Although this occured during lent, I don't think it qualifies as a "lenten thought" per se.
As you all know I am not very fond of people that I consider heretics posing as orthodox christians, such as Joel Osteen.
I know that many of you probably have a similar disdain for their teaching and so I thought I'd take a short minute to refer you to Dr. Witherington's newest blog post entitled "What's Wrong With Prospering? The Gospel Accroding to Joel Osteen." Witherington does a fine job commenting on the problems with Osteen's theology and I think that he offers a better critique than I have or could at this time.
I don't want to imply that I'm becoming a Witherington disciple, but the man is brilliant and he continues to amaze me. He also has a unquenchable passion for Christ and for the church. Yes, I do disagree with him on some issues, and to be truthful he does come across as arogant sometimes, but I feel that some of his arogance may be passion misconstrued. All that to say, that not only do I find his classes heart warming and his book enlightening, but I also find his blog stimulating and encouraging. Plus it's really fun when fundamentalists comment and he tears them to shreds.
But the main reason I say this is to draw your attention to the Osteen article, but also to encourage you to check it out if you find yourself with some spare time. I found the post previous to the Osteen article to be amazing. I thought the poem was very well written.
The link is over to the right on the bottom of the links section incase you didn't notice.
Peace.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
Lenten lesson 101
Ok, so there have been so many things I've wanted to post about since lent started but haven't had the time to sit down and write out a long post. Hopefully I'll post on them later, but I wanted to post this quick thought while it's fresh. I attend St. Athanasius Orthodox Church in Nicholasville, KY on Sundays and find the liturgy to be incredibly meaningful. During lent we are using the Liturgy of St. Basil and in one of the sections there is a place for a different song to be sung each Sunday. This isn't like special music, the whole service is singing except the sermon, this is more like instead of singing "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" at the start of every school year at Houghton they mixed it up once in a while with "And Can it Be." As I stood there yesterday listening to the choir (again not like typical protestant choirs) sing the song I heard these words. I'll try to quote them the best I can.
"The flaming sword of Eden has been extinguished by the wood of the cross...enter in to paradise!"
Isn't that beautiful! The imagery just fills my heart. Only with God could something so paradoxical become a reality. Wood extinguishing fire? Death bringing life in paradise? These are not intuitive things. Truly the cross is foolishness and a stumbling block and yet all the more we proclaim Christ and him crucified! Just as the first Adam's actions removed us from paradise, so the second Adam's actions allow us to reclaim it, or better yet, recieve a new one.
Amen. Come Lord Jesus.
"The flaming sword of Eden has been extinguished by the wood of the cross...enter in to paradise!"
Isn't that beautiful! The imagery just fills my heart. Only with God could something so paradoxical become a reality. Wood extinguishing fire? Death bringing life in paradise? These are not intuitive things. Truly the cross is foolishness and a stumbling block and yet all the more we proclaim Christ and him crucified! Just as the first Adam's actions removed us from paradise, so the second Adam's actions allow us to reclaim it, or better yet, recieve a new one.
Amen. Come Lord Jesus.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Thoughts on Ash Wednesday
Just some short thoughts from Ash Wednesday.
Today in chapel we had the traditional imposition of ashes. When the ashes were imposed on my forehead in the sign of the cross these words were spoken to me (or at least very close to these) "from dust you came, to dust you will return, now go and live in the shadow of the cross." Wow, such powerful words. Ash Wednesday is about us, about our sin, and about God breaking into history through the incarnation to mend the brokenness and redeem humanity.
One "profound" thing that really struck me today was this. I often forgot I had ashes on my forehead during the day. It was often only when I saw the cross on someone else's forehead that I remembered that I too was living in the reality of being marked by the cross. It seems to me that this experience beautifully symbolizes the body of Christ. Sometimes when things get rough or when life gets hard we forget that we are living lives that are marked by the cross. We forget that we are really the living dead because "those who are baptized are already dead" (JD Walt). Sometimes it takes the community of faith, the great cloud of witnesses, to remind us of the shadow that we live in. Oh that the true cross that we carry was as visible to everyone as the ashes that we wear on our foreheads. We are truly a people marked by the cross, that is what our baptism represents, that is the pinnacle of our existence. We are people of the cross! May that marking permeate all aspects of our lives.
Today in chapel we had the traditional imposition of ashes. When the ashes were imposed on my forehead in the sign of the cross these words were spoken to me (or at least very close to these) "from dust you came, to dust you will return, now go and live in the shadow of the cross." Wow, such powerful words. Ash Wednesday is about us, about our sin, and about God breaking into history through the incarnation to mend the brokenness and redeem humanity.
One "profound" thing that really struck me today was this. I often forgot I had ashes on my forehead during the day. It was often only when I saw the cross on someone else's forehead that I remembered that I too was living in the reality of being marked by the cross. It seems to me that this experience beautifully symbolizes the body of Christ. Sometimes when things get rough or when life gets hard we forget that we are living lives that are marked by the cross. We forget that we are really the living dead because "those who are baptized are already dead" (JD Walt). Sometimes it takes the community of faith, the great cloud of witnesses, to remind us of the shadow that we live in. Oh that the true cross that we carry was as visible to everyone as the ashes that we wear on our foreheads. We are truly a people marked by the cross, that is what our baptism represents, that is the pinnacle of our existence. We are people of the cross! May that marking permeate all aspects of our lives.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
LENT!!
Lent starts tomorrow!
Yes that's right tomorrow is Ash wednesday. I never understood the church seasons or the various holidays other than Christmas and Easter, until my junior and senior years at Houghton. I have now come to embrace the Christian Calendar as a means to focus and live the Christian life throughout the year. After reflecting on the Christian Year for a little while now I have come to realize that Lent is by far my favorite season and Easter my favorite holiday.
I love the stark, somber mood that inhabits lent as we "descend to the cross with Christ" as JD Walt said in chapel the other day. We start our descent on Wednesday with the imposition of ashes (tomorrow will be my second time) and maintain our time of reflection through prayMer and fasting until Easter Sunday when we loudly exclaim CHRIST IS RISEN!! HE IS RISEN INDEED!!
Praise the Lord!! Amen!
I hope to post some lenten thoughts throughout the 40 days (not counting sundays), but we'll see how that goes as I have a NT Theology paper due for Dr. Witherington in a month. But for now, I just wanted to share my joy and excitement that Lent is here and Easter is coming.
Isn't it a great reminder of the reality that we live in. Just as before Easter the earth cried out for atonement, so it is after Easter that the earth cries out for the return of the King.
And so my soul yearns within me, and crys out even more during this time of year - MARANATHA - Come Lord Jesus!!!
Yes that's right tomorrow is Ash wednesday. I never understood the church seasons or the various holidays other than Christmas and Easter, until my junior and senior years at Houghton. I have now come to embrace the Christian Calendar as a means to focus and live the Christian life throughout the year. After reflecting on the Christian Year for a little while now I have come to realize that Lent is by far my favorite season and Easter my favorite holiday.
I love the stark, somber mood that inhabits lent as we "descend to the cross with Christ" as JD Walt said in chapel the other day. We start our descent on Wednesday with the imposition of ashes (tomorrow will be my second time) and maintain our time of reflection through prayMer and fasting until Easter Sunday when we loudly exclaim CHRIST IS RISEN!! HE IS RISEN INDEED!!
Praise the Lord!! Amen!
I hope to post some lenten thoughts throughout the 40 days (not counting sundays), but we'll see how that goes as I have a NT Theology paper due for Dr. Witherington in a month. But for now, I just wanted to share my joy and excitement that Lent is here and Easter is coming.
Isn't it a great reminder of the reality that we live in. Just as before Easter the earth cried out for atonement, so it is after Easter that the earth cries out for the return of the King.
And so my soul yearns within me, and crys out even more during this time of year - MARANATHA - Come Lord Jesus!!!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
In Response
This post is more a response to the comments that were posted concerning the post entitled "Is it really too much to ask?!"
First let me say that I'm not saying that the Church has never had problems until now, and I'm not saying that all churches are bad. My point is not that I haven't found a church to suit me, rather the point is a lament for the state of the church, especially the western church.
The church has had its problems, and I suspect will continue to have problems, but I also feel that a strong case can be made that Christianity in North America is at one of the lowest points in all of Church history. I lament this fact, I lament the easy Christianity and pseudo-psycho-babble-pop Christianity that I see all over the place. I hear sermons on how to have less stress, or how to be successful in life. I see churches teaching doctrines that involve merely being happy and being driven by the purpose of self-fulfillment. Can you seriously tell me that this is Christianity? Can you say that this is the powerful word of the Lord? Does this in any way resemble the Kingdom of God that Jesus spent his whole ministry teaching about? By no means does this in any way, shape, or form look like, true Christianity.
This is my lament. I ache over the fact that the church is in such a sour state that it is neither cool nor hot. The gospel much of the church is preaching is like what Tozer says - if it were medicine it would be too weak to cure anyone and if it were poison it would be too weak to kill anyone. (paraphrase)
What shall we as members of the body of Christ do about this betrayal of Kingdom ethics and values.
To address the critique raised by Sam - "maybe we should just trust that Christ will redeem his bride as is written, no? And that...The battle has already been won, by Christ."
Although the point is a decent one, that he caps off with a call to just living in mercy. This seems to be too far of an apathetic stance. Can we just sit by and watch the church self-destruct? Can we sit there while heresy and false teaching spread like cancer through the whole body of Christ? Granted it is true that the true church will not fall, but how can we say we love the church and do nothing when she is in no way a resemblance of who she is called to be?
I pray often for the purity of the Church, I pray that the chaff that fills the buildings every Sunday will be made pure first and foremost, but if not then be cleansed away. I pray for persecution to come upon the western church. Not because I'm some sadist who loves to see people injured and dead, but because I firmly believe that if you are not willing at a moment's notice to give your life and sacrifice everything for the sake of Jesus Christ, then you have no business calling yourself a Christian and claiming to be the church.
But we must not only pray for the purity of the Church, we must use the gifts that God has given us. We cannot sit idly by and credit our apathy with the fact that Christ will prevail and all will be right in the end. Christ will prevail indeed! Praise the Lord! But until then he has charged us, the body of Christ, to use our gifts to edify one another and build up the church in his image. We must always fight for the purity of the people of God. We must use our gifts of encouragement, healing, prophecy, tongues, etc. For the edification of the body. It is when we do that and stop living in this bismal state of the church that we will truly be on fire for God. And as Wesley said, when one man is ignited aflame for the Lord hundreds more [unbelievers] will come just to see him burn. (paraphrase) Then our witness will be pure. Then we will live in love, and mercy, and compassion.
The call is to the Church now! Prepare ye the way of the Lord! We cannot avoid our call to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and to shout at the top of our lungs, REPENT! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!!
That is our call, that is why I lament over the church. I love the church and I see her potential. Yes, she has always had her problems, she will continue to struggle because she is made up of humans, but with the Spirit filling her, she can be pure and spotless and ready for the coming of the Bridegroom!
Just one final disclaimer, I don't' speak these words because I'm one of those crazy kooks who thinks that the coming will be within the next 15 years when Russia invades Israel. I say this because this has always been the message of the Church. Just as her hearts cry must always be: MARANATHA - COME LORD JESUS!!
First let me say that I'm not saying that the Church has never had problems until now, and I'm not saying that all churches are bad. My point is not that I haven't found a church to suit me, rather the point is a lament for the state of the church, especially the western church.
The church has had its problems, and I suspect will continue to have problems, but I also feel that a strong case can be made that Christianity in North America is at one of the lowest points in all of Church history. I lament this fact, I lament the easy Christianity and pseudo-psycho-babble-pop Christianity that I see all over the place. I hear sermons on how to have less stress, or how to be successful in life. I see churches teaching doctrines that involve merely being happy and being driven by the purpose of self-fulfillment. Can you seriously tell me that this is Christianity? Can you say that this is the powerful word of the Lord? Does this in any way resemble the Kingdom of God that Jesus spent his whole ministry teaching about? By no means does this in any way, shape, or form look like, true Christianity.
This is my lament. I ache over the fact that the church is in such a sour state that it is neither cool nor hot. The gospel much of the church is preaching is like what Tozer says - if it were medicine it would be too weak to cure anyone and if it were poison it would be too weak to kill anyone. (paraphrase)
What shall we as members of the body of Christ do about this betrayal of Kingdom ethics and values.
To address the critique raised by Sam - "maybe we should just trust that Christ will redeem his bride as is written, no? And that...The battle has already been won, by Christ."
Although the point is a decent one, that he caps off with a call to just living in mercy. This seems to be too far of an apathetic stance. Can we just sit by and watch the church self-destruct? Can we sit there while heresy and false teaching spread like cancer through the whole body of Christ? Granted it is true that the true church will not fall, but how can we say we love the church and do nothing when she is in no way a resemblance of who she is called to be?
I pray often for the purity of the Church, I pray that the chaff that fills the buildings every Sunday will be made pure first and foremost, but if not then be cleansed away. I pray for persecution to come upon the western church. Not because I'm some sadist who loves to see people injured and dead, but because I firmly believe that if you are not willing at a moment's notice to give your life and sacrifice everything for the sake of Jesus Christ, then you have no business calling yourself a Christian and claiming to be the church.
But we must not only pray for the purity of the Church, we must use the gifts that God has given us. We cannot sit idly by and credit our apathy with the fact that Christ will prevail and all will be right in the end. Christ will prevail indeed! Praise the Lord! But until then he has charged us, the body of Christ, to use our gifts to edify one another and build up the church in his image. We must always fight for the purity of the people of God. We must use our gifts of encouragement, healing, prophecy, tongues, etc. For the edification of the body. It is when we do that and stop living in this bismal state of the church that we will truly be on fire for God. And as Wesley said, when one man is ignited aflame for the Lord hundreds more [unbelievers] will come just to see him burn. (paraphrase) Then our witness will be pure. Then we will live in love, and mercy, and compassion.
The call is to the Church now! Prepare ye the way of the Lord! We cannot avoid our call to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and to shout at the top of our lungs, REPENT! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!!
That is our call, that is why I lament over the church. I love the church and I see her potential. Yes, she has always had her problems, she will continue to struggle because she is made up of humans, but with the Spirit filling her, she can be pure and spotless and ready for the coming of the Bridegroom!
Just one final disclaimer, I don't' speak these words because I'm one of those crazy kooks who thinks that the coming will be within the next 15 years when Russia invades Israel. I say this because this has always been the message of the Church. Just as her hearts cry must always be: MARANATHA - COME LORD JESUS!!
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Question
So the last time I worked a country show I had some theological thoughts to post. Well, I just worked another show at the same bar with another country band and I have some more thoughts. These however are neither profound nor theological. In fact it's more one question rather than a set of thoughts. So if you all will allow me a rare deviation from my theological ponderings I will put out a question that I hope some of you may be able to answer.
Here is the question:
Why do they always put mirrors behind bars? Is it just to make the room look bigger? Why is it?
Ok, that's my question and my rare non-theological thought for the blog. I'm sure I'll post another one in another 4 or 5 months.
Here is the question:
Why do they always put mirrors behind bars? Is it just to make the room look bigger? Why is it?
Ok, that's my question and my rare non-theological thought for the blog. I'm sure I'll post another one in another 4 or 5 months.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Is it really to much to ask?!
I just got back from yet another failure at finding a church. I think I'm beginning to lose hope. Since I've moved here to Wilmore I've visited 14 different churches, and some of them more than once. That's right, I have been in Wimore for 19 Sundays and have visited 14 different churches and have yet to find one that is good (yes, I know good is really arbitrary).
You may be thinking that I'm just too picky, or that I'm just buying into the consumeristic notion of "church shopping," but I feel it's more than that. I feel that it's something deeper.
All I'm really asking for is a Church that shifts the focus from us to God, a church that calls its congregants into a deep and loving relationship with God. I'm looking for a church that isn't married to American consumerism or Republican politics. I'm asking for a church that preaches the hard prophetic word of the Lord in a loving way, one that doesn't water down the message of the cross and the cost of discipleship in order to be "seeker friendly." I long to find a church that truly meets with God instead of meeting with each other in a valiant grasp to look religious and fulfill some preconceived notion of what it means to be a Christian. It would be great if I found a church where the gifts of the Spirit were actually used and not just talked about, where women were actually encouraged to be in ministry and not just theologized about being in ministry.
I've come to the conclusion that a church like this doesn't exist. I've known that for a while, but seriously, I would settle for any small combination. I really just want a place where I can serve God and others, where people are actually passionate about God and interested in knowing him more intimately every day. I don't care about worship styles, I don't care about size (although I bet my changes are better with a small church), I really don't care what denomination, I just want a place to encounter God with fellow believers who are seeking God.
Maybe I can't gauge a church on a one Sunday visit; maybe I need constantly remember that John Stott is right when he says "Every church in every place at every time is in need of reform and renewal. But we need to beware lest we despise the church of God and are blind to his work in history."
Do I hate the church? No! May God forbid it! Although, I use to hate the church, I hated the church for 2 or 3 years, from a senior in High School to a sophomore at Houghton. Then I read Stott's quote while leading a Lifeline group. I don't hate the church, on the contrary; I love the Church. I love the Church more than you could ever believe. That's why my heart breaks every week. Every week when I hear pastors speak mere fluff, wasting away their precious minutes to convey a life-changing truth from God. It breaks when I hear congregations sing half-heartedly about "how good Jesus makes me feel," when I take communion with believers that have no concept of the grace given during the Holy Eucharist. I want to scream and shout, I want to weep and wail. Every week I feel like I'm going to die, I feel like I want to die. I feel like the Church is dead and there is no hope for it. I think it's for this reason that I burn with anxiousness to get out of seminary and to go minister. The church is dying, or maybe it's already dead... can anyone save it? I realize I can't do it in and of my own desire and ambition. I realize that it is by the grace and power of the Most High that the church must be resurrected out of its ashes like the phoenix of lore.
I'm beginning to think that maybe the best thing right now is for me to finish the training that God has set before me and then I will be better equipped to tackle the small portion of the monumentous task that God will give me. Yes, I'll do what I can now, but maybe training is essential. But what if I miss the fight? I feel like an anxious soldier waiting for his chance to see some action. What if the fight is over by the time I get out of here in 3 or 4 years? The sad part is that I doubt it will be over. The church is in trouble and unless the hand of God reaches and raises up his bride form the muck and the mire, she will continue to wallow in it for a long number of years.
I'm not saying that I've made my decision to stay in seminary, nor am I saying that I've given up fighting until I'm out. I'm just saying that we have an uphill battle and it will take much work, prayer, and probably a good old fashioned persecution to bring the Church back to be the pure bride that she once was.
Until that day, it seems that my only solace can be found in the words of Thomas Oden, from his book The Living God. Oden says: "Even when preachers are heretics, as long as they celebrate Holy Communion in due order, the liturgy is not invalidated, and the rite itself performs the ironic task of contradicting what has been badly taught."
I hope and pray that he is right, because right now there is a lot of bad teaching from pastors, worship leaders, and other ministers, and it is by the grace of God that the church still stands in even a vague shadow of her former glory.
You may be thinking that I'm just too picky, or that I'm just buying into the consumeristic notion of "church shopping," but I feel it's more than that. I feel that it's something deeper.
All I'm really asking for is a Church that shifts the focus from us to God, a church that calls its congregants into a deep and loving relationship with God. I'm looking for a church that isn't married to American consumerism or Republican politics. I'm asking for a church that preaches the hard prophetic word of the Lord in a loving way, one that doesn't water down the message of the cross and the cost of discipleship in order to be "seeker friendly." I long to find a church that truly meets with God instead of meeting with each other in a valiant grasp to look religious and fulfill some preconceived notion of what it means to be a Christian. It would be great if I found a church where the gifts of the Spirit were actually used and not just talked about, where women were actually encouraged to be in ministry and not just theologized about being in ministry.
I've come to the conclusion that a church like this doesn't exist. I've known that for a while, but seriously, I would settle for any small combination. I really just want a place where I can serve God and others, where people are actually passionate about God and interested in knowing him more intimately every day. I don't care about worship styles, I don't care about size (although I bet my changes are better with a small church), I really don't care what denomination, I just want a place to encounter God with fellow believers who are seeking God.
Maybe I can't gauge a church on a one Sunday visit; maybe I need constantly remember that John Stott is right when he says "Every church in every place at every time is in need of reform and renewal. But we need to beware lest we despise the church of God and are blind to his work in history."
Do I hate the church? No! May God forbid it! Although, I use to hate the church, I hated the church for 2 or 3 years, from a senior in High School to a sophomore at Houghton. Then I read Stott's quote while leading a Lifeline group. I don't hate the church, on the contrary; I love the Church. I love the Church more than you could ever believe. That's why my heart breaks every week. Every week when I hear pastors speak mere fluff, wasting away their precious minutes to convey a life-changing truth from God. It breaks when I hear congregations sing half-heartedly about "how good Jesus makes me feel," when I take communion with believers that have no concept of the grace given during the Holy Eucharist. I want to scream and shout, I want to weep and wail. Every week I feel like I'm going to die, I feel like I want to die. I feel like the Church is dead and there is no hope for it. I think it's for this reason that I burn with anxiousness to get out of seminary and to go minister. The church is dying, or maybe it's already dead... can anyone save it? I realize I can't do it in and of my own desire and ambition. I realize that it is by the grace and power of the Most High that the church must be resurrected out of its ashes like the phoenix of lore.
I'm beginning to think that maybe the best thing right now is for me to finish the training that God has set before me and then I will be better equipped to tackle the small portion of the monumentous task that God will give me. Yes, I'll do what I can now, but maybe training is essential. But what if I miss the fight? I feel like an anxious soldier waiting for his chance to see some action. What if the fight is over by the time I get out of here in 3 or 4 years? The sad part is that I doubt it will be over. The church is in trouble and unless the hand of God reaches and raises up his bride form the muck and the mire, she will continue to wallow in it for a long number of years.
I'm not saying that I've made my decision to stay in seminary, nor am I saying that I've given up fighting until I'm out. I'm just saying that we have an uphill battle and it will take much work, prayer, and probably a good old fashioned persecution to bring the Church back to be the pure bride that she once was.
Until that day, it seems that my only solace can be found in the words of Thomas Oden, from his book The Living God. Oden says: "Even when preachers are heretics, as long as they celebrate Holy Communion in due order, the liturgy is not invalidated, and the rite itself performs the ironic task of contradicting what has been badly taught."
I hope and pray that he is right, because right now there is a lot of bad teaching from pastors, worship leaders, and other ministers, and it is by the grace of God that the church still stands in even a vague shadow of her former glory.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Thoughts on Love and Charity
I just finished reading Pope Benedict XVI's first Encyclical letter entitled Deus Caritas Est and I have to say that it may contain some of the most profound thoughts on love and christian charity/social action that I've ever read.
The Holy Father's love for the church and for humanity truly shines through in this, his first Encyclical Letter to the Church.
I don't want to try and condense what he wrote down to a small blog post for a few reasons. 1. I can't, he said to many profound things and I am still thinking through them, and 2. It's really long and it took me forever to read it.
So I will simply post the link here and put a couple of my favorite quotes from the letter below. I would encourage you all to take the time to read it. For those who are fearful of Catholics (namely my family) don't worry it doesn't get really Catholicy until the conclusion.
I do have to admit that there were some things that I didn't agree 100% with, but they were so close to what I think I was willing to give the ol' Padre the benefit of the doubt.
Here is the link:
Pope Benedict's First Encyclical Letter: Deus Caritas Est
Some of my favorite quotes:
"Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction." Intro 1:2
"Yet it is neither the spirit alone nor the body alone that loves: it is man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul, who loves." I 5:2
"...the good pastor must be rooted in contemplation. Only in this way will he be able to take upon himself the needs of others and make them his own..." I 7:3
"I cannot possess Christ just for myself; I can belong to him only in union with all those who have become, or who will become, his own. Communion draws me out of myself towards him, and thus also towards unity with all Christians." I 14:1
"The Church cannot neglect the service of charity any more than she can neglect the Sacraments and the Word." II 22:1
"The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice."
II 28a:5
"The Church can never be exempted from practising charity as an organized activity of believers, and on the other hand, there will never be a situation where the charity of each individual Christian is unnecessary, because in addition to justice man needs, and will always need, love."
II 29:3
"...it is very important that the Church's charitable activity maintains all of its splendour and does not become just another form of social assistance." II 31:1
"Whoever loves Christ loves the Church, and desires the Church to be increasingly the image and instrument of the love which flows from Christ." II 33:1
"our crying out is, as it was for Jesus on the Cross, the deepest and most radical way of affirming our faith in his sovereign power." II 38:1
The Holy Father's love for the church and for humanity truly shines through in this, his first Encyclical Letter to the Church.
I don't want to try and condense what he wrote down to a small blog post for a few reasons. 1. I can't, he said to many profound things and I am still thinking through them, and 2. It's really long and it took me forever to read it.
So I will simply post the link here and put a couple of my favorite quotes from the letter below. I would encourage you all to take the time to read it. For those who are fearful of Catholics (namely my family) don't worry it doesn't get really Catholicy until the conclusion.
I do have to admit that there were some things that I didn't agree 100% with, but they were so close to what I think I was willing to give the ol' Padre the benefit of the doubt.
Here is the link:
Pope Benedict's First Encyclical Letter: Deus Caritas Est
Some of my favorite quotes:
"Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction." Intro 1:2
"Yet it is neither the spirit alone nor the body alone that loves: it is man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul, who loves." I 5:2
"...the good pastor must be rooted in contemplation. Only in this way will he be able to take upon himself the needs of others and make them his own..." I 7:3
"I cannot possess Christ just for myself; I can belong to him only in union with all those who have become, or who will become, his own. Communion draws me out of myself towards him, and thus also towards unity with all Christians." I 14:1
"The Church cannot neglect the service of charity any more than she can neglect the Sacraments and the Word." II 22:1
"The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice."
II 28a:5
"The Church can never be exempted from practising charity as an organized activity of believers, and on the other hand, there will never be a situation where the charity of each individual Christian is unnecessary, because in addition to justice man needs, and will always need, love."
II 29:3
"...it is very important that the Church's charitable activity maintains all of its splendour and does not become just another form of social assistance." II 31:1
"Whoever loves Christ loves the Church, and desires the Church to be increasingly the image and instrument of the love which flows from Christ." II 33:1
"our crying out is, as it was for Jesus on the Cross, the deepest and most radical way of affirming our faith in his sovereign power." II 38:1
Monday, January 02, 2006
It happened again...
The first time it happened I thought about posting, but by the time I got back to my apartment I decided that it wasn't significant enough to post about. Well, it happened again and so I've decided to post about it.
So what exactly is it? It... is this:
I went to the grocery store to buy some groceries and was filled with an overwhelming sense of disgust and betrayal. Not at people or the store, but at myself.
Like I said, this isn't the first time it has happened, and so I can't merely shrug it off as good old fashioned liberal guilt. I have to think about it, I have to deal with it, but how? Everyone has to buy groceries don't they?
The question is how do we buy groceries without participating in the sinful cycle that we call capitalism? How do we purchase milk without supporting the system that screws poor dairy farmers while huge coorporations get richer? How do I buy apples without supporting apple farmers who pay migrant farm workers wages that aren't enough to feed a dog on?
Yes, there are a few options like free-trade coffee (but I don't drink coffee), but not enough and these options are usually expensive. So how do I do these things while one a very limited grad school student budget?
And why do i feel this guilt when I buy groceries and not when I buy books or pay for my cell phone? I know these aren't exactly the same but they're close enough.
How do I stop supporting big business that does nothing but give poor people the shaft. And yet, if big business were to be completely eliminated then millions of people would be out of jobs and there would be even more people in poverty.
Is socialism the answer? How about communism? A drastic overhaul of capitalsim? Should I treat this like the "meat sacrificed to idols" in scripture? Should I stop asking questions and delight in ignorance? I'm not sure. I'm not educated economically or politically enough to give an intelligent answer or even know the full extent of the problem.
All I know is when I go to the grocery store I get disgusted and feel like I am betraying all of my convictions just by buying milk and vegtables.
I don't have an answer, nor do I have a soap-box to stand on, all I know is it's something I think about a lot and so I put it out there for you all to think about with me.
Shalom
So what exactly is it? It... is this:
I went to the grocery store to buy some groceries and was filled with an overwhelming sense of disgust and betrayal. Not at people or the store, but at myself.
Like I said, this isn't the first time it has happened, and so I can't merely shrug it off as good old fashioned liberal guilt. I have to think about it, I have to deal with it, but how? Everyone has to buy groceries don't they?
The question is how do we buy groceries without participating in the sinful cycle that we call capitalism? How do we purchase milk without supporting the system that screws poor dairy farmers while huge coorporations get richer? How do I buy apples without supporting apple farmers who pay migrant farm workers wages that aren't enough to feed a dog on?
Yes, there are a few options like free-trade coffee (but I don't drink coffee), but not enough and these options are usually expensive. So how do I do these things while one a very limited grad school student budget?
And why do i feel this guilt when I buy groceries and not when I buy books or pay for my cell phone? I know these aren't exactly the same but they're close enough.
How do I stop supporting big business that does nothing but give poor people the shaft. And yet, if big business were to be completely eliminated then millions of people would be out of jobs and there would be even more people in poverty.
Is socialism the answer? How about communism? A drastic overhaul of capitalsim? Should I treat this like the "meat sacrificed to idols" in scripture? Should I stop asking questions and delight in ignorance? I'm not sure. I'm not educated economically or politically enough to give an intelligent answer or even know the full extent of the problem.
All I know is when I go to the grocery store I get disgusted and feel like I am betraying all of my convictions just by buying milk and vegtables.
I don't have an answer, nor do I have a soap-box to stand on, all I know is it's something I think about a lot and so I put it out there for you all to think about with me.
Shalom
Friday, December 09, 2005
Thoughts during a show
I just got back from running sound at a sweet bar, that very much resembled Coyote Ugly, named Fergie's in Lebanon, KY. The show was awesome, it was by a guy named Jason Aldean or something like that, I dunno he's some random country guy, and a band named Hooker. Yeah I know that's a funny band name. Well while I was running sound, I started having some theological thoughts, so I thought I would quickly blog about them before I go to bed, even though it is 4:00am.
As I was standing at the monitor console tonight, I began to wonder what exactly separates me, as a Christian from the drunken mass on the dance floor. Other than the obvious - Christians don't dance! What makes me different from them as a Christian that wouldn't be different if I walked away from the faith?
Here is the dialectical discussion that ran through my head:
Is it that I don't drink? No, that's not it, because I believe drinking is theologically permissible and if I walked away from the faith, I"m pretty sure I still wouldn't drink,just because I have no desire to at all.
Is it that I don't swear? No, words are just words and I just don't like to be vulgar, so even if I left the faith I probably still wouldn't swear.
Is it that I don't wear cowboy hats and say Yee Haw! No, cause that's just lame.
Is it that I am kind to people? It seems that, this one gets closer, but I just enjoy being nice to people and I think that if I walked away from the faith I would still be a pretty nice guy.
I thought through a bunch of other things and I began to wonder "where is the sacrifice." Almost as soon as I thought this I remembered Jesus' quotation of Micah something that sounds like this "understand this, I desire Mercy not sacrifice." Couple this with the overly quoted "they will know you by your love" and one would tend to think that the answer to my question is self evident. Well I think not.
I thought about this for a bit.
Is showing mercy and love to the poor what separates me? No, because I would have compassion on them anyways. There are plenty of people who do lots of wonderful things for the poor and they're as unregenerate as unregenerate can be.
Is showing love enough? Well, yes, but then we have to hyper-qualify the love to be unconditional love that is only perfectly displayed through the power of the Spirit.
And I feel we cannot forget sacrifice, although if we take the above quotation out of context we can easily assume that no sacrifice is needed anymore. However, the bible is very clear that sacrifice is required.
So where is the sacrifice?
It seems to me that this might be what the distinction is - willingness to sacrifice, or better yet the practice of sacrifice. I am not ignoring mercy and love, they are essential, but so often we try to show them in our own strength and confuse love and mercy with good deeds and we do the deeds as the end in themselves and call it sacrifice. I believe love, mercy, and sacrifice all go together, but it seems that we've really forgotten sacrifice. True love and mercy (to hyper-qualify them) truly do mean love and mercy that are sacrificial beyond our wildest thoughts.
But I think the important questions for us all to answer, one that I'm still struggling with is this. "If I walked away from the faith today, what would be different about me?" If the answer is nothing or hardly nothing then we have sold ourselves out to something that is nor more Christian than the Mormons are. Non sacrificial living is not living in the shadow of the cross and it is not living in the reality of the resurrection.
The problem for us is seeing what sacrifice really is. We say "but I do sacrifice" and refer to something lame like teach Sunday school. Yes for some that may be a true sacrifice, but for most, it's a cop out. We as Americans suck at sacrificing. What we need is a good old fashioned persecution! Then sacrifice will come, it will come at the cost of our lives, at the cost of our children, parents and other loved ones. We will then live in the ever-present reality that our brothers and sisters in China live in. It seems to me that when we learn sacrifice, true sacrifice, that we will also learn true mercy and love, because there will be nothing left in us to hinder the flow of those things from the Spirit in our lives.
I know, these are crazy thoughts especially since they were developed while listening to country songs about beer and tractors. But maybe I'm right, or maybe I'm completely wrong. But either way I still think a good question to ask ourselves is: "If I walked away form the faith today, what would be different about my life?"
As I was standing at the monitor console tonight, I began to wonder what exactly separates me, as a Christian from the drunken mass on the dance floor. Other than the obvious - Christians don't dance! What makes me different from them as a Christian that wouldn't be different if I walked away from the faith?
Here is the dialectical discussion that ran through my head:
Is it that I don't drink? No, that's not it, because I believe drinking is theologically permissible and if I walked away from the faith, I"m pretty sure I still wouldn't drink,just because I have no desire to at all.
Is it that I don't swear? No, words are just words and I just don't like to be vulgar, so even if I left the faith I probably still wouldn't swear.
Is it that I don't wear cowboy hats and say Yee Haw! No, cause that's just lame.
Is it that I am kind to people? It seems that, this one gets closer, but I just enjoy being nice to people and I think that if I walked away from the faith I would still be a pretty nice guy.
I thought through a bunch of other things and I began to wonder "where is the sacrifice." Almost as soon as I thought this I remembered Jesus' quotation of Micah something that sounds like this "understand this, I desire Mercy not sacrifice." Couple this with the overly quoted "they will know you by your love" and one would tend to think that the answer to my question is self evident. Well I think not.
I thought about this for a bit.
Is showing mercy and love to the poor what separates me? No, because I would have compassion on them anyways. There are plenty of people who do lots of wonderful things for the poor and they're as unregenerate as unregenerate can be.
Is showing love enough? Well, yes, but then we have to hyper-qualify the love to be unconditional love that is only perfectly displayed through the power of the Spirit.
And I feel we cannot forget sacrifice, although if we take the above quotation out of context we can easily assume that no sacrifice is needed anymore. However, the bible is very clear that sacrifice is required.
So where is the sacrifice?
It seems to me that this might be what the distinction is - willingness to sacrifice, or better yet the practice of sacrifice. I am not ignoring mercy and love, they are essential, but so often we try to show them in our own strength and confuse love and mercy with good deeds and we do the deeds as the end in themselves and call it sacrifice. I believe love, mercy, and sacrifice all go together, but it seems that we've really forgotten sacrifice. True love and mercy (to hyper-qualify them) truly do mean love and mercy that are sacrificial beyond our wildest thoughts.
But I think the important questions for us all to answer, one that I'm still struggling with is this. "If I walked away from the faith today, what would be different about me?" If the answer is nothing or hardly nothing then we have sold ourselves out to something that is nor more Christian than the Mormons are. Non sacrificial living is not living in the shadow of the cross and it is not living in the reality of the resurrection.
The problem for us is seeing what sacrifice really is. We say "but I do sacrifice" and refer to something lame like teach Sunday school. Yes for some that may be a true sacrifice, but for most, it's a cop out. We as Americans suck at sacrificing. What we need is a good old fashioned persecution! Then sacrifice will come, it will come at the cost of our lives, at the cost of our children, parents and other loved ones. We will then live in the ever-present reality that our brothers and sisters in China live in. It seems to me that when we learn sacrifice, true sacrifice, that we will also learn true mercy and love, because there will be nothing left in us to hinder the flow of those things from the Spirit in our lives.
I know, these are crazy thoughts especially since they were developed while listening to country songs about beer and tractors. But maybe I'm right, or maybe I'm completely wrong. But either way I still think a good question to ask ourselves is: "If I walked away form the faith today, what would be different about my life?"
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Postmodernism
Let me preface this post by saying that I'm a bit tired so I apologize in advance for any points that seem to be unusually unclear or nonsensical.
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about postmodernism and the Church's response to it. Some of this thinking has come from classroom readings, some from dialogues with friends and some from my own experience in a postmodern "intentional community."
Thinking back to my Houghton days, oh so long ago, I remember how I was all about postmodernity and the "emergent" movement. I was so excited for this new paradigm in which to minister. A paradigm which seemed to throw off the shackles of modernity; especially the scientific method and the need for empiracle proof of all things, and seemed to embrace experience, narrative, and people.
I was all for this new paradigm for the majority of senior year and did not become wary of it until Doug Pagit came along and told us about his emergent church: Solomon's Porch in Minnesota. His lack of concern for orthodoxy bothered me, along with the lack of spiritual depth with which this emergent leader spoke. I am not trying to criticize him personally, but I observed this in his lecture and my subsequent conversations with him. My main concern with this was that he was one of the key leaders of a movement and seemed to lack deep spiritual passion - usually a bad combination.
Although this was a red flag, I still was a fan of postmodern christianity represented by authors like Pagit, and McClaren, and what is becoming countless other authors. This changed, however, when I came to Asbury.
At Asbury one can hardly hear students and some faculty talke for long without hearing phrases like: "our story", "our narrative", "emergent", "community", and other words and phrases that are hot phrases in the postmodern christian dialect. (To be sure, the context these phrases were spoken in ways often spiritually deep and packed with meaning.) Added to this I started to attend "Communality" an emergent-like intentional community in Lexington that had a very postmodern vibe. With the combination of these two factors and some readings in one of my classes, I began to have a new perspective on postmodernism and Christianity. I guess one could say that I was simply getting burnt out on the phrasology, but I would argue that I was begining to see a broader picture than what I had seen before.
I began to wonder why I was becoming dissillusioned with this Christian embrace of postmodernism. I wondered if it was the apparent lack of spiritual power that I observed in Communality and Pagit. I didn't think this was it because at the seminary there was incredible depth. I wondered if I was just sick of hearing the word story and narrative. Maybe, but it seemed to be larger than just annoyance. I wondered if I was just merely too far entrenched in modernism that it hurt to break out. I didn't think that was it either. I kept asking these sorts of questions trying to pinpoint what I disliked about it and then the other day I seemed to realize my problem with it.
It's trendy.
I think that we as Christians are making way too big a deal out of postmodernity. We're racking our brains trying to discifer the global culture, the way the world is taking shape. We're trying to be relevant by accentuating community, story, and other postmodern things, when really we're just hopping on the newest Christian fad.
I'm not saying that postmodernity doesn't exist, I'm not saying we should stop trying to understand culture, but I'm asking "why do we care so much?" Why are we so busy trying to understand what the world is thinking. It's as if we need to figure it out because we have a way to project the gospel to the whole world at once and it needs to be relevant to all. I am convinced this deep need to understand the entire culture is nothing but an immediate product of our mass targeted Christianity (church growth movement) which is deeply rooted in modernism. We're becoming obsessed with community and story because it is the next gimmick we can use to sucker mass groups of people into the Kingdom (or what we narrowlly view the Kingdom as being - i.e. the local church). The Kingdom always grows one individual at a time (though it does not emphasize THE individual in all things) and it is always working by the power of the Spirit.
Yes, community and story are genuinly important to some (and rightly so), but to talk about them all the time seems like a mere gimmick. To value community is not to continuously talk about it, rather it is to live within it and structure one's life within community and to value story is the same.
We've missed the mark. We constantly focus on global contextualization when really that's not the issue. The real issue is local contextualization. Why do we care what the whole world thinks and how society is moving. To be concerned with that seems to me to be an excuse for us to become blind to what our neighbor thinks and how she or he is moving in life. We constantly seek to look on large scales, when the real ministry of the Kingdom is done on small scale. In the case of the Kingdom of God, bigger is not better!! - Well at least not until the parousia.
The book of Acts shows us the movement of the Kingdom from Jerusalem outward. It starts small, with a rag tag group of Spirit filled disciples and grows into a large Spirit filled movement that encompasses much of what was then the known world, including Rome. While we may not have the same scenario here, we do have something analogous. We are constantly looking at Rome and beyond and trying to figure out how to reach it, but we haven't even concerned ourselves with Jerusalem, let alone forged a path to Rome.
We need to stop talking and start living. We need to stop theorizing about what the world is thinking and start dealing with the thoughts of those around us. We need to throw our hands in the air and say "who cares about postmodernism." We need to realize that the only ones talking about it are philosophers and Chrsitians (not that the two groups are mutually exclusive) and realize that the average person on the street, doesn't need postmodern Chrstians, they need real Spirit-filled Christians to help them in their needieness - both spiritual and physical.
So who does care? Not I.
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about postmodernism and the Church's response to it. Some of this thinking has come from classroom readings, some from dialogues with friends and some from my own experience in a postmodern "intentional community."
Thinking back to my Houghton days, oh so long ago, I remember how I was all about postmodernity and the "emergent" movement. I was so excited for this new paradigm in which to minister. A paradigm which seemed to throw off the shackles of modernity; especially the scientific method and the need for empiracle proof of all things, and seemed to embrace experience, narrative, and people.
I was all for this new paradigm for the majority of senior year and did not become wary of it until Doug Pagit came along and told us about his emergent church: Solomon's Porch in Minnesota. His lack of concern for orthodoxy bothered me, along with the lack of spiritual depth with which this emergent leader spoke. I am not trying to criticize him personally, but I observed this in his lecture and my subsequent conversations with him. My main concern with this was that he was one of the key leaders of a movement and seemed to lack deep spiritual passion - usually a bad combination.
Although this was a red flag, I still was a fan of postmodern christianity represented by authors like Pagit, and McClaren, and what is becoming countless other authors. This changed, however, when I came to Asbury.
At Asbury one can hardly hear students and some faculty talke for long without hearing phrases like: "our story", "our narrative", "emergent", "community", and other words and phrases that are hot phrases in the postmodern christian dialect. (To be sure, the context these phrases were spoken in ways often spiritually deep and packed with meaning.) Added to this I started to attend "Communality" an emergent-like intentional community in Lexington that had a very postmodern vibe. With the combination of these two factors and some readings in one of my classes, I began to have a new perspective on postmodernism and Christianity. I guess one could say that I was simply getting burnt out on the phrasology, but I would argue that I was begining to see a broader picture than what I had seen before.
I began to wonder why I was becoming dissillusioned with this Christian embrace of postmodernism. I wondered if it was the apparent lack of spiritual power that I observed in Communality and Pagit. I didn't think this was it because at the seminary there was incredible depth. I wondered if I was just sick of hearing the word story and narrative. Maybe, but it seemed to be larger than just annoyance. I wondered if I was just merely too far entrenched in modernism that it hurt to break out. I didn't think that was it either. I kept asking these sorts of questions trying to pinpoint what I disliked about it and then the other day I seemed to realize my problem with it.
It's trendy.
I think that we as Christians are making way too big a deal out of postmodernity. We're racking our brains trying to discifer the global culture, the way the world is taking shape. We're trying to be relevant by accentuating community, story, and other postmodern things, when really we're just hopping on the newest Christian fad.
I'm not saying that postmodernity doesn't exist, I'm not saying we should stop trying to understand culture, but I'm asking "why do we care so much?" Why are we so busy trying to understand what the world is thinking. It's as if we need to figure it out because we have a way to project the gospel to the whole world at once and it needs to be relevant to all. I am convinced this deep need to understand the entire culture is nothing but an immediate product of our mass targeted Christianity (church growth movement) which is deeply rooted in modernism. We're becoming obsessed with community and story because it is the next gimmick we can use to sucker mass groups of people into the Kingdom (or what we narrowlly view the Kingdom as being - i.e. the local church). The Kingdom always grows one individual at a time (though it does not emphasize THE individual in all things) and it is always working by the power of the Spirit.
Yes, community and story are genuinly important to some (and rightly so), but to talk about them all the time seems like a mere gimmick. To value community is not to continuously talk about it, rather it is to live within it and structure one's life within community and to value story is the same.
We've missed the mark. We constantly focus on global contextualization when really that's not the issue. The real issue is local contextualization. Why do we care what the whole world thinks and how society is moving. To be concerned with that seems to me to be an excuse for us to become blind to what our neighbor thinks and how she or he is moving in life. We constantly seek to look on large scales, when the real ministry of the Kingdom is done on small scale. In the case of the Kingdom of God, bigger is not better!! - Well at least not until the parousia.
The book of Acts shows us the movement of the Kingdom from Jerusalem outward. It starts small, with a rag tag group of Spirit filled disciples and grows into a large Spirit filled movement that encompasses much of what was then the known world, including Rome. While we may not have the same scenario here, we do have something analogous. We are constantly looking at Rome and beyond and trying to figure out how to reach it, but we haven't even concerned ourselves with Jerusalem, let alone forged a path to Rome.
We need to stop talking and start living. We need to stop theorizing about what the world is thinking and start dealing with the thoughts of those around us. We need to throw our hands in the air and say "who cares about postmodernism." We need to realize that the only ones talking about it are philosophers and Chrsitians (not that the two groups are mutually exclusive) and realize that the average person on the street, doesn't need postmodern Chrstians, they need real Spirit-filled Christians to help them in their needieness - both spiritual and physical.
So who does care? Not I.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Ramadan Ends
Ramadan has ended and thus has my Ramadan fast. I'm not really sure to write here, but I thought I should write on the end of Ramadan since I wrote about the begining. So my thoughts will probably be a little more scattered than normal, hopefully you can follow them.
I'm not sure if I will ever see or hear about any of the fruit of my prayer and fasting, but it was worth it. I have come out of this time with an increased love for the Islamic people of the world. I have a bigger view of where Islam is and how the Evil One uses it as a great tool of deception and oppression. The weekday lunch hours I spend in prayer with five other people were wonderful times. I don't know if I have ever prayed with people that ferverent in praying for people many of them don't know. It made me realize how little our churches care about the lost and the world.
I do have to give tremendous props to the Muslims though. I started the fast and it wasn't too bad and then I found out that you're not allowed to drink during the daylight hours. Then it got hard. Couple that with intramural sports and a student's schedule and by the 3rd week I felt myself getting pretty spent.
This also made me think about how much food is more than food in our culture. So much of our society centers around food. Hanging out with friends almost always involves some sort of food. If you don't eat lunch, but are still around people who do you feel like they're look at you wierd. Sometimes it was almost as if I would remove myself from social situations to avoid the complication of describing what I was doing and why I couldn't eat. Our society is completely wrapped up in food and doing this also helped me to see that in a new light.
I can't think of any other thoughts about Ramadan. I know I had a few more but I forgot to jot them down and have since forgotten them. Especially because Ramadan ended a few days ago.
So there is a little bit of an update, if you wanted one.
Blessings
I'm not sure if I will ever see or hear about any of the fruit of my prayer and fasting, but it was worth it. I have come out of this time with an increased love for the Islamic people of the world. I have a bigger view of where Islam is and how the Evil One uses it as a great tool of deception and oppression. The weekday lunch hours I spend in prayer with five other people were wonderful times. I don't know if I have ever prayed with people that ferverent in praying for people many of them don't know. It made me realize how little our churches care about the lost and the world.
I do have to give tremendous props to the Muslims though. I started the fast and it wasn't too bad and then I found out that you're not allowed to drink during the daylight hours. Then it got hard. Couple that with intramural sports and a student's schedule and by the 3rd week I felt myself getting pretty spent.
This also made me think about how much food is more than food in our culture. So much of our society centers around food. Hanging out with friends almost always involves some sort of food. If you don't eat lunch, but are still around people who do you feel like they're look at you wierd. Sometimes it was almost as if I would remove myself from social situations to avoid the complication of describing what I was doing and why I couldn't eat. Our society is completely wrapped up in food and doing this also helped me to see that in a new light.
I can't think of any other thoughts about Ramadan. I know I had a few more but I forgot to jot them down and have since forgotten them. Especially because Ramadan ended a few days ago.
So there is a little bit of an update, if you wanted one.
Blessings
Decisions, decisions, decisions
As some of you may know I'm in the process of making a major decision right now. For those of you who don't know here it is: through a series of events I ended up sending my resume to a Wesleyan church in Austrailia. Things are looking good and they want to set up a phone interview which from what I gather is just a formality to be done before they officicially offer me the position. So the decision is: Do I move to Austrailia and take this church (providing it's offered) or do I stay here at Asbury. This is the main decision I'm working on right now.
What I want to share with you now isn't that I have this huge decision, but something God seemed to be speaking to me the other day.
With this decision I felt the need the other day to get out in nature and spend some time meditating, praying and reading some scripture. As I was out at some nature place near lexington I began reading through one of my favorite Psalms - Psalm 34. As I was reading this and taking some pictures of nature with my camera and praying God seemed to be telling me not to seek out the answer to the decision. He seemed to be saying to me, "seek me, and that will fall into place."
So that's what I've been trying to do. Focus on seeking God in and of himself. With this perspective it's hard not to seek God as a means to an end (the answer to what I should do), but nonetheless I continue to seek God. I pray that he will allow me to truly seek him, not as a means to an end, but as an end in itself.
No soap box this time, just something God showed me and I thought I would pass along. Take it for whatever it's worth.
Blessings to all of you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!
What I want to share with you now isn't that I have this huge decision, but something God seemed to be speaking to me the other day.
With this decision I felt the need the other day to get out in nature and spend some time meditating, praying and reading some scripture. As I was out at some nature place near lexington I began reading through one of my favorite Psalms - Psalm 34. As I was reading this and taking some pictures of nature with my camera and praying God seemed to be telling me not to seek out the answer to the decision. He seemed to be saying to me, "seek me, and that will fall into place."
So that's what I've been trying to do. Focus on seeking God in and of himself. With this perspective it's hard not to seek God as a means to an end (the answer to what I should do), but nonetheless I continue to seek God. I pray that he will allow me to truly seek him, not as a means to an end, but as an end in itself.
No soap box this time, just something God showed me and I thought I would pass along. Take it for whatever it's worth.
Blessings to all of you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Allow me to Vent!
I know I should probably write my thoughts on both Greg's and Chuch's thoughts pertaining to "Saints and the Prosperity Gospel" below, but this something that I've been angry about all day.
It started last night while I was watching the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's basically like the Daily Show, a half hour show of witty satire that takes shameless jabs at the political right and the news media. I must preface this by saying that I'm not one to take offense at much, in fact I love it when people tell religious jokes that make fun of the flaws in the church. I love to watch the Simpsons, read Larknews.com, and browse through to shipoffools.com. All of these things poke much fun at the church, and to be honest they make good points and if the church was truly following Christ and not allowing our own agenda's to get in the way they wouldn't have anything to make fun of us for.
Now I'm not angry about any religious joke that they told or anything like that. What I'm angry about is what the guest on the show said. The guest was an astrophysicist who attended an Ivy League school. I missed his name because I was flipping back and forth between this and the world series, however when I found out the guest was an astrophysicist I stayed on comedy central, because astrophysics is interesting.
Ok on to the anger. During the interview the host, Stephen Colbert, asked a few questions and then brought up the topic of intelligent design. After a bit of talking the guest made the statement that intelligent design was "intillectual laziness."
It didn't really bother me last night, but as I thought about it today I kept getting angry, hence the need to vent - and what better place to vent than a blog!
Intellectual laziness?! I'm fine with people disagreeing with intelligent design, and I really don't care if Christians posit theistic evolution or creationism, but to call intelligent design intellectual laziness, just makes me angry.
I don't care how many stinking letters this guy has after his name (PhD...etc) or where he went to school, I would love to see him or any scholar (including Stephen Hawking) go up against the great minds of Christian History (ie: the saints of the Church - to relate to the last post). I would certainly not call Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, on top of many others intellectually lazy.
Maybe I'm just upset because I'm striving to be an academic right now and to be told that one of my views is completely unintellectual is no fun, but I don't think that's at the heart of it. I mean, shoot, I hold a lot of ideas that many people (even some Christians) think are intellectually absurd. To name some examples: I don't believe in the source hyposthesis for the Penteteuch, I don't hold to the Q source as a development for the gospel theory, I believe in a literal Adam, I believe that all of the charism are still to be used in the church today, and the list could continue. So I don't think that I'm taking this as a personal attack. Rather it's almost as if this man has attacked all of the Christian thinkers throughout the ages and declared them to be morons. I take offense to this, the Christian thinkers through the ages were certainly no slouches and I doubt that one could hardly describe them as intellectually lazy.
So enough with the ranting. I really didn't formulate a coherent defense, so maybe I am intellectually lazy, but the great thinkers of church history such as Aquinas, Augustine, Lewis, Anselm, Abelard, Calvin, et al. were certainly not intellectually inferior to the secular minds of their day, or of any day for that matter.
It started last night while I was watching the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's basically like the Daily Show, a half hour show of witty satire that takes shameless jabs at the political right and the news media. I must preface this by saying that I'm not one to take offense at much, in fact I love it when people tell religious jokes that make fun of the flaws in the church. I love to watch the Simpsons, read Larknews.com, and browse through to shipoffools.com. All of these things poke much fun at the church, and to be honest they make good points and if the church was truly following Christ and not allowing our own agenda's to get in the way they wouldn't have anything to make fun of us for.
Now I'm not angry about any religious joke that they told or anything like that. What I'm angry about is what the guest on the show said. The guest was an astrophysicist who attended an Ivy League school. I missed his name because I was flipping back and forth between this and the world series, however when I found out the guest was an astrophysicist I stayed on comedy central, because astrophysics is interesting.
Ok on to the anger. During the interview the host, Stephen Colbert, asked a few questions and then brought up the topic of intelligent design. After a bit of talking the guest made the statement that intelligent design was "intillectual laziness."
It didn't really bother me last night, but as I thought about it today I kept getting angry, hence the need to vent - and what better place to vent than a blog!
Intellectual laziness?! I'm fine with people disagreeing with intelligent design, and I really don't care if Christians posit theistic evolution or creationism, but to call intelligent design intellectual laziness, just makes me angry.
I don't care how many stinking letters this guy has after his name (PhD...etc) or where he went to school, I would love to see him or any scholar (including Stephen Hawking) go up against the great minds of Christian History (ie: the saints of the Church - to relate to the last post). I would certainly not call Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, on top of many others intellectually lazy.
Maybe I'm just upset because I'm striving to be an academic right now and to be told that one of my views is completely unintellectual is no fun, but I don't think that's at the heart of it. I mean, shoot, I hold a lot of ideas that many people (even some Christians) think are intellectually absurd. To name some examples: I don't believe in the source hyposthesis for the Penteteuch, I don't hold to the Q source as a development for the gospel theory, I believe in a literal Adam, I believe that all of the charism are still to be used in the church today, and the list could continue. So I don't think that I'm taking this as a personal attack. Rather it's almost as if this man has attacked all of the Christian thinkers throughout the ages and declared them to be morons. I take offense to this, the Christian thinkers through the ages were certainly no slouches and I doubt that one could hardly describe them as intellectually lazy.
So enough with the ranting. I really didn't formulate a coherent defense, so maybe I am intellectually lazy, but the great thinkers of church history such as Aquinas, Augustine, Lewis, Anselm, Abelard, Calvin, et al. were certainly not intellectually inferior to the secular minds of their day, or of any day for that matter.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Saints and the Prosperity Gospel
I just got back from attending St. Athanasias Orthodox Church today and while I was there I had a few thoughts that I thought I'd write about. Yes, I haven't been as committed to posting as I should be, I do have some thoughts that I've been meaning to post, but they'll have to wait for now. On to the issue at hand.
After the first hour or so of the liturgy the Priest (who is married, by the way) gave the sermon from the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. As he spoke about this he talked about joy in giving and blessing, specifically stating that he is not proclaiming to us some health and prosperity/name it claim it gospel. A little while later the priest mentioned something about a saint and my friend Nathaniel leaned over to me and told me about a saint of the Orthodox Church that lived in Siberia, who would go walk through the towns and as he saw beggars in need he would give his shoes and coat to the beggars and walk back to his home without shoes and a coat (remember Siberia is mostly cold, very cold).
With that as the foundation let me share my thoughts. I have lamented the lack of recognition of Church history and lack of saints in the Protestant Church for some while now. I'm not necessarily arguing that we need to pray to saints, but our neglect of those who have gone before us in the Protestant tradition is absolutly dreadful, if not in fact sinful (and I do believe one could make a case for that). We as protestants like to recognize a select few (like an occasional missionary or Billy Graham) but primarily they are individuals who lived in relatively recently (or are still alive) and will soon be forgotten. Most of protestantism today barely knows who Wesley, Asbury, Calvin etc are, let alone Ignatius, Irenaus, Athanasias, etc are. We tend to exalt those in the Protestant tradition who do great things, rather than those who live lives of sainthood.
As I was thinking about all this I began to wonder what would have happened if the Protestant Church had maintained the use of saints? Could the prosperity gospel exist? It seems to me that I have to allow that it could exist; but that it would be considerably hard for it to exist in as wide spread state as it does. Why is this you may ask. Well it seems to me that only those who live saintly lives are canonized as saints. I don't know of any saints who are lifted up because of the life of affluence they lived. Saints are canonized because they model Christ's teachings, they give completely of themselves, they are an example to all believers. With a strong tradition of recognizing this life of sacrifice in men and women throughout church history, I would say that it would be hard for a teaching that proclaims something completely contrary to this (and Christ's teachings) to take root and become widespread.
The problem with the protestant church is that people who live these lives of sacrifice often fall through the cracks. We don't remember them becuase we view them as insignificant in our individualized self/purpose driven world. We don't look at ourselves as living in a tradition that starts at creation, proceeds through the Old Testament, to the New, through the church of the ages and finally to us. This is who we are and it is good to remember those who came before us (cf: Hebrews 11).
We also have a skewed view of the incarnation. We have allowed dualism to tarnish our worldview. We view the incarnation as a past event. As John Madden would say: "Boom!" it happened. We tend to view life as something that means little except for a time where we made decisions that affect where we go in the end. We don't view all of life as a being an incarnation of Christ to the world. I get so frustrated every time I see the stupid (and dare I say heretical) bumper sticker: "I'm not a physical being having a spiritual experience, I"m a spiritual being having a physical experience." It is this garbage theology that has allowed the Protestant Church to neglect the poor, to abuse the helpless and live in some bastardized state between orthodoxy and gnosticism. We think that we only need to worship God with our minds and our hearts, how much more should we engage all that God gave us, our mind, heart, and body (including all the sense)!
All that to say that we should be lifting up examples of men and women who have gone before us in the faith and have lived lives that are true incarnations of Christ. They teach us that it's not enough to think right, but to act and live right as well. Live and act, not in my own personal/individualistic sphere, but with in a community, within the whole world.
Why should we not celebrate the saints of the Church? Why should we not have aids to remember them and allow our hearts to be drawn closer to the Trinity through the example of their lives? Should we not allow their example to point us toward Christ and to the life that he commanded and lived himself?
To get back to the point, it seems to me that this strong emphasis would have helped the Protestant Church to see the health and wealth/prosperity gospel for what it truly is, namely a heresy that is not in line with what the church has believed and taught throughout the ages. That's what we are, we are bearers of the faith that has been handed to us. How dare we think that this is something new we are a part of! How dare we believe that we're starting something original! As A. W. Tozer says: "if the reader should discover here anythign really new he is conscience bound to reject it, for whatever in religion is new is by the same token false." (Pursuit of God, xiii). Or as C. S. Lewis (held as a 'saint' by some protestants) states: "if any parts of the book are 'original', in the sense of being novel...they are so against my will...I have tried to assume nothing that is not professed by all baptised and communicating Christians" (The Problem of Pain, xii)
I guess my ranting has started again and my point is now lost in the plethora of words. To summarize, it seems to me that if we, as protestants, hadn't rejected all church history prior to the reformation, and had continued to hold up examples of those who lived incarnationally in line with the words of Jesus, we would be having less of a problem now with false doctrines such as the prosperity gospel and the like. We desperately need to recapture our roots (not of protestantism, but of Christianity) and learn from our Orthodox and Catholic brothers and sisters. We dont' have to assimilate everthing they do (although it would be great to see the church whole again) but we do have to accept them as sharing our baptism in the name of the Trinity, and thus they are by nature Christians - our brothers and sisters.
After the first hour or so of the liturgy the Priest (who is married, by the way) gave the sermon from the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. As he spoke about this he talked about joy in giving and blessing, specifically stating that he is not proclaiming to us some health and prosperity/name it claim it gospel. A little while later the priest mentioned something about a saint and my friend Nathaniel leaned over to me and told me about a saint of the Orthodox Church that lived in Siberia, who would go walk through the towns and as he saw beggars in need he would give his shoes and coat to the beggars and walk back to his home without shoes and a coat (remember Siberia is mostly cold, very cold).
With that as the foundation let me share my thoughts. I have lamented the lack of recognition of Church history and lack of saints in the Protestant Church for some while now. I'm not necessarily arguing that we need to pray to saints, but our neglect of those who have gone before us in the Protestant tradition is absolutly dreadful, if not in fact sinful (and I do believe one could make a case for that). We as protestants like to recognize a select few (like an occasional missionary or Billy Graham) but primarily they are individuals who lived in relatively recently (or are still alive) and will soon be forgotten. Most of protestantism today barely knows who Wesley, Asbury, Calvin etc are, let alone Ignatius, Irenaus, Athanasias, etc are. We tend to exalt those in the Protestant tradition who do great things, rather than those who live lives of sainthood.
As I was thinking about all this I began to wonder what would have happened if the Protestant Church had maintained the use of saints? Could the prosperity gospel exist? It seems to me that I have to allow that it could exist; but that it would be considerably hard for it to exist in as wide spread state as it does. Why is this you may ask. Well it seems to me that only those who live saintly lives are canonized as saints. I don't know of any saints who are lifted up because of the life of affluence they lived. Saints are canonized because they model Christ's teachings, they give completely of themselves, they are an example to all believers. With a strong tradition of recognizing this life of sacrifice in men and women throughout church history, I would say that it would be hard for a teaching that proclaims something completely contrary to this (and Christ's teachings) to take root and become widespread.
The problem with the protestant church is that people who live these lives of sacrifice often fall through the cracks. We don't remember them becuase we view them as insignificant in our individualized self/purpose driven world. We don't look at ourselves as living in a tradition that starts at creation, proceeds through the Old Testament, to the New, through the church of the ages and finally to us. This is who we are and it is good to remember those who came before us (cf: Hebrews 11).
We also have a skewed view of the incarnation. We have allowed dualism to tarnish our worldview. We view the incarnation as a past event. As John Madden would say: "Boom!" it happened. We tend to view life as something that means little except for a time where we made decisions that affect where we go in the end. We don't view all of life as a being an incarnation of Christ to the world. I get so frustrated every time I see the stupid (and dare I say heretical) bumper sticker: "I'm not a physical being having a spiritual experience, I"m a spiritual being having a physical experience." It is this garbage theology that has allowed the Protestant Church to neglect the poor, to abuse the helpless and live in some bastardized state between orthodoxy and gnosticism. We think that we only need to worship God with our minds and our hearts, how much more should we engage all that God gave us, our mind, heart, and body (including all the sense)!
All that to say that we should be lifting up examples of men and women who have gone before us in the faith and have lived lives that are true incarnations of Christ. They teach us that it's not enough to think right, but to act and live right as well. Live and act, not in my own personal/individualistic sphere, but with in a community, within the whole world.
Why should we not celebrate the saints of the Church? Why should we not have aids to remember them and allow our hearts to be drawn closer to the Trinity through the example of their lives? Should we not allow their example to point us toward Christ and to the life that he commanded and lived himself?
To get back to the point, it seems to me that this strong emphasis would have helped the Protestant Church to see the health and wealth/prosperity gospel for what it truly is, namely a heresy that is not in line with what the church has believed and taught throughout the ages. That's what we are, we are bearers of the faith that has been handed to us. How dare we think that this is something new we are a part of! How dare we believe that we're starting something original! As A. W. Tozer says: "if the reader should discover here anythign really new he is conscience bound to reject it, for whatever in religion is new is by the same token false." (Pursuit of God, xiii). Or as C. S. Lewis (held as a 'saint' by some protestants) states: "if any parts of the book are 'original', in the sense of being novel...they are so against my will...I have tried to assume nothing that is not professed by all baptised and communicating Christians" (The Problem of Pain, xii)
I guess my ranting has started again and my point is now lost in the plethora of words. To summarize, it seems to me that if we, as protestants, hadn't rejected all church history prior to the reformation, and had continued to hold up examples of those who lived incarnationally in line with the words of Jesus, we would be having less of a problem now with false doctrines such as the prosperity gospel and the like. We desperately need to recapture our roots (not of protestantism, but of Christianity) and learn from our Orthodox and Catholic brothers and sisters. We dont' have to assimilate everthing they do (although it would be great to see the church whole again) but we do have to accept them as sharing our baptism in the name of the Trinity, and thus they are by nature Christians - our brothers and sisters.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Ramadan Begins
Tomorrow (Oct. 5) marks the start of the 30 day Muslim holy month known as Ramadan. During Ramadan, millions of Muslims all over the world will dedicate themselves to prayer and fasting with the intent of drawing closer Allah. From what I understand they will fast everyday until dusk and then will meet at their mosques and have special meals.
The reason I mention all this is because I also understand that this is a time of year that many Muslims experience dramatic dreams and visions that God uses to draw them to himself through Christ and thus into the Christian faith.
I plan on participating in the fast of Ramadan, fasting breakfast and lunch everyday during this 30 day period, with special emphasis on praying for the Muslim world that is lost and does not know the glorious person of Christ. I pray that they will receive visions, dreams, and revelation of the person of Jesus. That they will come to know him intimately, not as a prophet who was corrupt, but as the Living God, coeternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity.
I don't say this to make myself sound awesomely holy, but to encourage you to pray intently during this time. To fast if God so leads you and to pour your heart out to God on behalf of the millions of Muslims world-wide.
I'm not an Islamic studies expert, nor do I claim to be the originator of this idea, but I do know that these people are lost and that the heart of God burns for their salvation. They are dedicating a whole month of fasting to draw closer to their god, can we not also dedicate a month of prayer to the only true, living Triune God, for the sake of these lost souls?
I'm sure it won't be easy, intercession rarely is. Especially interceding for a group of people that are held in such bondage by the evil one. So I implore you to pray, to fast if led, and to let your heart be broken for these people who are truly seeking.
May the harvest during this season of Ramadan be bountiful for the Kingdom of the Holy Triune God! Amen and Amen!
The reason I mention all this is because I also understand that this is a time of year that many Muslims experience dramatic dreams and visions that God uses to draw them to himself through Christ and thus into the Christian faith.
I plan on participating in the fast of Ramadan, fasting breakfast and lunch everyday during this 30 day period, with special emphasis on praying for the Muslim world that is lost and does not know the glorious person of Christ. I pray that they will receive visions, dreams, and revelation of the person of Jesus. That they will come to know him intimately, not as a prophet who was corrupt, but as the Living God, coeternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity.
I don't say this to make myself sound awesomely holy, but to encourage you to pray intently during this time. To fast if God so leads you and to pour your heart out to God on behalf of the millions of Muslims world-wide.
I'm not an Islamic studies expert, nor do I claim to be the originator of this idea, but I do know that these people are lost and that the heart of God burns for their salvation. They are dedicating a whole month of fasting to draw closer to their god, can we not also dedicate a month of prayer to the only true, living Triune God, for the sake of these lost souls?
I'm sure it won't be easy, intercession rarely is. Especially interceding for a group of people that are held in such bondage by the evil one. So I implore you to pray, to fast if led, and to let your heart be broken for these people who are truly seeking.
May the harvest during this season of Ramadan be bountiful for the Kingdom of the Holy Triune God! Amen and Amen!
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Holy Jealousy
"...For I the Lord your God, am a jealous God.." Ex 20:5
"...For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God..." Ex 34:14
I just finished reading a few chapters in Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination and was struck and burdened with a thought that might be worthy of sharing.
In his book Brueggemann speaks of the role of the prophet and how it is a needed role for the church today. He sets the message of the prophet firmly in the tension between what we perceive as liberalism and conservativism. In his chapter entitled "Prophetic Criticizing and the Embrace of Pathos" Brueggemann (from here on out Walter, because it's easier to type) discusses Jeremiah and his intense laments and weeping over Israel. Walter writes:
Walter's book and specifically these quotes (although they're probably better understood in context) caused me to think of something: Yahweh is still a jealous God. He is jealous for his people. The church, the people of God, have turned their backs on him.
When this thought first struck me it filled me with hope. I have often wept over the church. I've laid awake at night pleading with God to purify his people, to do anything, revival, persecution, anything, just purify the church. I was filled with hope, because we do worship a jealous God, he is zealous for his people. I believe he will purify his church, he will bring us back to him.
As I thought, I began to dread the jealousy of the Lord. I desire for the church to be brought back, but how will God enact it? Will we have our own "exile" it is a fearful concept, because great and terrible is the day of the Lord.
Is it comforting that God is still jealous? Emphatically YES!! Is it frightening that he is still jealous for his people? YES, terrifyingly so!
But my heart aches for the purification of the church. I say: Come Lord Jesus, move as you must, purify the Church through whatever means necessary, even if it means that many have to die in persecution. I will die, I long to die a martyr's death, if it means the church will realize her sin and return to the Lord. What a great joy for my blood to prove the saying true: "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."
Come Lord Jesus, do what you must! Will you declare this with me? I pray that you will.
"...For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God..." Ex 34:14
I just finished reading a few chapters in Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination and was struck and burdened with a thought that might be worthy of sharing.
In his book Brueggemann speaks of the role of the prophet and how it is a needed role for the church today. He sets the message of the prophet firmly in the tension between what we perceive as liberalism and conservativism. In his chapter entitled "Prophetic Criticizing and the Embrace of Pathos" Brueggemann (from here on out Walter, because it's easier to type) discusses Jeremiah and his intense laments and weeping over Israel. Walter writes:
"His [Jeremiah's] passion is, as Abraham Heschel has seen, the passion of this God who knows what time it is (Jer 8:7). God knows, and his prophet knows with him, that it is end time." p 48
"Jeremiah has pressed where his contemporaries would not readily go, to the pain of God, to a place where only Hosea had ventured before. Yahweh is no longer an enemy who must punish or destroy but the helpless parent who must stand alongside death, like Mary at Calvary, like David over Absalom, "My child, my child," but he is helpless and can only grieve." pp 54-55
"The prophet is not addressing behavioral problems. He is not even pressing for repentance. He has only the hope that the ache of God could penetrate the numbness of history." p 55 (author's italics)
Walter's book and specifically these quotes (although they're probably better understood in context) caused me to think of something: Yahweh is still a jealous God. He is jealous for his people. The church, the people of God, have turned their backs on him.
When this thought first struck me it filled me with hope. I have often wept over the church. I've laid awake at night pleading with God to purify his people, to do anything, revival, persecution, anything, just purify the church. I was filled with hope, because we do worship a jealous God, he is zealous for his people. I believe he will purify his church, he will bring us back to him.
As I thought, I began to dread the jealousy of the Lord. I desire for the church to be brought back, but how will God enact it? Will we have our own "exile" it is a fearful concept, because great and terrible is the day of the Lord.
Is it comforting that God is still jealous? Emphatically YES!! Is it frightening that he is still jealous for his people? YES, terrifyingly so!
But my heart aches for the purification of the church. I say: Come Lord Jesus, move as you must, purify the Church through whatever means necessary, even if it means that many have to die in persecution. I will die, I long to die a martyr's death, if it means the church will realize her sin and return to the Lord. What a great joy for my blood to prove the saying true: "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."
Come Lord Jesus, do what you must! Will you declare this with me? I pray that you will.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Being broken over the broken
I don't have much time to write, so I'll get to the point.
We just finished the first chapel, the opening communion service. I don't even know how to respond, I thought about waiting to post/journal/anything until I had time to collect my thoughts, but my fear is that if I wait my thoughts will cease to be clear. Not that they are clear now, I feel as if my heart was just ripped from my chest, as if the very heart of God was shown to me and it now burns within me.
I can't even begin to explain what happened in chapel, a play by play would not do it justice, nor would an audio recording. Being in that room, whith those people, worshipping God, truly worshipping God, with our hearts blows my mind. Yes, it shatters my paradigm everytime I enter that place. But today was different. I was broken, I wept and prayed in groans that only the Spirit knows, others wept and prayed in those same groans, because words will not do. Not Praying and weeping for us, but for the suffering of others, for the victims of katrina, for the starving in Niger, for those caught in the warn torn region of Iraq and others around the globe. The sobs arose from the congregation like the heart of God being poored back to him. We were communing, taking the Eucharist in rememberance of him. Declaring his death until he comes! The whole time realizing that he desires mercry, not sacrifice. Thinking: "What if repentance isn't about my personal bahavior management and more about being broken over the broken" (J.D. Walt, Dean of the Chapel).
And there we were, being broken over the broken. Some may attribute it to an emotional response, but I think it was something other than that. I believe it was the Holy Spirit moving in our midst, breaking us over the brokenness of others. Grafting us into the heart of God. Ripping out our hearts and placing in us the heart of Christ.
My heart has always been tender to those who are suffering, I have often wept for them, been burdened to pray for them, and give to them. But today was differnt. My perspective has changed. One could say that this is just a temporary, emotional, response; my reaction is I guess we'll see. But I truly believe that God met us in those elements today. That God spoke to us and that God did a work in this community, the likes of which I haven't seen. This community is open to the things of God, it is open to changing for him and hearing him speak. This is a good community to be formed in. I truly believe that here most people's hearts break for the things of God. This is good. After all: "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness [or mercy], and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8 NRSV)
We just finished the first chapel, the opening communion service. I don't even know how to respond, I thought about waiting to post/journal/anything until I had time to collect my thoughts, but my fear is that if I wait my thoughts will cease to be clear. Not that they are clear now, I feel as if my heart was just ripped from my chest, as if the very heart of God was shown to me and it now burns within me.
I can't even begin to explain what happened in chapel, a play by play would not do it justice, nor would an audio recording. Being in that room, whith those people, worshipping God, truly worshipping God, with our hearts blows my mind. Yes, it shatters my paradigm everytime I enter that place. But today was different. I was broken, I wept and prayed in groans that only the Spirit knows, others wept and prayed in those same groans, because words will not do. Not Praying and weeping for us, but for the suffering of others, for the victims of katrina, for the starving in Niger, for those caught in the warn torn region of Iraq and others around the globe. The sobs arose from the congregation like the heart of God being poored back to him. We were communing, taking the Eucharist in rememberance of him. Declaring his death until he comes! The whole time realizing that he desires mercry, not sacrifice. Thinking: "What if repentance isn't about my personal bahavior management and more about being broken over the broken" (J.D. Walt, Dean of the Chapel).
And there we were, being broken over the broken. Some may attribute it to an emotional response, but I think it was something other than that. I believe it was the Holy Spirit moving in our midst, breaking us over the brokenness of others. Grafting us into the heart of God. Ripping out our hearts and placing in us the heart of Christ.
My heart has always been tender to those who are suffering, I have often wept for them, been burdened to pray for them, and give to them. But today was differnt. My perspective has changed. One could say that this is just a temporary, emotional, response; my reaction is I guess we'll see. But I truly believe that God met us in those elements today. That God spoke to us and that God did a work in this community, the likes of which I haven't seen. This community is open to the things of God, it is open to changing for him and hearing him speak. This is a good community to be formed in. I truly believe that here most people's hearts break for the things of God. This is good. After all: "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness [or mercy], and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8 NRSV)
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Community, Hosts, Guests, Strangers, and the Marginalized
The above title seems to be the best description of the thoughts that have been running through my mind since yesterday and that came to some sort of explainable and understandable pinnacle today. For the sake of simplicity I should probably start at the beginning, although even the order of events is a bit convoluted.
In chapel yesterday and today (which was again awesome!) we (the new students) were repeatedly told that we are no longer considered guests, but friends who are part of the Asbury community and even hosts in community. Although that is the reality anytime anyone moves to a community, (especially a new academic institution) it is seldom acted out or even said. Often "freshmen" or incoming students are unintentionally (or possibly intentionally) alienated until they prove themselves worthy to be a functioning part of the community. I found this exhortation to be incredibly touching. The request that a few of the new students serve as communion stewards for the first community Eucharist celebration to be held when the returning students arrive was also very moving, it truly shows to me that we are functioning members of the community, we are part of the formation that goes on in this place. We are truly no longer guests but comprise an essential part of the community. What an awesome revelation!
However awesome that revelation may be, the true epiphany connected with this happened later in the day (actually later than the second thing I will write about, but while we're here I might as well discuss this).
The epiphany is this: It is a shame that we in the church do not take this same stance. When a new people come to faith, we make them prove themselves before we really welcome them into the community. We make them prove that they are good enough, clean enough, respected enough in the world, rich enough or any number of other things before we accept them as hosts in the story that we live in. I'm not saying that we don't need to make sure our ministers are trained and godly before we thrust them in ministry (the church has always done that) but to make people prove themselves before we allow them to enter into the Church (in the purest sense of the word) is ridiculous and down right sinful! There should not be this trial period where we place the world's values of acceptance over Christ's values. Christ's values of acceptance should be the only values the Church holds. We need to stop living with this prideful, sinful, filthy, judgmental way of thinking and accept new converts as "one of us." Yes they may struggle, yes they have learning to do, but so do we all, including the ministers and the elder members of our churches. We need to stop requiring people to be "good enough" before they are part of us. If you think about it honestly, not a single freaking one of us is good enough. It is by grace and grace alone that we have been saved. Yes we are part of the kingdom and we should and better act like it, but placing these ungodly value systems on people before we accept them is not acting like who we are called to be.
The second thought from today occurred during an orientation session with Dr. Joel Green. He started his session by reading 1 Peter 1:1-2, which reads:
Dr. Green briefly exegeted this passage, mainly verse 1, stating that there was a fundamental translation error in the NRSV. He stated that it should not be read as being written to those who are part of the "exiles of the dispersion", rather it should be read as to who Peter wrote it. You see, according to Dr. Green, those were the recipeients of the letter, but Peter was chiefly writing to the WHOLE Church, including us. We know this because, 1) one of the places in the geography list didn't even exist, and 2) it is not "exiles in the dispersion...Who are chosen" but rather a unique word that is hard to translate in English because it is two words mushed together meaning "the marginalized (exiled) chosen ones." Peter isn't saying: "I'm writing to so and so," on the contrary he is writing to all Christians because by our very nature WE ARE THE MARGINALIZED CHOSEN ONES. That is our identity, that is who we are! So often we want to remember that we are chosen, but along with our chosen-ness we have to rememer that we are by nature marginalized, exiled, and dispersed from the world. We don't belong here. We don't live by the worlds standards because we are different, our identity has changed, we are no longer the "Simons" of the world, we are now the "Peters" upon whom Christ shall build his church (Mark 8).
We are forever a blood covered people, a people who don't belong. We do live as aliens because the nature of our salvation takes us out of the world and into Christ. This is our sanctification, this is our calling, this is our life and our identity. We are the Community of faith that stretches back to the Apostles, the Prophets, to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. We are hosts in this community, and yet visitors and marginalized from the world. We live as aliens who don't belong and who should be set apart for holiness. The question is, why don't we act like it? That is the apostolic exhortation that we find throughout scripture: "You're a sanctified people, you are in Christ, now start acting like it!" Paul, Peter, John, not to mention Jesus, they all call us to live beyond ourselves, to die to who we are so that we would be truly sanctified, and act like the true people of God.
I fear the problem is that the church has forgotten this. A large majority of the church has forgotten that we don't belong. We've set ungodly social standards and require others to fit those molds, we neglect those who are marginalized by society because we aren't. I am very scared that many "Christians" will hear Jesus say those most dreaded words: "depart from me for I never knew you." Maybe you think that I am going too far? Maybe my standard is to harsh? I don't believe so. Yes, I don't live up to it yet, but I'm striving. We must be holy! Holiness for the people of God is not merely personal holiness, but also social holiness. If you don't think I'm speaking truth then read the words of the prophets and the words of Jesus. Holiness is always a personal and corporate entity. Just as we cannot neglect personal holiness (as some of our liberal friends have) we cannot ignore social holiness (as most of conservative "Christianity" has). John Wesley recognized this when he said something to the affect of "there is no salvation without social holiness."
Western Christianity needs to put down weak and unformational books like the Purpose Driven Life, the Prayer of Jabez, Your Best Life Now, Left Behind and many others and pick up the freaking Bible! True biblical Christianity is dying in the west. Our churches do not teach the FULL Gospel of Jesus Christ. We neglect the poor, the needy, and the downtrodden and justify living in our plush American homes. We even neglect personal holiness, we neglect teaching about true love, we neglect teaching about obedience to the cross, dying to self and being willing to die at any minute. Bigger churches keep getting bigger, not because we are seeing multitudes lead to the Lord as in the book of Acts, but because they teach a weak gospel. They teach a gospel that looks nothing like the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their gospel is one that is easy to follow, it allows minimal sacrifice and no discomfort at all, except getting up to go to 1 hour of "church as week."
Churches like Lakewood with John Osteen, Saddelback with Rich Warren, Willow Creek with Bill Hybels and Eastern Hills Wesleyan with Karl Eastlack are not churches, they are not part of Christianity, no they are a cult! They teach a false teaching that is destroying the gospel of Christ. People are not being brought into the Kingdom of God, the very thing that Jesus spent most of his ministry teaching about, no, they are being brought into that church and that church alone, that is a sign of a cult.
Don't for a second think that I'm just against big churches, although I do have that bias, little churches too have just as many problems and propagate false teaching. But some and I think many small churches are small because they are faithful to the teachings of Jesus. The true teachings of Jesus are hard, they are foolishness to the world and contrary to everything our culture stands for. We must grab ahold of Jesus teachings and not let go. We must remember that we are by nature a marginalized people, we don't fit in with the world and to allow the world to set our lines for success is wrong and sinful.
I know that most of you who will read this feel the same way as I do, and for that I apologize for my soapbox, but I am so sick of complacent western "Christianity" I feel like I could scream. For those of you who may read this and don't agree with me and feel I've gone to far by naming names, books, and churches among other things; I say that I'm sorry if I've offended you , but I feel that I've spoken truth. Maybe I should have been easier on some of the churches, but I wasn't.
My prayer for all of you this day is that you may live as hosts in the community of God, serving and loving his people. That you would love the marginalized by the world, and remember that you are marginalized by the world because of the cross you carry. Peace be with you as you carry that cross, may the weight of it continue to spur you on toward holiness both personal and social. Remember only the holy are truly happy.
Blessings my friends!
In chapel yesterday and today (which was again awesome!) we (the new students) were repeatedly told that we are no longer considered guests, but friends who are part of the Asbury community and even hosts in community. Although that is the reality anytime anyone moves to a community, (especially a new academic institution) it is seldom acted out or even said. Often "freshmen" or incoming students are unintentionally (or possibly intentionally) alienated until they prove themselves worthy to be a functioning part of the community. I found this exhortation to be incredibly touching. The request that a few of the new students serve as communion stewards for the first community Eucharist celebration to be held when the returning students arrive was also very moving, it truly shows to me that we are functioning members of the community, we are part of the formation that goes on in this place. We are truly no longer guests but comprise an essential part of the community. What an awesome revelation!
However awesome that revelation may be, the true epiphany connected with this happened later in the day (actually later than the second thing I will write about, but while we're here I might as well discuss this).
The epiphany is this: It is a shame that we in the church do not take this same stance. When a new people come to faith, we make them prove themselves before we really welcome them into the community. We make them prove that they are good enough, clean enough, respected enough in the world, rich enough or any number of other things before we accept them as hosts in the story that we live in. I'm not saying that we don't need to make sure our ministers are trained and godly before we thrust them in ministry (the church has always done that) but to make people prove themselves before we allow them to enter into the Church (in the purest sense of the word) is ridiculous and down right sinful! There should not be this trial period where we place the world's values of acceptance over Christ's values. Christ's values of acceptance should be the only values the Church holds. We need to stop living with this prideful, sinful, filthy, judgmental way of thinking and accept new converts as "one of us." Yes they may struggle, yes they have learning to do, but so do we all, including the ministers and the elder members of our churches. We need to stop requiring people to be "good enough" before they are part of us. If you think about it honestly, not a single freaking one of us is good enough. It is by grace and grace alone that we have been saved. Yes we are part of the kingdom and we should and better act like it, but placing these ungodly value systems on people before we accept them is not acting like who we are called to be.
The second thought from today occurred during an orientation session with Dr. Joel Green. He started his session by reading 1 Peter 1:1-2, which reads:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and peace be yours in abundance. (NRSV)
Dr. Green briefly exegeted this passage, mainly verse 1, stating that there was a fundamental translation error in the NRSV. He stated that it should not be read as being written to those who are part of the "exiles of the dispersion", rather it should be read as to who Peter wrote it. You see, according to Dr. Green, those were the recipeients of the letter, but Peter was chiefly writing to the WHOLE Church, including us. We know this because, 1) one of the places in the geography list didn't even exist, and 2) it is not "exiles in the dispersion...Who are chosen" but rather a unique word that is hard to translate in English because it is two words mushed together meaning "the marginalized (exiled) chosen ones." Peter isn't saying: "I'm writing to so and so," on the contrary he is writing to all Christians because by our very nature WE ARE THE MARGINALIZED CHOSEN ONES. That is our identity, that is who we are! So often we want to remember that we are chosen, but along with our chosen-ness we have to rememer that we are by nature marginalized, exiled, and dispersed from the world. We don't belong here. We don't live by the worlds standards because we are different, our identity has changed, we are no longer the "Simons" of the world, we are now the "Peters" upon whom Christ shall build his church (Mark 8).
We are forever a blood covered people, a people who don't belong. We do live as aliens because the nature of our salvation takes us out of the world and into Christ. This is our sanctification, this is our calling, this is our life and our identity. We are the Community of faith that stretches back to the Apostles, the Prophets, to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. We are hosts in this community, and yet visitors and marginalized from the world. We live as aliens who don't belong and who should be set apart for holiness. The question is, why don't we act like it? That is the apostolic exhortation that we find throughout scripture: "You're a sanctified people, you are in Christ, now start acting like it!" Paul, Peter, John, not to mention Jesus, they all call us to live beyond ourselves, to die to who we are so that we would be truly sanctified, and act like the true people of God.
I fear the problem is that the church has forgotten this. A large majority of the church has forgotten that we don't belong. We've set ungodly social standards and require others to fit those molds, we neglect those who are marginalized by society because we aren't. I am very scared that many "Christians" will hear Jesus say those most dreaded words: "depart from me for I never knew you." Maybe you think that I am going too far? Maybe my standard is to harsh? I don't believe so. Yes, I don't live up to it yet, but I'm striving. We must be holy! Holiness for the people of God is not merely personal holiness, but also social holiness. If you don't think I'm speaking truth then read the words of the prophets and the words of Jesus. Holiness is always a personal and corporate entity. Just as we cannot neglect personal holiness (as some of our liberal friends have) we cannot ignore social holiness (as most of conservative "Christianity" has). John Wesley recognized this when he said something to the affect of "there is no salvation without social holiness."
Western Christianity needs to put down weak and unformational books like the Purpose Driven Life, the Prayer of Jabez, Your Best Life Now, Left Behind and many others and pick up the freaking Bible! True biblical Christianity is dying in the west. Our churches do not teach the FULL Gospel of Jesus Christ. We neglect the poor, the needy, and the downtrodden and justify living in our plush American homes. We even neglect personal holiness, we neglect teaching about true love, we neglect teaching about obedience to the cross, dying to self and being willing to die at any minute. Bigger churches keep getting bigger, not because we are seeing multitudes lead to the Lord as in the book of Acts, but because they teach a weak gospel. They teach a gospel that looks nothing like the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their gospel is one that is easy to follow, it allows minimal sacrifice and no discomfort at all, except getting up to go to 1 hour of "church as week."
Churches like Lakewood with John Osteen, Saddelback with Rich Warren, Willow Creek with Bill Hybels and Eastern Hills Wesleyan with Karl Eastlack are not churches, they are not part of Christianity, no they are a cult! They teach a false teaching that is destroying the gospel of Christ. People are not being brought into the Kingdom of God, the very thing that Jesus spent most of his ministry teaching about, no, they are being brought into that church and that church alone, that is a sign of a cult.
Don't for a second think that I'm just against big churches, although I do have that bias, little churches too have just as many problems and propagate false teaching. But some and I think many small churches are small because they are faithful to the teachings of Jesus. The true teachings of Jesus are hard, they are foolishness to the world and contrary to everything our culture stands for. We must grab ahold of Jesus teachings and not let go. We must remember that we are by nature a marginalized people, we don't fit in with the world and to allow the world to set our lines for success is wrong and sinful.
I know that most of you who will read this feel the same way as I do, and for that I apologize for my soapbox, but I am so sick of complacent western "Christianity" I feel like I could scream. For those of you who may read this and don't agree with me and feel I've gone to far by naming names, books, and churches among other things; I say that I'm sorry if I've offended you , but I feel that I've spoken truth. Maybe I should have been easier on some of the churches, but I wasn't.
My prayer for all of you this day is that you may live as hosts in the community of God, serving and loving his people. That you would love the marginalized by the world, and remember that you are marginalized by the world because of the cross you carry. Peace be with you as you carry that cross, may the weight of it continue to spur you on toward holiness both personal and social. Remember only the holy are truly happy.
Blessings my friends!
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Chapel at Asbury
Although I've only attended three chapel services here at Asbury (including the one I attended as a prospective) I can honestly say that they have each been some of the most precious times of corporate worship and fellowship that I have ever experienced. I really can't pinpoint it but each time I enter the chapel God has spoken to me in wonderful ways. Although the experience is more than emotional I am always brought to tears in one way or another. The Spirit of God is so powerful in that place when the Asbury community gathers to worship. There are no egos, there are no self-serving motives, there is only pure radiant passion for Holy Triune Godhead.
I can't even begin to explain how I feel every time I leave chapel here at Asbury. I don't leave chapel thinking "that was a good sermon" or "the worship was good," instead I leave chapel longing for all of my friends to be here with me to experience God the way that I have just experienced God. I leave thinking "God is awesome" or "I've just encountered a Holy God who loves me and I have been changed."
I know that three experiences shouldn't qualify as enough empirical evidence to make a statement like this, but I truly feel that the desire of the people here is for God and the Spirit of God is mighty in this place. I feel like every word is a word of truth spoken out of love. To abuse a phrase that I have quoted time and time again "My heart is strangely warmed" with the very words of the greeting or blessing.
I don't feel that I'm "learning something new" each chapel, but rather things that I have known are being made fresh and are piercing through to my heart. The new things I learn are indeed new and profound, but I don't feel overloaded with information, I feel broken and open before the Lord. I feel that he is present and the he is reaching down to embrace me.
Though chapel is the primary place that I feel this, I also feel this intimacy and the reign of the Spirit in various presidential weekly email addresses and other readings written by Asburians. I truly think that Asbury is succeeding in accomplishing its founding principle which is: "to prepare and send forth a well-trained sanctified, Spirit-filled, evangelistic ministry."
Now I'm not saying that some people don't fall through the cracks while at Asbury. I'm sure there are more than a few people here that are just going through the motions and that have wacked out theologies and ideas, but I still feel that the Spirit of God reigns in this place and in the lives of most of the seminarians here.
I am very confident that this is the place that I am suppose to be right now in my life. God is stretching me ministering to me in new ways. This place seems to be a good fit for me and I believe the reason for that to be because this is where I am called.
I don't say all this to brag on Asbury and to try and convince all my friends who are budding seminarians to come here. I just write all this because it is what God is doing around me, it is what he is speaking to me and it is how he is ministering to me.
There is truly no joy greater than to be in the will of God. For me, right now, it is to be at Asbury Theological Seminary. Maybe net year it will be something different, but for now I am here and am confident that this is the place that God has called me. Although I feared this was the wrong decision I am now assured that it is not.
May you all know God's calling on your life, may he speak his will to you and my you're joy be complete in being where he calls. Blessings to you my friends as you continue on your journeys.
Ben
I can't even begin to explain how I feel every time I leave chapel here at Asbury. I don't leave chapel thinking "that was a good sermon" or "the worship was good," instead I leave chapel longing for all of my friends to be here with me to experience God the way that I have just experienced God. I leave thinking "God is awesome" or "I've just encountered a Holy God who loves me and I have been changed."
I know that three experiences shouldn't qualify as enough empirical evidence to make a statement like this, but I truly feel that the desire of the people here is for God and the Spirit of God is mighty in this place. I feel like every word is a word of truth spoken out of love. To abuse a phrase that I have quoted time and time again "My heart is strangely warmed" with the very words of the greeting or blessing.
I don't feel that I'm "learning something new" each chapel, but rather things that I have known are being made fresh and are piercing through to my heart. The new things I learn are indeed new and profound, but I don't feel overloaded with information, I feel broken and open before the Lord. I feel that he is present and the he is reaching down to embrace me.
Though chapel is the primary place that I feel this, I also feel this intimacy and the reign of the Spirit in various presidential weekly email addresses and other readings written by Asburians. I truly think that Asbury is succeeding in accomplishing its founding principle which is: "to prepare and send forth a well-trained sanctified, Spirit-filled, evangelistic ministry."
Now I'm not saying that some people don't fall through the cracks while at Asbury. I'm sure there are more than a few people here that are just going through the motions and that have wacked out theologies and ideas, but I still feel that the Spirit of God reigns in this place and in the lives of most of the seminarians here.
I am very confident that this is the place that I am suppose to be right now in my life. God is stretching me ministering to me in new ways. This place seems to be a good fit for me and I believe the reason for that to be because this is where I am called.
I don't say all this to brag on Asbury and to try and convince all my friends who are budding seminarians to come here. I just write all this because it is what God is doing around me, it is what he is speaking to me and it is how he is ministering to me.
There is truly no joy greater than to be in the will of God. For me, right now, it is to be at Asbury Theological Seminary. Maybe net year it will be something different, but for now I am here and am confident that this is the place that God has called me. Although I feared this was the wrong decision I am now assured that it is not.
May you all know God's calling on your life, may he speak his will to you and my you're joy be complete in being where he calls. Blessings to you my friends as you continue on your journeys.
Ben
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