This morning our small group finished up in Romans 1. As if that was not challenging enough, we tackled the first verse of Romans 2, or rather it tackled us, kicked us in the teeth, and then proceeded to laugh about it... or something like that.
After Romans 2:1's admonition against judgment, we recalled the introduction of Bonhoeffer's Ethics, in which Bonhoeffer warns against judgment, both POSITIVE and negative. We all have understood from our youth that judging another person's sin is wrong, but judging in the positive is also wrong? According to Bonhoeffer, when we judge what is good from what is evil we make ourselves out to be gods. Instead, we should rely on YHWH alone for knowledge of good and evil (shout out to Eve and Adam).
We are no more able to tell that which is good than a baby is able to know which foods are healthy and which are not. We then asked the question, "Well, what are we supposed to think?" Having grown up understanding that certain actions are "good," and others "bad," we are used to making these judgments; they are conditioned parts of our interactions. The only answer we found is to respond with unadulterated praise to YHWH.
"Is homosexuality, as it is practiced today, wrong?"--Glory to God
"Is it right to ordain women in ministry?"--Glory to God
"Should Christians participate in politics?"--Glory to God
If we, in ALL things, give glory to YHWH, then we rely on His wisdom, His understanding, His perfect love and judgment.
How then do we read Scripture and understand perfectly what He has told us is good, and what He has told us is evil...? That is a HARD question.
Glory to God.
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Amazing Sunday, despite church
This Sunday, with the opportunity to lead worship in front of hundreds of people alongside a famous rock star, I thought it was going to be an awesome Sunday. The service would go off without a hitch because we planned it well and we were well rehearsed.
God did speak to me, but not because of our planning or playing. The speaker was talking about God always doing good to us. He said that the pain, suffering, illness, death and misfortunes we endure are given to us by God for a reason. We should thank God for these things because they are done by Him, and therefore they are good.
This brand of theodicy, which had been purely academic for me until now, sparked something at the core of my being and I was filled with a righteous anger. How can a person who claims to bring the Word of God to God's people so clearly misunderstand or misrepresent the goodness of God? Why would a God who created us into a perfect world and loves us with a perfect love will us to suffer in it?
I realized that many ears around the world were hearing a similar message and were forming an idea of God I knew was false. I wanted to have the opportunity to speak truth into their lives about my God in a moment when people are the most real, and hopefully the most receptive. That time is usually in the face of death. For I have found joy in my losses not because the God of the universe has redeemed them, but because He endured them alongside me.
So I am starting on the road to become a hospice chaplain. It is a good thing God's voice can still pierce through our planning and imperfection.
God did speak to me, but not because of our planning or playing. The speaker was talking about God always doing good to us. He said that the pain, suffering, illness, death and misfortunes we endure are given to us by God for a reason. We should thank God for these things because they are done by Him, and therefore they are good.
This brand of theodicy, which had been purely academic for me until now, sparked something at the core of my being and I was filled with a righteous anger. How can a person who claims to bring the Word of God to God's people so clearly misunderstand or misrepresent the goodness of God? Why would a God who created us into a perfect world and loves us with a perfect love will us to suffer in it?
I realized that many ears around the world were hearing a similar message and were forming an idea of God I knew was false. I wanted to have the opportunity to speak truth into their lives about my God in a moment when people are the most real, and hopefully the most receptive. That time is usually in the face of death. For I have found joy in my losses not because the God of the universe has redeemed them, but because He endured them alongside me.
So I am starting on the road to become a hospice chaplain. It is a good thing God's voice can still pierce through our planning and imperfection.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Finding a church....
Dessa and I have been trying to find a church. This process is somewhat different than picking a gym or deciding which grocery store has the best selection. We always look for an element of "what we want" in a new church, much like the grocery store. We also like to hear "what they can do for us" as in a gym. But finding a church is more personal.
At first I wanted simply to find somewhere I could play. I like music, and I like playing music. Therefore I was willing to take any theology, any worship form, as long as I could be a part of the music. This has changed recently, as my theology has grown more developed. I find myself looking for a theology I can worship in, rather than a style of worship.
Having been inundated in Southern Baptist church life recently, I have found that lack of theological focus and emotion-based worship is welcoming at first, but as I have outgrown the milk of my youth, I am finding a love of liturgy and theology. The ability to openly discuss topics pertinent to the community of faith is paramount, as is the knowledge that disagreement does not automatically result in breaking of fellowship.
Now it is no longer important whether I can pluck my bass on Sunday mornings, but that I am fed, challenged, and encouraged in my faith and understanding. I hope I have now found that place, and I look forward to much thoughtful discussion and a lifetime of authentic, meaningful worship.
At first I wanted simply to find somewhere I could play. I like music, and I like playing music. Therefore I was willing to take any theology, any worship form, as long as I could be a part of the music. This has changed recently, as my theology has grown more developed. I find myself looking for a theology I can worship in, rather than a style of worship.
Having been inundated in Southern Baptist church life recently, I have found that lack of theological focus and emotion-based worship is welcoming at first, but as I have outgrown the milk of my youth, I am finding a love of liturgy and theology. The ability to openly discuss topics pertinent to the community of faith is paramount, as is the knowledge that disagreement does not automatically result in breaking of fellowship.
Now it is no longer important whether I can pluck my bass on Sunday mornings, but that I am fed, challenged, and encouraged in my faith and understanding. I hope I have now found that place, and I look forward to much thoughtful discussion and a lifetime of authentic, meaningful worship.
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Week after Pentecost
Around the nation, preachers lit fires under congregations in remembrance of the day of Pentecost. Most of those fires were extinguished by the gluttonous, after church lunching. This is not the fault of the preacher. What happens between the hearing of the sermon and the emerging back into the world after?
Marva J. Dawn points out that in our information age, truth is a novelty, something to be accumulated. Like most consumer goods, information is sought after voraciously, but once obtained, it is shelved. It seems we want the facts, we want the truth, but we get so much of it that we are numb to the call it places on our lives. Cigarette and alcohol adds are equally ineffective for the same reasons. People like the information, but are incapable of seeing the action they should take in response to it.
How does the preacher break out of this black hole our culture has created? This certainly is an enormous task as many preachers and teachers become disheartened early on at the great response to a sermon or teaching, but a lack of change in lifestyles.
So it falls to the Spirit. We can only be faithful to the Spirit leading in our lives, and pray fervently that the Spirit works just as powerfully in the congregations.
Marva J. Dawn points out that in our information age, truth is a novelty, something to be accumulated. Like most consumer goods, information is sought after voraciously, but once obtained, it is shelved. It seems we want the facts, we want the truth, but we get so much of it that we are numb to the call it places on our lives. Cigarette and alcohol adds are equally ineffective for the same reasons. People like the information, but are incapable of seeing the action they should take in response to it.
How does the preacher break out of this black hole our culture has created? This certainly is an enormous task as many preachers and teachers become disheartened early on at the great response to a sermon or teaching, but a lack of change in lifestyles.
So it falls to the Spirit. We can only be faithful to the Spirit leading in our lives, and pray fervently that the Spirit works just as powerfully in the congregations.
Monday, 18 May 2009
Xopoloy
This Sunday night, our youth group explored the classic game of Monopoly. We discussed the rules, goals, and structure of the classic version of the Milton-Bradley board game. The youth put forth Monopoly's goals as a simple game of "taking everyone's money."
After this brief discussion, I asked the students to consider what Monopoly would look like if Jesus were playing it. In other words, what would Monopoly look like if played faithfully according to the example of Christ found in the New Testament? The discussion went the expected routes, with students saying they would give money away to the poorest person, and would reduce rent costs for visiting players, etc. Then we "picked up the sticks," as my roommate would say, and played the game according to Jesus' rules.
In my group, students were consciously attempting to be faithful to Jesus' example, in their own understanding of it. Some were tithing from the money they raked in, and Free Parking certainly benefited from the offerings. When one player dropped significantly lower in cash funds than all the others, generosity poured out and equalized the cash distribution. Rents were reduced and properties bought as gifts for other players. It was fun!
After about an hour of playing, I called a stop to the game and asked everyone to tally up their cash and property values to see who had won. As the students were totaling their estates, Jesus' example still shined in some, but others quickly reverted back to more worldly goals. Those with the most money began boasting that they were the best at Xopoly, while those with less money tried to remind the boastful that "he who will be first must become last."
This experiment serves to show how incompatible Christ's example and the worldly expectations are. Then, to get on with the point of the evening, I asked the students a question. "How many of you have, before tonight, spent this much time actively trying to imitate Christ?" No one claimed to have followed Christ's example this fully. We then discussed the challenges we faced in Xopoly and applied them to our individual lives.
Instead of making Jesus the center of our lives, we put Jesus in a corner when the world tells us to live by a different standard. Monopoly is a great example of this. Modern business is a scary reminder that Monopoly is not too far removed from reality. If we as Christians cannot live as Christ would have lived even for one hour, how then is the world to be changed? Where will hope come from when humanity loses hope in the world?
After this brief discussion, I asked the students to consider what Monopoly would look like if Jesus were playing it. In other words, what would Monopoly look like if played faithfully according to the example of Christ found in the New Testament? The discussion went the expected routes, with students saying they would give money away to the poorest person, and would reduce rent costs for visiting players, etc. Then we "picked up the sticks," as my roommate would say, and played the game according to Jesus' rules.
In my group, students were consciously attempting to be faithful to Jesus' example, in their own understanding of it. Some were tithing from the money they raked in, and Free Parking certainly benefited from the offerings. When one player dropped significantly lower in cash funds than all the others, generosity poured out and equalized the cash distribution. Rents were reduced and properties bought as gifts for other players. It was fun!
After about an hour of playing, I called a stop to the game and asked everyone to tally up their cash and property values to see who had won. As the students were totaling their estates, Jesus' example still shined in some, but others quickly reverted back to more worldly goals. Those with the most money began boasting that they were the best at Xopoly, while those with less money tried to remind the boastful that "he who will be first must become last."
This experiment serves to show how incompatible Christ's example and the worldly expectations are. Then, to get on with the point of the evening, I asked the students a question. "How many of you have, before tonight, spent this much time actively trying to imitate Christ?" No one claimed to have followed Christ's example this fully. We then discussed the challenges we faced in Xopoly and applied them to our individual lives.
Instead of making Jesus the center of our lives, we put Jesus in a corner when the world tells us to live by a different standard. Monopoly is a great example of this. Modern business is a scary reminder that Monopoly is not too far removed from reality. If we as Christians cannot live as Christ would have lived even for one hour, how then is the world to be changed? Where will hope come from when humanity loses hope in the world?
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Chapel...?
A stand-up comedian held an audience of students and faculty close with a brilliant comedy routine which also happened to include a basic message of salvation. The routine would have been appropriate on a street corner or another secular environment. Instead the comedian spoke at Shorter College, during the weekly worship service in chapel. Making matters worse, the speaker was the President of the Georgia Baptist Convention.
Hebrews 5:11-14
11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Two problems exist with what occurred in chapel yesterday. The first is that the congregation showed its inability to distinguish between good preaching and entertainment. If the measure of a good sermon is how life-changing it is, then the sermon delivered yesterday is of questionable value at best. If the church is the body of Christ, and the body accepted the preaching as sound and worthwhile, then we can conclude that the body is not ready for “solid food.” I share in the author of Hebrew’s disappointment.
The second problem is that the GBC President has little more to offer the body of Christ than a small drop of milk in the midst of an entertaining half-hour. The example this type of preaching gives is that entertainment is our first goal, and spiritual insight and growth is a secondary goal… at best.
If the body of Christ does not expect life-changing preaching, and we continue to call pastors and elect leadership who will not provide it, we set up a vicious cycle of spiritual depravity and we resign ourselves to the very fate the author of Hebrews is warning against.
Hebrews 5:11-14
11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Two problems exist with what occurred in chapel yesterday. The first is that the congregation showed its inability to distinguish between good preaching and entertainment. If the measure of a good sermon is how life-changing it is, then the sermon delivered yesterday is of questionable value at best. If the church is the body of Christ, and the body accepted the preaching as sound and worthwhile, then we can conclude that the body is not ready for “solid food.” I share in the author of Hebrew’s disappointment.
The second problem is that the GBC President has little more to offer the body of Christ than a small drop of milk in the midst of an entertaining half-hour. The example this type of preaching gives is that entertainment is our first goal, and spiritual insight and growth is a secondary goal… at best.
If the body of Christ does not expect life-changing preaching, and we continue to call pastors and elect leadership who will not provide it, we set up a vicious cycle of spiritual depravity and we resign ourselves to the very fate the author of Hebrews is warning against.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
The name
One night, as a group of my students and I were standing in a rain-soaked parking lot, we decided that our youth band needed a name... tonight. We starting brainstorming and recalling all of the "wicked" band names already out there and came to the conclusion that most of the ones we liked were actions, participles if you will. "Casting Crowns," "Counting Crows," "As I Lay Dying," and so on. We decided to use the template.
Lightning was still flashing periodically, and one flash proposed the silhouette of our steeple. I immediately asked the kids if they liked that direction and they ran with it. Ideas started out logically and in the realm of possibility, but as is the case with the younger ages, the suggestions quickly diverged into the rediculous. With an attempt to bring them back, I suggested "Climbing Steeples." We stood in silence for a few moments, and then one of my older students asked, "What does it mean?"
I thought immediately of the Casting Crowns lyric "beneath the shadow of our steeples, all the lost and lonely people," and thought about the powerful image and criticism those words conveyed. I explained to the youth that throughout history, the Church has often times made it harder to reach Christ than it should have been. I showed them the irony of lifting the cross high off the ground. Jesus came to reach the people... and we take the symbol of His sacrifice and push it back up to heaven, spending churchgoers' money to do it. I quickly made sure to stress the importance of respecting and honoring Christ's sacrifice, but at the same time i also ensured they understood the meaning of that sacrifice: to bring us into closer, more intimate relationship with Him.
Thus we climb the steeple: grasping at the cross but hindered by the world.
In the words of Jim Halpert: "Lord, beer us strength."
Lightning was still flashing periodically, and one flash proposed the silhouette of our steeple. I immediately asked the kids if they liked that direction and they ran with it. Ideas started out logically and in the realm of possibility, but as is the case with the younger ages, the suggestions quickly diverged into the rediculous. With an attempt to bring them back, I suggested "Climbing Steeples." We stood in silence for a few moments, and then one of my older students asked, "What does it mean?"
I thought immediately of the Casting Crowns lyric "beneath the shadow of our steeples, all the lost and lonely people," and thought about the powerful image and criticism those words conveyed. I explained to the youth that throughout history, the Church has often times made it harder to reach Christ than it should have been. I showed them the irony of lifting the cross high off the ground. Jesus came to reach the people... and we take the symbol of His sacrifice and push it back up to heaven, spending churchgoers' money to do it. I quickly made sure to stress the importance of respecting and honoring Christ's sacrifice, but at the same time i also ensured they understood the meaning of that sacrifice: to bring us into closer, more intimate relationship with Him.
Thus we climb the steeple: grasping at the cross but hindered by the world.
In the words of Jim Halpert: "Lord, beer us strength."
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