Barney Wiget's Blog, page 26
June 24, 2020
The Gospel According to James
There’s no NT book or letter that more directly and clearly addresses that latter sickness… Jesus’ ½ brother, James addresses the way we are governed in this country and the way we Christians govern ourselves in front of this world…
He speaks not just in generalities, but is specific about our socially shallow spirituality…
In a nutshell, James is about the clash between Classism and Christianity …
“Classless Christianity” is the kind that treats everybody basically the same, where we preach and practice an egalitarian treatment of all humans (all divine image bearers), rich and poor, black and white, powerful and powerless…
Take a look at this video for the rest of the teaching. It’s only a little more 7 minutes.
June 23, 2020
The Bride in Work Clothes
She’s not in a stunning white dress, a flowing veil, her hair styled, and her face made up to perfection.
She’s not wearing the usual bridal garb. But she does have a radiance about her…
Her bridal beauty doesn’t depend on the externals like a wedding gown, perfect hair, and make up. She is radiant from God’s glory that exudes from her insides.
Check out the rest in this 5-minute video.
June 18, 2020
Complete Joy (John 15:9-11)
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:9 -11
His joy is his constant experience of Father’s love = exquisite joy!
The joy he’s experiencing in the Father’s love, he wants you to have that inside you! Not just “a joy” but his joy….
The way to have it is to know it is available and receive it by obedience to his commands… You can’t detour around obedience to get to the joy of experiencing his love…
Complete joy is when you experience that love, that way, to that extent!
For the rest of this, watch the following brief video.
June 16, 2020
Mourning Mammonism
Blessed are those who mourn.
It’s impossible to serve the true God and the false god called “Mammon” at the same time, yet we keep trying to do just that. Ouch!
Having sanctified, spiritualized, and sanitized Mammonism, a segment of the American Church might be the most culpable of all. Instead of mourning the money-madness addiction we imbibe in its intoxication. To our shame, instead of modeling the simple life into which Jesus summons us, we jump on the same Prosperity-Now train that everyone rides to a washed out bridge.
We reason that our best marketing strategy is to impress pre-Christians with a religion of accumulation wherein we promise them a God-generated success: If you possess as much faith as ours, pray with the formula that we give you, attend our church, and give your ten percent, you too can be healthy, wealthy, and rise to the skies! Ouch!
Is this really the ad we want to hang on our church signs? Don’t you think this is so shallow that a thinking person can see right through it? Is it possible that people are looking for a community that knows how to grieve its forfeitures and how to bring our sorrows to Someone bigger than themselves for comfort? Could it be that they’re longing for a place where people engage in the pains of the world rather than hide their heads in the sham of spiritual sand while claiming their diamond studded destiny? Ouch!
This is an excerpt from a book I hope to publish in the near future on the Sermon on the Mount called: What In The World? Some Moral, Social, and Politically Disruptive Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
As such, I’d appreciate your feedback on this post and others to come in order to make the final copy publish-worthy.
June 1, 2020
The Groan of the Godly
“Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.”
Lament is an indispensable posture for the person who loves Jesus and loves the same people he loves. Those who do it are “comforted” by the fact that they are loving people in a way similar to the way Jesus loves them and are therefore those whom God deems “blessed.”
Not all tears are created equal. They come in an assortment of stripes and in response to a variety of circumstances. There are attention-getting tears and tears of self-pity, neither of which are the best of tears. I’ve cried enough of them myself to know that they don’t yield their desired results. Then there are tears of repentance and others of joy. I recommend both of those at times appropriate.
Other good tears are shed in grief, uncertainty, confusion, fear, and empathy. In the biblical narrative poets, prophets, and apostles all shed and recommend these kinds of tears as both personally therapeutic and socially potent. “Our tears are sacred,” says Rob Bell. “They water the ground around our feet so new things can grow.”
“There is a time… to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…” Ecclesiastes 3:4
This is an excerpt from a book I hope to publish in the near future on the Sermon on the Mount called: What In The World? Some Moral, Social, and Politically Disruptive Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
As such, I’d appreciate your feedback on this post and others to come in order to make the final copy publish-worthy.
May 21, 2020
Attitudes To Be
The “Beatitude Attitudes,” are so critical that Jesus spends the rest of his Sermon unpacking them. Possessing and practicing these Christ-like qualities propagates every good life quality God intend for us. One can hardly imagine a more succinct description of a Jesus-shaped life.
Let’s imagine these eight attitudes as portals through which we enter, enjoy, and practice the principles of Jesus’ teaching. Each attitude is one of eight doors that lead to a room full of the King’s treasures. He begins with them, not in order to warm us up for the message. Instead, they’re doors through we lean into and live the message.
If we try to enter the teaching any other way, the best we can expect is to peer over the wall and speculate about what Jesus wants. All we can do is observe the Sermon from afar as rules to obey instead of as a rule of life. We can read his words, analyze them, and dissect them, but we can’t live them if we fail to enter through these eight portals.
These are excerpts from a book I hope to publish in the near future on the Sermon on the Mount called: What In The World? Some Moral, Social, and Politically Disruptive Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
As such, I’d appreciate your feedback on this post and others to come in order to make the final copy publish-worthy.
May 17, 2020
Is COVID Pretty Much the Same as the Flu?
They said COVID was no big deal. Until it was.
They said it would blow over like a miracle. Until it didn’t.
They said anyone who wants a test can get one. Until they couldn’t.
They said they have done a fantastic job of dealing with it. Until they weren’t.
They said it’s just like the flu. Until it wasn’t.
I don’t know about you but I can no longer believe what they say!
Comparing the Flu with COVID
The CDC estimates that there were more than 35.5 million cases of the flu and 34,200 deaths in the U.S. during the 2018–2019 flu season. Keep in mind, that’s without any sheltering-in or wearing of masks! Everyone rode on planes, ate in restaurants, went to work, and rode buses. No social distancing. Everyone sneezing and coughing on one another. Lots of cases (over 35 million) and relatively few deaths (over 34,000).
That’s one death for every 1030 cases of the flu, which if we had taken the measures we’ve been taking for COVID during the flu season last year (which I’m not suggesting), there would have been exponentially fewer deaths by flu! No telling how many fewer. But many many fewer!
Compare that to, as of May 16, 2020 (just 14 or so weeks into the virus) we’ve had 1.5 million cases of COVID and 90,000 deaths in the U.S. That is one death per 17 cases of COVID. And that’s with all the draconian measures we’ve taken. No telling how many deaths there would have been had we not stayed at home or worn masks in public! But many many more!
Oh, and keep in mind, we’re not through this yet. The number of cases and deaths are not all told.
[For those who make the claim that the CDC numbers on COVID are inflated, you’d have to do the same with the flu numbers, and call them inflated as well. Right? And I don’t hear anyone arguing that point. Just sayin’.]
Not trying to breed fear or division. Just busting one of the most outrageous ridiculous claims about COVID-19.
“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32)
If truth frees, it follows that lies enslave.
May 13, 2020
To Mask or Not to Mask…
“We are all created in the image and likeness of God. That image is seen the most by our face. I will not wear a mask! . . . When we think of image, do we think of a chest or our legs or our arms? We think of their face. I don’t want to cover people’s faces.” (Ohio State Representative Nino Vitale)
That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve heard said during this pandemic! And there is a long list of dumb things that have been said.
Is this esteemed elected official claiming that the “face” is what constitutes the “image of God” in humans? So, covering it with a mask for the common good of the community somehow obscures the divine image? I’d say his image is quite well reflected in the selfless act of loving our neighbors enough to protect them from a sickness that we might not realize we are carrying. I seem to remember something Jesus said about loving our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.
Boy do I hate it when people quote the Bible to back up their crazy mixed-up notions! It’s especially odious when people with power and a podium hijack the Scripture’s beautiful truths for their own self-serving political or financial purpose. Worse yet when gullible people eat it up like Deep Fried Mac’n Cheese balls. (That’s really a thing.)
BTW, if God’s face looks like a person’s face, which person does he look like? There are a lot of faces out there and quite a range of beautiful / handsome to not so much.
Some would say (not me) that there are those for whom a mask improves their appearance. I could see dating sites popping up with photos of hopeful daters wearing designer masks in place of the typical photo-shopped, decade-old, 30 lbs lighter portrait. I doubt it’ll catch on, but it’s worth a try.
I was talking with a Christian sister the other day; I was masked and she was not. She told me that she considered wearing a mask, “weak faith.” Since no snappy comeback came to mind, rather than debate the issue, which is hard enough to do through a mask, I cut the conversation short and made for home.
I make no claim to mountain-sized faith, but to me it’s not as much about faith as it is about wisdom for one’s own health and consideration for others. The latter is especially true since they say that masks are more about keeping others safe than ourselves.
One conservative columnist said of mask requirements: “In an authoritarian society. In a communist, dictatorial, tyrannical kind of country. (My note: Wow, is that a redundant list of pejoratives or what?) But this is America.” So, Americans are free to get one another sick?
FOX News’ Laura Ingraham took it a step further saying that requiring masks in stores is an elitist plot to impose “suppression of free thought”! Well, she’s certainly free to think up such an inane conspiracy theory. But really? With so many social ills to fix you’d think she could come up with something more important to rant over than the imposition of mask wearing.
And what’s the deal with those who show up to a mask-less “freedom from tyranny” protest with their semi-automatic rifles strapped to their shoulders? What are they gonna do, shoot the first cop that demands they mask up? They call themselves “American patriots.” Remember, we’re fighting a war with COVID-19. I just wonder whose side they’re fighting on when they refuse to wear a mask in public.
And speaking of weapons, did you hear that a Dollar Store security guard in Michigan was shot when denying a customer’s entrance into the store because she didn’t have a mask on? The shooter went home, got a gun and shot the guard! Come on, people, it’s a mask, not handcuffs or a straitjacket! Trevor Noah said, “Forget a vaccine. Scientists just need to start working on a chill pill!”
Speaking of Trevor Noah, he tweeted: “Many Americans refuse to wear a mask because it makes it harder to breathe. But you know what else can make it difficult to breathe? The Coronavirus.”
Therefore, those who care so much about honoring the “image of God” in one another should mask up or stay out of our collective “faces” for the duration of the crisis!
May 11, 2020
Addicted to Positivity
Blessed are those who mourn.
I’m a charismatic. Joyful songs, lifting hands, shouts of triumph along with some dancing peppered in when I have the strength are all part of my preferred hour (or two) of congregational worship. We “Spirit-filled” folk love services that we can experience palpably, while at the same time we tend to fail to confront and mourn the more dismal realities in the world.
In an effort to keep everything at a positive pitch, those whom Thomas Merton called “preachers of sunshine and uplift” deprive the church of a fully orbed diet of other nourishing spiritual practices, such as mourning.
Lament doesn’t fit the triumphalistic narrative so prominent in the American evangelicalism, my own charismatic tribe in particular.
This lack of exposure to it is one reason many Christians (especially those of the white middle-to-upper-class variety) are inexperienced in the biblical practice of lament. They spend the morning reading the Sunday news about terrorist beheadings, trafficked children, and undernourished humans in the world and then go to church to sing exclusively cheerful choruses and high-fiving one another about how great heaven will be!
Lament and hope are not mutually exclusive. In fact, hope is rooted in the healthy soil of lament, grows upward, and bears fruit as the light of the Son shines on it.
This is an excerpt from a book I hope to publish in the near future on the Sermon on the Mount called: What In The World? Some Moral, Social, and Politically Disruptive Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
As such, I’d appreciate your feedback on this post and others to come in order to make the final copy publish-worthy.
May 7, 2020
How Hungry?
The kind of surpassing righteousness Jesus prescribes involves a daily dying to everything for which our lower selves clamor. The life he invites us into involves lugging around a heavy piece of timber designed for nothing short of execution of that lower self. Fortunately this execution is routinely followed by resurrection!
Many Christians want to make some improvements in some select areas. This usually amounts to something more like a wish than a hunger. Jesus prescribes an all consuming craving for more than a series of minor adjustments but a serious incremental transformation until our person and purpose more closely resemble his.
Others are hungrier for blessedness than righteousness. They waste their hunger pangs on paltry pursuits like economic abundance, possession of power, or advance in social class. But the pursuit of blessing for its own sake yields neither blessedness nor righteousness.
How can he fill us if we’re already full of ourselves, saturated with our accomplishments, and glutted with our possessions? Though we may claim to be hungry for righteousness, the reality is we have little stomach for what it requires to be like Jesus.
“Take a taste,” says David, “and see for yourself that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8)
This is an excerpt from a book I hope to publish in the near future on the Sermon on the Mount called: What In The World? Some Moral, Social, and Politically Disruptive Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
As such, I’d appreciate your feedback on this post and others to come in order to make the final copy publish-worthy.
