejoicing has to do with God's provision and protection, even in the midst of a profound sense of vulnerability and how transitory and exposed our lives are. The book that is now associated with Sukkot is Ecclesiastes, which speaks of the vanity or "breathiness" of life, of enjoying the good things God provides, while remembering to fear God and obey his commandments. And yet it also points to another Tabernacle in their midst as they traveled through the wilderness; one that showed them that God was indeed in their midst, going before them and guarding them from behind. And pointing to a day when God would again, fully and finally in the consummation and renewal of all things, will tabernacle among his people and indeed be their tabernacle.

Sukkot/Tabernacles and Transfiguration, 2

2009-10-08T14:44:00.003-05:00

The first place that God calls for Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths), to be observed is in Leviticus 23:33f.
39 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

In the parallel passage in Deuteronomy 16, the people are commanded to "rejoice in your feast... so that you will be altogether joyful" (vs. 14-15). Here we also are told that this was one of three "pilgrim" feasts, that is, for which they were to go up to Jerusalem.

Lastly, listen to what God commands with regard to his Word and this Feast in Deuteronomy 31. This is one of the last things Moses shares with them before it is his time to depart:
9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

So we have themes of rejoicing in the goodness and provision of the Lord, of remembering the transitoriness of the wilderness wandering and our current journey, and of all God's people gathered in Jerusalem to hear all the words of Torah...

Sukkot & the Transfiguration

2009-10-07T07:59:00.000-05:00

Tuesday night we read Matthew 17 and began a discussion of the Transfiguration. This week is the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths), called Sukkot (meaning tabernacles or booths) in Hebrew terminology. Because of the timing, we spent our time talking about "the Feast," in part because of the strange comment by Peter on that "high mountain" when he saw Jesus, in transfigured glory, and Moses and Elijah talking together.

"Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." (v. 5)

That word, "tents," is the word used for tabernacle or booth in the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures. It's the same root for the word used in John 1:14 when it says that the word became flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us; and the same word in that passage (2 Cor. 12:9) that Marva Dawn used as the key verse for her excellent book "Powers, Weakness, and the Tabernacling of God."

I think that the theme of the Feast of Tabernacles is an undercurrent in this passage; it may not be the main big point (which is probably that Jesus is the new and greater Moses, God's Deliverer and Revealer, to lead his whole creation in a New Exodus to freedom...), but as we look at the various themes associated with Sukkot, it seems that at least Peter had some eschatalogical, consummation of God's history and vindication of God's people, thoughts going on in his head when he blurted out his offer to make three booths...

I have to stop here for now, I'll add a couple more posts with the background, but I'll close with some Sukkot prayers from the Siddur (the Jewish Prayer Book). [Note: HASHEM means literally "The Name" which is a circumlocution for the Divine, in our Bibles usually written as LORD]

"Behold, I am prepared and ready to perform the commandment of succah as the Creator, Blessed is His Name, commanded me: In succos shall you dwell for seven days...
May the pleasantness of my Lord, our God, be upon us - may He establish our handiwork for us; our handiwork may He establish.

May it be Your will, HASHEM my God and the God of my forefathers, that You cause Your Presence to reside among us, that You spread over us the succah of Your peace - in the merit of the mitzvah of succah that we are fulfilling - to unify the Name of the Holy One, Blessed is He, and His Presence, in fear and love, to unify the name... and to surround us with the aura of Your honor, holy and pure, spread over our heads from above like an eagle arousing its brood, and from there cause an abundant outpouring of life for Your servant..."

May God bless all His people observing this Feast with the fulfillment of their prayers.

ezer kenegdo

2009-10-06T07:53:00.002-05:00

After giving the man work to do and a warning with regard to navigating life in God's garden in a way that is Life and not a prideful partaking of what leads to death, God says,
"It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper fit for him" (Genesis 2:18).
I shared Sunday in a sermon based on this verse that God did not make the woman because the man was lonely, nor to make him happy, but to join him in the call to "bear the image, do the work, and live the Life;" and we saw that that phrase "a helper fit for him" can be understood as something like

"a power equal to him" or
"a strength corresponding to him."

What's very cool is that the overwhelming majority of times the word ezer ("help" / "helper") is used in the Hebrew Scriptures is in reference to God. There is absolutely no concept here of my little assistant or apprentice who just adds an additional pair of hands to get a job done... in fact part of the idea of the "fit for him" or "corresponding to him" or "equal to him" can even be something like "in his face" (that's not a joke!). I found the following article excellent.
ezer kenegdo

The Soloist

2009-10-05T16:34:00.002-05:00

I shared about the movie, The Soloist, yesterday in a sermon on marriage. I commend the movie, not only for the beautiful story of the power of friendship (which is one way to describe the main point of my sermon), but also for its depiction of homelessness. May God give us grace to be able to befriend the poor and powerless, and to know how to "help"; this is precisely what we hear the prophets continually crying out about, what is God's very heart, and what we hear and see in the person of Jesus.

Restless Lip Syndrome

2009-10-01T07:13:00.002-05:00

from "Urban Word of the Day"

October 1: Restless Lip Syndrome

When a person keeps interrupting a conversation and can't keep her or his mouth shut.

Chris has to come my house to drink because when we're at his house, Linda's Restless Lip Syndrome prevents us from carrying on a conversation.

Never knew that's what you call it, what I've had all these years that has discouraged my wife so...

Pumped about Plumpy Nut

2009-09-28T12:16:00.003-05:00

I was asked to visit Summerdale Peanut Company this morning to pray with the workers for safety and a bountiful harvest. It was a bit of a last minute thing by the owner, who asked me in church yesterday as they are beginning their crazy push to process the peanut harvest over the next month or two. A big concern is safety, as there are a lot of moving parts and people work a lot of overtime (and get really tired) to make extra money.

The owner, Joe, went through our last new member's class in which we spend a session talking about our work as ministry. Ministry is not just what I do. We are to glorify and serve God and his world in all we do, including our work or "vocation." Tim Keller speaks of all work as a form of gardening - taking the raw material of creation and working with it for the sake of human flourishing. Joe remembered this and out of concern for his workers and as a sign of dependence on the Lord asked me to come out.

So I went to Summerdale Peanut Company and shared a little bit and prayed with fifteen or twenty people who chose to come to a short prayer service on the front porch of their office building. Joe sent me the following video regarding Plumpy Nut, as one beautiful way that peanut growing and processing does indeed serve the common good. It's encouraging, but only if the product gets to the children that need it. What can we do to make that happen??
(I'll post a synopsis of my words to the Peanut workers at "The Restoration Project")

the Messiah and the Temple

2009-09-23T10:43:00.001-05:00

2 Samuel 7
13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

There's an interesting connection between the Messiah and the Temple that seems to have been present among the Jews in Jesus' day. There are some standard passages from the Hebrew Scriptures that we know influenced common messianic expectation, such as Psalm 2. But one that I read about in studying Matthew 16 is this passage from 2 Samuel 7.

The story is of David's desire to build God a permanent house in Jerusalem. You may remember that through Nathan God said no, but your son will. And that word from God through the prophet included the promise of an eternal kingdom and the son/father relationship.

We probably have a reflection of this in Jesus' trial when the only accusation witnesses make against him is that he said he would rebuild the Temple in three days. In that very context, in the next verse we hear the high priest ask Jesus, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the living God?" Jesus does not deny it, and then gives further messianic affirmation - "But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Matthew 26:59-64)

“If the Nathan prophecy is given an eschatalogical interpretation, the building of the house of God is a messianic duty. Conversely, anyone who sets up to be a builder of the temple is indirectly claiming to be the Messiah and the Son of God. It is now clear why the high priest, when an examination of the witnesses to Jesus’ statement about the temple is at a deadlock, puts the direct question as to messianic claim and forces Jesus’ confession.” (in Matthew 8-18, vol. 2, Davies and Alison)

So when Jesus (and Matthew who records the event) connects his being the Messiah, the Son of the living God, with being the builder of a new ekklesia, a new assembly of God's gathered, called-out people, he is being faithful to their tradition.

Further, this gives some clarity to Jesus' statement in John 2 which is the background for the false witnesses testimony with regard to him saying he would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. When he said in John 2:19, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (which John tells us concerned the temple of his body), he was making a messianic claim. He was the son of David. God was his father. The throne of his kingdom would be established forever. And he would build for his father a house in which to dwell...

19 you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Eph. 2)

Thanks be to God.

God's temple

2009-09-18T14:40:00.002-05:00

Friday, September 18, 2009

16 Do you not know that you (plural) are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Paul continues on with his "God's building" metaphor and takes it to its most important and impacting, and obvious to a Jew, end - they, the church in Corinth were God's "temple" and that the Spirit of God indwelt them.

When Jesus says he will build his church, Israel redeemed from Egypt is in the background. The word ekklesia / church was one of the words used to translate the word assembly or congregation of the people of Israel "called out" of Egypt by God to himself (cf. Exodus 19). "Build" being the same word that his accusers will use when they say he claimed he would rebuild the temple in three days.

Before getting to 2 Samuel 7 in the next few days, we will let this soak in. The temple is God's house, God's building, God's dwelling place. It is the place where he meets his people. Originally it was a movable tabernacle, by means of which God said he would dwell among his people. Now that place is a people. A called out people. A gathered people. A people in whom the Spirit dwells, among whom Jesus / Emmanuel is present, under and unto a Father who loves them with unending love.

"I will build"

2009-09-17T06:57:00.004-05:00

We've been in Matthew 16:13-19 in our Tuesday night study, a hugely important passage in Matthew. It's the first time the word church (Greek is ekklesia = "called-out ones") is used in the New Testament; the only other place in the gospels it is used is in Matthew 18.

One of the things we've been discussing is Jesus saying "on this rock I will build my church."

Just thinking out loud... here, in today's epistle reading, Paul writes to the Corinthians about building, and that they are God's building.

1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

So what I'm thinking about is whether this passage should be put tightly with Matthew 16, and say that Jesus is building his church through the building work of Paul and the other apostles or that it is a slightly different picture or perspective Paul is presenting...

Paul writes that he laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it... and also says, there is no other foundation than that which is laid, Jesus Christ. Perhaps this means that for each city where the church is established a new foundation of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ is laid, as opposed to saying that the foundation is already there (in the death and resurrection and reign of Jesus the Messiah).

Ultimately, for today, we ought to ask ourselves: am I being built by Jesus and/or building with Jesus faithfully, today? on a good foundation, with lasting materials, indwelt by worship & the Word & acceptable sacrifices...

Hopefully, I'll have more installments along this line. There's more in Matthew 16, and 1 Cor. 3, we need to consider (and 2 Samuel 7... - check it out).

Lily is 1!

2009-09-15T15:26:00.002-05:00

Lily is 1 year old today!

Trouble, Suffering, and Friends

2009-05-20T08:23:00.003-05:00

The following comes from an article by Wendell Berry on the economic crisis, in which he is critical of a fundamental premise of free market capitalism, and our whole society: the fantasy of limitlessness (also the original sin...). It's a good article that can be found at Harpers. I share it for the comments regarding his connecting the words friend and freedom, following up on Jesus' encouraging words that he calls us friends:

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you... (John 15:14-16)

Berry writes:

"As earthly creatures, we live, because we must, within natural limits, which we may describe by such names as “earth” or “ecosystem” or “watershed” or “place.” But as humans, we may elect to respond to this necessary placement by the self-restraints implied in neighborliness, tewardship, thrift, temperance, generosity, care, kindness, friendship, loyalty, and love.

"In our limitless selfishness, we have tried to define “freedom,” for example, as an escape from all restraint. But, as my friend Bert Hornback has explained in his book The Wisdom in Words, “free” is etymologically related to “friend.” These words come from the same Indo-European root, which carries the sense of “dear” or “beloved.” We set our friends free by our love for them, with the implied restraints of faithfulness or loyalty. And this suggests that our “identity” is located not in the impulse of selfhood but in deliberately maintained connections."

And this is exactly what Jesus, our true friend, did and does for us. He set us free to live within the bounds of boundless love, amidst all the joys and suffering of this life. That was my point Sunday: that while "trouble and suffering" (Greek: thlipsis = tribulation, oppression, persecution, or "that which causes pain") are part of our allotted limits in this groaning world, that we have a friend, and a friend can make all the difference when you're dealing with trouble and suffering.

And as we grow in friendship with Christ Jesus, we become more and more free - to follow him, glorify him, and serve him and his world. Thanks be to God!

more on addiction and grace

2009-05-08T09:22:00.003-05:00

Here are the last three paragraphs in that section called "Deliverance" in Gerald May's Addiction and Grace (don't miss the last paragraph):

"I believe that grace's empowerment is present in all true healings, in deliverances of all kinds, and in any movement toward wholeness and love and freedom, however great or small. It is present in physical and psychological healing, in social and political reconciliation, in cultural and scientific breakthrough, in spiritual deliverance from evil, in religious repentance and conversion, and in the ongoing process of spiritual growth. It is present wherever love really grows. In every such situation, grace enables us to make necessary initial changes and to continue, over time, to nurture those changes in creative, constructive ways.

"God does not flash into our lives to work a piece of magic upon us and then disappear. To do so would eradicate human dignity; it would prevent our participation. Instead, God's grace is always present intimately within us, inviting and empowering us toward more full, more free exercise of will and responsibility. The more open and spacious our will and responsibility become, the more God and person commune in creative splendor.

"We are never simply visited with a healing or deliverance, which we can then safely forget. Grace is not a pill we are given or a method applied to us so that we can simply go on about our business. Grace always invties us forward. Every liberation requires continued attention, every healing demands continued care, every deliverance demands follow-up and every conversion requires faithful deepening. If we do not respond to these ongoing calls, if we deny our empowerments for continued growth in freedom and responsbility, our healings may well be stillborn. Then, as in Jesus' words about evil spirits returning to a house swept clean, our last condition may turn out to worse than our first." (pp. 154-155)

Willard on grace

2009-05-04T11:41:00.004-05:00

Before I share the second installment of Gerald May, I want to share an excerpt from an interview with Dallas Willard in "Stillpoint," the quarterly magazine of my alma mater, Gordon College. Willard wrote "The Spirit of the Disciplines" and "The Divine Conspiracy" (and several other books) which were both very helpful to me.

Here he speaks concisely of the body, grace, and effort - this ties in with both the addiction and grace themes, and a resurrection ethic of the body. Note especially the last paragraph.

+ + + + +

SP: Your chapter “St. Paul’s Psychology of Redemption” in The Spirit of the Disciplines was enormously helpful to me in understanding the body’s role in our spiritual lives.

DW: Psychology is bodily. The body is a primary spiritual resource. I love this quotation from Sir William Ramsey’s St. Paul, the Traveler and Roman Citizen: “In Paul, for the first time since Aristotle, Greek philosophy made a genuine step forward.” It’s so appropriate to put him in that context because it’s actually true. Ramsey was able to help me see Paul in a different light, to see how really bodily spirituality is. Paul really meant it. Take those passages like “I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.” That doesn’t mean asceticism--just sensible training of the whole person to do the will of God.

SP: There’s so much you miss in the Pauline writings if you’re only looking at him through the lenses we often see him through.

DW: Before I began studying the spiritual disciplines, I was reading St. Paul through the lens of dispensational theology. Basically what that does is relieve us of any genuine responsibilities to do anything except believe correct doctrine. That’s important, but that’s not life. I had to get past the idea that grace had only to do with forgiveness; that grace was opposed to effort--which it isn’t; its opposed to earning--and to understand the power of grace as an activity and a life . . . that was difficult coming from the theological sources I had.

the mystery of grace

2009-05-04T11:07:00.003-05:00

The following are a couple of paragraphs from "Addiction and Grace" by Gerald May. This is a section he calls "Deliverance." This means deliverance from addictive behavior, not specifically from demons (though that may be true also). I read this the day after we discussed the power and mystery and hiddenness of the kingdom of God in Bible study (Matthew 13); to me, it rang in harmony with those themes.

"This is the spiritual experience I learned about from recovering addicts, the unique phenomenon that sparked my professional/personal journey into psychology and spirituality. I can only call it deliverance. There is no physical, psychological, or social explanation for such sudden empowerments. People who have experienced them call them miraculous. In many cases these people have struggled with their addictions for years. Then suddenly, with no warning, the power of the addiction is broken. To me, deliverance is like any other miraculous physical, emotional, or social healing. It is an example of "supernatural" or "extraordinary" grace, an obvious intervention by the hand of God in which physical structure and function are changed and growth toward wholeness is enabled. In the case of addiction, healing takes the form of empowerment that enables people to modify addictive behavior.

"I am choosing my words carefully here, Deliverance enables a person to make a change in his or her behavior; in my experience deliverance does not remove the addiction and its underlying attachments. Something obviously happens to the systems of the brain when deliverance occurs; either the addicted systems are weakened or the one seeking freedom are strengthened or both. But there is still a role for continued personal responsibility. Considerable intention and vigilance are still necessary. I have witnessed many healings of substance and nonsubstance addictions and of many other disorders. In none of these miraculous empowerments were people freed from having to remain intentional about avoiding a return to their old addictive behaviors. The real miracle was that avoidance became possible; the person could actually do it. Deliverance does not remove a person's responsibility; it does empower the person to exercise responsibility simply, gently, and effectively.

"In a way, this is how grace seems to work with us in all areas of life. The special flowerings of grace that we call deliverance and miracles seem so extraordinary only because of the way we look at them. The natural grace that God continually offers us in the normal circumstances of our lives is really just as miraculous. It stands ready to transform and empower us in the most ordinary situations. Miracles are nothing other than God's ordinary truth seen with surprised eyes.

"Our very being in this world, our existence as individuals and communities, is miraculous. It is miraculous that God creates us with bodies and brains that are capable of adapting to virtually any conditions, and that God preserves within us an invincible freedom of choice. It is no more miraculous that God can thaw the most frozen of our adaptations and massively, instantaneously, empower our freedom of choice. A particular eruption of grace strikes into a person's life like a lightning bold of loving energy; the power of God's goodness shines in victory over a particular human enslavement or misfortune. The enemy is weakened; the person is empowered." (pages 153-154)

That was more than I intended to share, but that last paragraph was really good. Actually the next three are also, I'll share those separately.

"the natural grace of God... stands ready to transfrom and empower us in the most ordinary of circumstances"

"A particular eruption of grace strikes into a person's life like a lightning bolt of loving energy."

Economics and the devil...

2009-04-21T07:44:00.005-05:00

Ken Myers, of Mars Hill Audio, wrote this good and interesting review principally of a Wendell Berry article on economics and limits. Here's part of the into:

"For some time now, I have been growing in my understanding of how many cultural disorders are related to hatred of limits. The aspiration to limitlessness was embedded in the first temptation and the original sin, it informed the earliest docetic and Gnostic heresies, and it inspired the founding intellects of modernity. Many sincere Christians still have some sense that being limited is an effect of sin, rather than a condition of the Creation. Both Genesis accounts of Creation (in chapters 1 and 2) resound with the establishment of boundaries—in time, in space, in ontology, and in vocation. ...

"Almost all human cultures have pursued the task of defining and governing boundaries in human behavior. Philip Rieff argued (in The Triumph of the Therapeutic) that every culture survives "by the power of its institutions to bind and loose men in the conduct of their affairs with reasons which sink so deep into the self that they become commonly and implicitly understood." The story of modern Western culture, however—a culture built around the ideal of the sovereign self—is a story of the abandonment of restrictions and restraints in the name of human freedom. Our institutions have increasingly been defined in terms of encouraging liberation from limits rather than cultivating a conscientious honoring of limits.

"It was in light of this understanding that I read Wendell Berry's essay in the May issue of Harper's with great appreciation. In "Faustian Economics," (subtitled "Hell Hath No Limits"), Berry argues that "we have founded our present society upon delusional assumptions of limitlessness," (the rest of the review)

silence & the fire of love

2009-04-17T11:33:00.001-05:00

"When the door of the steambath is continually left open, the heat inside rapidly escapes through it; likewise the soul, in its desire to say many things, dissipates its remembrance of God through the door of speech, even though everything it says may be good. Thereafter the intellect, though lacking appropriate ideas, pours out a welter of confused thoughts to anyone it meets, as it no longer has the Holy Spirit to keep its understanding free from fantasy. Ideas of value always shun verbosity, being foreign to confusion and fantasy. Timely silence, then, is precious, for it is nothing less than the mother of the wisest thoughts."”
(Diadochus of Photiki)

wearing the belt of truth

2009-04-16T20:23:00.003-05:00

Wearing the Belt of Truth, as an offensive weapon

This comment follows on my recent post regarding our words being productive, and not careless...

I have been reading Powers, Weakness, and the Tabernacling of God by Marva Dawn. I've had the book for probably seven years (I bought it because of the "Tabernacling" part in the title, Jewish roots stuff, you know). It's excellent.

It's just four substantial chapters. Chapter One is entitled "The Principalities and Powers: Created, Fallen, and Then?" Chapter Two, "The Tabernacling of God and a Theology of Weakness." Chapter Three, "Churches Being, and Acting as, Fallen Powers."

One of the big concerns she addresses is stated there in the title of the third chapter - when churches are and/or act as fallen powers. This happens in many ways. For example, we misuse power when we make worship about catering to people's desires (and complaints), and not so much about the worship of almighty God and the preaching of Christ crucified and risen; when sermons and other public announcements or teachings are manipulative to get people to build up a little egocentric kingdom and not to drive them to Christ crucified and risen, and dependent in powerlessness on the power of the Holy Spirit... and when the church essentially cooperates with the powers of the world (eg. mammon & materialism in general, might makes right or right makes might right...).

This all comes out of a beautiful theology of weakness (hence some of my recent sermons) which, God willing, I will comment on soon here.

In the concluding chapter, "What, Then, Shall the Church Be? Images of Weakness," she counter-intuitively uses the armor of God as her organizing theme. Of course, the armor of God section there in Ephesians 6, calls us to be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might (not our own strength!). Secondly, she argues that we can consider all the armor from an offensive standpoint - not just the sword of the Spirit, as we have all generally considered them (myself included).

Truth: this first concerns our doctrine. Do we have good theology? She argues for "the theology of the cross" to be the principal message, and not "the theology of glory" (ie. that we can overcome suffering and struggle in the time of this present darkness...). The powers of the world seek to undermine truth and communicating truthfully and faithfully in a host of ways - some of which are very, very subtle. (I understand "The Truth Project," an apologetic teaching series, addresses some of these concerns.)

Wearing the belt truth will also include everything we do as a church, in decision making, in our relationships, in our calling and equipping others to help in this work of ministry. (Of course, it does not mean using truth coercively - to attack, demean, gossip, defend or make ourselves powerful). And it will include our posture corporately and individually toward the world, in our jobs, in raising our families.

Marva writes that her main point in this section "is that the Christian community is the place in which we practice 'truthing' with each other, so that our language and work and politics and relationships throughout life flow out of the same character and thereby cast out the workings of the powers that produce deception, manipulation, accusation, and other untruths in the world." (p. 137) She goes on, "Wearing the belt of truth as an offensive weapon will call us all, individually and corporately, as Thomas More declares in Robert Bold's play, A Man for All Seasons, to 'serve God wittily, in the tangle of our minds.'" (p. 138)

"It is crucial that we recognize the 'tangle,' for the 'truthings' of our life all hang together and influence each other, even as a small untruth leads to much larger consequences. Ephesians 6 lists truth first because its absence effects everything, but if the belt is used properly it can keep things together." (p. 138)

She concludes this section on the belt of truth, "Caring about truth in every dimension of the Church's life and of Christians' lives is a necessary foundation for the justice building, peacemaking, hospitality, and gospel proclaiming that we will discuss as we continue to consider what it might mean for us to wield God's panoply" (complete array of armor). (p. 138)

the myth of redemptive violence

2009-04-13T08:17:00.004-05:00

I talked recently in a sermon about "the myth of redemptive violence." This idea is embedded in American culture, and in the world at large. If a person, or any entity, is considered good or righteous, then their use of violence or force is justified, and even "redemptive." We are bred with this from Popeye and the Road Runner, to Jack Bauer and Tony Almeida, to Tom Clancy's novels to "Righeous Kill" and "Kill Bill" to Clint Eastwood, and on and on.

While most of us do not use violence to advance our will or God's will, we do use power or force wrongly - whether through domination or intimidation, or through manipulation or deception. For example, any time we shade the truth, or share the truth inappropriately, in order to gain an advantage over someone, or to posture or protect ourself, we are abusing power and usually thinking we are justified in it. Jesus would have none of it, though he was the only truly good and righteous person. He became powerless and never used force or violence in order to advance his will or God's will. And this is the way he calls us to live. Probably more on this later.

Speaking of Clint Eastwood, a great depiction of the myth of redemptive violence is Gran Torino. Yes, it's rough, but I commend it to you. I saw it on my birthday a few weeks ago, and it was well worth it.

A Collect for Easter

2009-04-13T08:16:00.000-05:00

O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

"Careless" words

2009-04-13T08:08:00.003-05:00

Last Tuesday evening in our study of the gospel of Matthew we were struck by Jesus' words to the Pharisees who were flinging words at him, attacking him verbally by accusing him of being demonically inspired and empowered:
"on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak" (ESV, Matthew 12:36).

That word, careless, is "argon" in the Greek, which is "ergon" (= "work") + the privative "a" (= absence, removal, or loss of quality or attribute normally present). So, while careless is a fine translation, the idea is bigger than just being kind of flighty or an unthinking chatterbox - it speaks of "unproductive" and "unfruitful" (cf. v. 33) words.

We agreed to pray for each other, to try to be mindful (careful) in our speaking. We reminded each other of the spiritual discipline of silence, and of guarding our hearts - for that's really where our words come from.

I go into that because this morning (Monday of Easter week) the appointed gospel is John 14:1-14, and I noted and was thinking about this verse, where Jesus is telling the disciples that he is in the Father and the Father is in him and so they have seen the Father and they know the way to the Father:
"The words the I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works." (John 14:10).

What an amazing thought. I think Jesus is saying that the words that he speaks are works of the Father. Those would not be "unproductive" or "unfruitful" or careless words!

Let it be so in us, Lord.

"O Lord, so dwell in us, you who live and reign in victory; so work in us, in our minds and in our wills, that we may speak only what you are working in and through us, for life, for wholeness, fruitful, productive work that will last forever in your kingdom."

Memory & liturgy

2009-03-12T09:39:00.003-06:00

I think I missed this discussion in seminary, or I didn't get it - because somewhere way back in my mind there is the "memory" that we did cover this in a Sacramental Theology class. But I love this! It's from Great Lent, by Alexander Schmemann. (Italics are his)

"What then is the meaning of the liturgical today by which the Church inaugurates all her celebrations? In what sense are past events celebrated today?

"One can say without exaggeration that the whole life of the Church is one continuous commemoration and remembrance. At the end of each service we refer to the saints "whose memory we celebrate," but behind all memories, the Church is the remembrance of Christ. From a purely natural point of view, memory is an ambiguous faculty. Thus to remember someone whom we love and whom we lost means two things. On the one hand memory is much more than mere knowledge of the past. When I remember my late father, I see him; he is present in my memory not as a sum total of all that I know about him but in all his living reality. Yet, on the other hand, it is this very presence that makes me feel acutely that he is no longer here, that never again in this world and in this life shall I touch this hand which I so vividly see in my memory. Memory is thus the most wonderful and at the same time the most tragic of all human faculties, for nothing reveals better the broken nature of our life, the impossibility for man truly to keep, truly to possess anything in this world. Memory reveals to us that "time and death reign on earth." But it is precisely because of this uniquely human function of memory that Christianity is also centered on it, for it consists primarily in remembering one Man, one Event, one Night, in the depth and darkness of which we were told: "... do this in remembrance of me." And lo, the miracle takes place! We remember Him and He is here - not as a nostalgic image of the past, not as a sad "never more," but with such intensity of presence that the Church can eternally repeat what the disciples said after Emmaus: "... did not our hearts burn within us?" (Luke 24:32).

"Natural memory is first of all a "presence of the absent," so that the more he whom we remember is present, the more acute is the pain of his absence. But in Christ, memory has become again the power to fill the time broken by sin and death, by hatred and forgetfulness. And it is this new memory as power over time and its brokenness which is at the heart of the liturgical celbration, of the liturgical today..." (pp. 81-82)

fasting

2009-02-27T08:06:00.003-06:00

Fasting is about repentance and change. The triad of spiritual disciplines we heard on Ash Wednesday - giving to those in need, praying, and fasting - were considered in Jesus' day, a way back to God (that's right, all together, a way - not three alternative ways...). As I noted in "The Restoration Project," Jesus wasn't saying if you can't fast rightly don't worry about it (Matthew 6). He was saying, yes, observe the fasts, and do so with all your heart. Seek God in it, to meet your Father, and engage him and know him, that your Father may truly be your reward. I found this reference to fasting from one the early church fathers:

Fasting is the change of every part of our life, because the sacrifice of the fast is not the abstinence but the distancing from sins. Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast.
(John Chrystostom)

text of Fasting sermon by John Chrystostom

a lenten prayer

2009-02-27T07:17:00.003-06:00

The Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian

I've finally (after probably six years since Julia Babb gave it to me) I have begun reading Great Lent: Journey to Pascha by Alexander Schmemann. A couple of years ago Jason Campbell, a pastor at Trinity Vineyard (our son Mark's church in Atlanta) also asked me about it and was very positive about it.

Here's a prayer the Orthodox pray in Lent, it is read twice a day, with prostrations. Schmemann says it could be called the lenten prayer.

O Lord, and Master of my life!
Take from me the spirit of sloth,
faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity,
humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.
Yes, O Lord and King!
Grant me to see my own errors
and not to judge my brother;
For thou art blessed unto age of ages. Amen.

2009-02-21T19:18:00.002-06:00

These buildings are the main part of our new "campus."
The building on the right (top picture) is the main hall, where our classrooms and fellowship hall are. We will be worshipping in the fellowship hall for a while.
The two on the left (immediately above) are first the administrative building, and the one beyond is the pavillion.

2009-02-21T19:12:00.000-06:00

This is the view from my office!

2009-02-21T18:34:00.002-06:00

The office building is almost finished!

Here are some pictures of what will be my office.

The left one looks out over a wooded area.

My desk will probably be in front of the window on the right.

a chalice of grace

2009-02-13T12:14:00.002-06:00

I had a chalice of "grace" the other evening courtesy of Dr. Tom Yearwood. What an amazing, beautiful, poignant... delicious picture from "Domaine Serene" - from the kingdom of peace.

Tom got this out because our son Ben is now in Portland, and worked at a vineyard this week. Ben worked at J.K. Carriere.

Once again, my favorite line from George Herbert, from the last stanza of "The Agony":

Who knows not Love, let him assay
And taste that juice, which on the cross a pike
Did set again abroach; then let him say
If ever he did taste the like.
Love is that liquour sweet and most divine,
Which my God feels as blood; but I, as wine.

(Thank you Brooke for getting me another copy Herbert's works for Christmas!)

Sin is...

2009-02-10T15:49:00.003-06:00

I loved this definition of sin I heard from Rob Bell in a podcasted sermon:

"Sin is the culpable disturbance of shalom - the degree to we which have destroyed the peace God intends for things. And we are guilty of that."

leaf bug

2009-02-07T09:27:00.002-06:00

Check that out. It's a bug. Not a bug carrying a leaf. But a leaf bug!

"Things in nature that make be believe in God: mimicry" by Peter Illyn

good ideas...

2009-01-26T10:37:00.004-06:00

My friend and next-door neighbor, Brian Jones, forwarded this post from Marshall Goldsmith. It's a good one, and certainly speaks to me. So often, adding our "good" ideas to those of others - whether to someone reporting to us, a working group of peers, or our children - is disheartening to them and really only intended to show how smart or clever we are. ouch.

When You Should Keep Your Ideas To Yourself

Brian is a leadership consultant with Pat Lencioni's "The Table Group."
http://www.tablegroup.com/consulting/partners/

Gene Robinson and the BCP

2009-01-26T06:21:00.002-06:00

Scot McKnight had a good post comparing Bishop Gene Robinson's prayer to open the inaugural concert and the collect for the Third Sunday of Epiphany which we prayed yesterday, and referencing Fleming Rutledge's comments (which Robert had shown me last week) -

There was quite a dust-up about the prayers at the Inauguration. Analysis of the prayers of others is not something I'm fond of, so I stayed back but this week's prayer in The Book of Common Prayer -- to be repeated by all Anglicans and Episcopalians -- speaks volumes about Bishop Gene Robinson's inaugural prayer...

To keep reading go to Scot's blog at Jesus Creed

Lily Red Sox

2009-01-03T16:43:00.001-06:00

One of the better Christmas pics! Beautiful Lily Sofia sporting her (papa's) team's hat :)

2008 MLB American League MVP!

2008-11-18T13:46:00.005-06:00

Dustin Pedroia was named the Most Valuable Player in the American League for 2008 this afternoon.

The "little guy" who plays so big - according to Big Papi (David Ortiz) he was the guy who carried the team all year long. Great hitter, fielder, and attitude. Other players played great a lot, but Pedroia did it all year long. Last year he was Rookie of the Year. Wow.

Congratulations!

Collect for week of November 9

2008-11-10T13:14:00.001-06:00

O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Anima Christi (The Body of Christ)

2008-11-10T13:01:00.004-06:00

Here's a link to the song that I botched up on Sunday. You can listen to it, and a bunch of others that Trinity Vineyard is currently using, some of which I think will be on their next CD.

Trinity Worship

The Anima Christi (words reworked by Martin Reardon)
Body of Christ, sanctify me
Blood of Christ, cleanse me,
O Jesus Christ, save me

Within thy wounds, hid me
From the enemy, defend me
In my hour of death, call me
That I may come to you
That I may be with you
That I may worship you for eternity

These words, which I think are wonderful, come from an ancient prayer (circa 14th century) that Marty Reardon reworked for the song. Marty is the Worship Pastor at Trinity Vineyard in Atlanta. He discusses it a bit at the site linked, but here are both sets of words. I remember being so struck by the original words years ago. It is still widely used after receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in Holy Communion.

The Anima Christi (an original translation)
Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from Christ's side, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee
From the malicious enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come unto Thee
That I may praise Thee with Thy saints
and with Thy angels
Forever and ever
Amen

Prayer for the President, and President elect

2008-11-06T09:25:00.004-06:00

For the President of the United States and all in Civil Authority (BCP, p. 820)

O Lord our Governor, whose glory is in all the world: We commend this nation to your merciful care, that, being guided by your Providence, we may dwell secure in your peace. Grant to the President of the United States, the Governor of this State, and to all in authority, wisdom and strength to know and do your will. Fill them with the love of truth and righteousness, and make them ever mindful of their calling to serve this people in your fear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

a little child shall lead them

2008-11-06T09:19:00.002-06:00

Lily's sticker says "I'm a Georgia Voter." I'm so proud of her - she waited in line for two hours to vote! Her comment seemed to sum up so many voter's sentiments this year:
"I'm sick of all this bipartisan bickering. There is no left breast or right breast, there is only milk."