Brandon C. Jones's Blog, page 5
November 19, 2015
Out of Egypt I Called My Son: On Welcoming Refugees
Our Sunday school classes are already learning their music for our annual Christmas program. The American version of the Christmas story usually involves Mary, Joseph, a manger, shepherds, angels, and Magi from the East. Once everyone visits the newly born Jesus the show is over. But there is much more to the story of the Magi than our annual programs allow, which could give focus this time of year to our approach to refugees who are already among us, like the cashiers I meet at stores or the family I happen upon at the park with their children, while in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Matthew tells us what happened after the Magi visited the young Messiah: “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they [the Magi] returned to their country by another route. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child and kill him.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.’ After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel” (Matt 2:13-21).
There are dozens of stories in the Bible about God inspiring his people to stand up and fight, often with his aid, but here the instruction was to flee, and those who didn’t mourned their losses. Refugees would stay home if they could, but their home was disrupted to the point that they had to flee.
There was a long history between Egypt and Israel, which is well documented in the Old Testament, including the welcoming of Israel’s family as refugees into Egypt that over time became the enslavement of the Israelite people within Egypt. That all happened centuries before the people of Egypt welcomed Joseph, Mary, and Jesus for several years. There was some element of risk for Egypt's leaders to let in refugees from elsewhere. There is always risk with refugees. Eventually Joseph, Mary, and Jesus resettled to their former country when things were safe there again, which is the hope of most refugees today.
Egypt, like every other place this side of God's kingdom, had its share of problems too at that time, maybe even people struggling to make ends meet and without homes of their own, but nonetheless there was still room in their borders for refugees from Judah. It’s not some zero-sum game where we either care for homeless kids and veterans of our own country or welcome refugees from another land. Why can’t we do both?
I don’t have all the answers on policies both foreign and domestic when it comes to the Syrian civil war, and there is room for good Christians to disagree on what prudent approach political leaders should make. However, as an individual Christian and as Christ’s church it is obvious to me that we are to be people of compassion, not just in word but in deed too. Remember that not even three chapters later in Matthew’s Gospel the grown-up Jesus, who was a refugee as a toddler, tells his followers this: “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:46-48).
Refugees are already here, and we as Christ’s church and as individual Christians can welcome them into our lives with love. If more refugees come, and they just might, we as God's people can show them the love of Christ who was once a refugee himself. Richard Stearns, who runs the charity World Vision, says Syrian refugees are among the most unloved people in the entire world because everywhere they go they are unwanted. Perhaps their plight will help us focus on the unloved, be they homeless, poor, convicts, or even refugees within our own communities.
If you only care about people with a click of a mouse or a tap on a screen, what reward will you get? What are you doing more than others?
Matthew tells us what happened after the Magi visited the young Messiah: “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they [the Magi] returned to their country by another route. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child and kill him.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.’ After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel” (Matt 2:13-21).
There are dozens of stories in the Bible about God inspiring his people to stand up and fight, often with his aid, but here the instruction was to flee, and those who didn’t mourned their losses. Refugees would stay home if they could, but their home was disrupted to the point that they had to flee.
There was a long history between Egypt and Israel, which is well documented in the Old Testament, including the welcoming of Israel’s family as refugees into Egypt that over time became the enslavement of the Israelite people within Egypt. That all happened centuries before the people of Egypt welcomed Joseph, Mary, and Jesus for several years. There was some element of risk for Egypt's leaders to let in refugees from elsewhere. There is always risk with refugees. Eventually Joseph, Mary, and Jesus resettled to their former country when things were safe there again, which is the hope of most refugees today.
Egypt, like every other place this side of God's kingdom, had its share of problems too at that time, maybe even people struggling to make ends meet and without homes of their own, but nonetheless there was still room in their borders for refugees from Judah. It’s not some zero-sum game where we either care for homeless kids and veterans of our own country or welcome refugees from another land. Why can’t we do both?
I don’t have all the answers on policies both foreign and domestic when it comes to the Syrian civil war, and there is room for good Christians to disagree on what prudent approach political leaders should make. However, as an individual Christian and as Christ’s church it is obvious to me that we are to be people of compassion, not just in word but in deed too. Remember that not even three chapters later in Matthew’s Gospel the grown-up Jesus, who was a refugee as a toddler, tells his followers this: “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:46-48).
Refugees are already here, and we as Christ’s church and as individual Christians can welcome them into our lives with love. If more refugees come, and they just might, we as God's people can show them the love of Christ who was once a refugee himself. Richard Stearns, who runs the charity World Vision, says Syrian refugees are among the most unloved people in the entire world because everywhere they go they are unwanted. Perhaps their plight will help us focus on the unloved, be they homeless, poor, convicts, or even refugees within our own communities.
If you only care about people with a click of a mouse or a tap on a screen, what reward will you get? What are you doing more than others?
November 12, 2015
It’s the Thank Thankliest Season of All: On songs of thanks
Doing some shopping on Halloween I noticed more than one store displaying both Halloween and Christmas merchandise that day. The switch between shopping seasons that used to take place after Thanksgiving has been bumped up a few weeks because a mere month of commercial Christmas fever between Thanksgiving and December 25th just wasn’t enough.
Like a middle-child holiday, Thanksgiving has lost its place. Of all our national holidays, Thanksgiving might be the most Christian. The Puritans who settled in New England debated the legitimacy of observing Christmas and even Easter, but Thanksgiving was theirs, and can be ours too. It’s a time to celebrate harvest, a season for uniting with brothers and sisters who share our land, and a moment to give thanks to our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.
Over time Thanksgiving came to be associated with food, football, and family dysfunction. But for God’s people thankfulness is the chief symptom of a soul at peace in God. And God loves to hear us express our gratitude together by singing to him.
Our church accompanists have hand-selected songs of thankfulness all month long, and I’ve enjoyed singing every one of them. I doubt we’ll ever see Thanksgiving songs become their own genre of music like Christmas albums, but we do have some great songs of thankfulness that have been handed down to us in our hymnals, many of which predate American Thanksgiving. Here are four of them.
Now Thank We All Our God
This hymn was written by a Saxon Lutheran minister who served during the Thirty-Years’ war. In just one of those tumultuous years he officiated 4,000 funerals, including that of his wife. Behind many hymns of peace and thanks lie great tragedy and heartache. The second verse is my favorite:
“O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,With ever joyful hearts and bless-ed peace to cheer us;And keep us in his grace, and guide us when perplexed,And free us from all ills in this world and the next.”
Living in a fallen world can often be perplexing. I don’t have all the answers, but I trust in God’s safekeeping grace. May he be near us always.
Come, Ye Thankful People
An Anglican minister wrote this hymn in celebration of harvest. Originally, it had seven verses, but today there are usually four found in our hymnals. What I like most about this song is its sober message of perseverance and future judgment. The author brings up Jesus’ teaching about the wheat and the tares, likening it to the work of harvest before winter hits. There is also talk of spiritual maturity, growing up in Christ like corn grows from its ear and stalk. The hymn ends on a high note of praise. Here is the last verse:
“Even so, Lord, quickly come to thy final harvest home:Gather thou thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin;There, forever purified, in they presence to abide:Come, with all thine angels, come, raise the glorious harvest home.”
Whenever I sing of my future hope of God’s kingdom, where the world is set aright and all things are made new, I too think of my present life in our fallen world: full of sorrow, full of sin. I love to sing about the day such fullness will be emptied.
Thanks to God for My Redeemer
A young Swedish man wrote this hymn, not long after being converted to the Christian faith through the Salvation Army. In mid-life he started to suffer chronic back pain that stayed with him until he died. This song may not appeal to parts of the world with fewer than four seasons, but it works just fine for the American Midwest. Like a psalm it touches on thanksgiving in the midst of joy and pain before ending with hope in God’s kingdom. Here’s the second verse:
“Thanks to God that thou hast answered, thanks for what thou dost deny;Thanks for storms that I have weathered, thanks for all thou dost supply;Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure, thanks for comfort in despair;Thanks for grace that none can measure, thanks for love beyond compare.”
I think of Paul’s charge for God’s people to measure the height, depth, and width of God’s love in Christ. A lot of people see a word picture of the cross in Paul’s words—a place of pain, despair, and grace beyond measure.
Give Thanks
This chorus was written by Henry Smith in 1978. At that time Smith had just finished college, which took him a little longer than usual to complete due to a degenerative eye condition. He had difficulty finding work as a graduate when he wrote this song. Eventually, Smith became legally blind and his song was largely unknown until Don Moen’s first worship album included it as a title track several years later. Written from a time of sorrowful hope in his own life, Smith’s words echo much of the Old Testament prophets and psalms as well as the teaching of Jesus:
“Give thanks with a grateful heart,Give thanks to the Holy One,Give thanks because he’s given Jesus Christ, his Son.
And now, let the weak say, ‘I am strong,’Let the poor say, ‘I am rich,’Because of what the Lord has done for us.”
As Arthur McGill liked to say, mere charity is giving of our excess, but true love is giving of ourselves. That’s what God did in Christ. He gave us himself, and if that’s not reason enough to give God thanks, what is?
Make Thanksgiving Great Again
Don’t let Thanksgiving get trampled from our collective consciousness just because corporations can’t get enough earnings from it. Take time to give thanks to God this month, and as Paul tells us, there is no better way to do it than by singing:
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:15-17).
Like a middle-child holiday, Thanksgiving has lost its place. Of all our national holidays, Thanksgiving might be the most Christian. The Puritans who settled in New England debated the legitimacy of observing Christmas and even Easter, but Thanksgiving was theirs, and can be ours too. It’s a time to celebrate harvest, a season for uniting with brothers and sisters who share our land, and a moment to give thanks to our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.
Over time Thanksgiving came to be associated with food, football, and family dysfunction. But for God’s people thankfulness is the chief symptom of a soul at peace in God. And God loves to hear us express our gratitude together by singing to him.
Our church accompanists have hand-selected songs of thankfulness all month long, and I’ve enjoyed singing every one of them. I doubt we’ll ever see Thanksgiving songs become their own genre of music like Christmas albums, but we do have some great songs of thankfulness that have been handed down to us in our hymnals, many of which predate American Thanksgiving. Here are four of them.
Now Thank We All Our God
This hymn was written by a Saxon Lutheran minister who served during the Thirty-Years’ war. In just one of those tumultuous years he officiated 4,000 funerals, including that of his wife. Behind many hymns of peace and thanks lie great tragedy and heartache. The second verse is my favorite:
“O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,With ever joyful hearts and bless-ed peace to cheer us;And keep us in his grace, and guide us when perplexed,And free us from all ills in this world and the next.”
Living in a fallen world can often be perplexing. I don’t have all the answers, but I trust in God’s safekeeping grace. May he be near us always.
Come, Ye Thankful People
An Anglican minister wrote this hymn in celebration of harvest. Originally, it had seven verses, but today there are usually four found in our hymnals. What I like most about this song is its sober message of perseverance and future judgment. The author brings up Jesus’ teaching about the wheat and the tares, likening it to the work of harvest before winter hits. There is also talk of spiritual maturity, growing up in Christ like corn grows from its ear and stalk. The hymn ends on a high note of praise. Here is the last verse:
“Even so, Lord, quickly come to thy final harvest home:Gather thou thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin;There, forever purified, in they presence to abide:Come, with all thine angels, come, raise the glorious harvest home.”
Whenever I sing of my future hope of God’s kingdom, where the world is set aright and all things are made new, I too think of my present life in our fallen world: full of sorrow, full of sin. I love to sing about the day such fullness will be emptied.
Thanks to God for My Redeemer
A young Swedish man wrote this hymn, not long after being converted to the Christian faith through the Salvation Army. In mid-life he started to suffer chronic back pain that stayed with him until he died. This song may not appeal to parts of the world with fewer than four seasons, but it works just fine for the American Midwest. Like a psalm it touches on thanksgiving in the midst of joy and pain before ending with hope in God’s kingdom. Here’s the second verse:
“Thanks to God that thou hast answered, thanks for what thou dost deny;Thanks for storms that I have weathered, thanks for all thou dost supply;Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure, thanks for comfort in despair;Thanks for grace that none can measure, thanks for love beyond compare.”
I think of Paul’s charge for God’s people to measure the height, depth, and width of God’s love in Christ. A lot of people see a word picture of the cross in Paul’s words—a place of pain, despair, and grace beyond measure.
Give Thanks
This chorus was written by Henry Smith in 1978. At that time Smith had just finished college, which took him a little longer than usual to complete due to a degenerative eye condition. He had difficulty finding work as a graduate when he wrote this song. Eventually, Smith became legally blind and his song was largely unknown until Don Moen’s first worship album included it as a title track several years later. Written from a time of sorrowful hope in his own life, Smith’s words echo much of the Old Testament prophets and psalms as well as the teaching of Jesus:
“Give thanks with a grateful heart,Give thanks to the Holy One,Give thanks because he’s given Jesus Christ, his Son.
And now, let the weak say, ‘I am strong,’Let the poor say, ‘I am rich,’Because of what the Lord has done for us.”
As Arthur McGill liked to say, mere charity is giving of our excess, but true love is giving of ourselves. That’s what God did in Christ. He gave us himself, and if that’s not reason enough to give God thanks, what is?
Make Thanksgiving Great Again
Don’t let Thanksgiving get trampled from our collective consciousness just because corporations can’t get enough earnings from it. Take time to give thanks to God this month, and as Paul tells us, there is no better way to do it than by singing:
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:15-17).
November 5, 2015
Good Christian Manners: What to do about the Mosaic Law and the Jewishness of the Christian Faith
Anyone who has read Galatians and Romans carefully will admit that Paul’s teaching about the Mosaic Law is complex. Likewise, if you’ve read the book of Acts from start to finish you’ll find difficulty answering the seemingly-simple question, How Jewish is Christianity? Over the years some people within Christ’s church have offered extreme answers to these issues on both sides, while most people stand firmly in the middle. The extremes are attractive because of their simplicity, but the church chose the middle ground for good reasons.
The Extremes
When it comes to the Mosaic Law some people argue that there is no law whatsoever, Mosaic or otherwise, for God’s people, so you can do whatever you want. God won’t really care. Others say the Mosaic Law is confirmed in Christ, so make sure you follow it well out of respect for God, showing everyone that you know good manners and can keep pure God’s way by the letter of his holy law. On the other hand, I’ve yet to see any Christian be completely lawless, though. And I’ve certainly seen zero Christians follow the letter of the Mosaic Law consistently. What Orwell said about communism rings true for Mosaic law-keeping Christians today: All six hundred laws are equal, but some laws are “more equal” than others.
As for Jewishness, the extremes throughout history have been lamentable. For many years Christians have treated Jews poorly, culminating in Nazi Germany where the idea of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesus gave permission to treat Jews as sub-humans. Despicable! On the flipside there is a growing movement, mostly among Gentile dispensational Christians, that thinks all Christians should become more Jewish. They extend this stance beyond biblical laws to include extra-biblical customs too. They have rejected their roots in Christ’s church for a supposedly deeper root in Judaism.
The Middles
Having covered the extremes, albeit with the broadest of brushes, the majority of Christ’s church today and throughout history stands firmly in the middle of both issues. While Galatians and Romans are helpful places to go regarding the ongoing role of the Mosaic Law in the Christian life, the book of Hebrews offers the clearest answer for Christ’s church.
In that book, the unnamed author addresses Jewish people who came to believe in the gospel of Christ, but after hardships and pushback were having second thoughts about their faith. Some were on the verge of recanting their faith in Christ and going back to their old way of life in Judaism. Hebrews encourages them to stay in the Christian faith because Christ is superior to what God did previously with national Israel: superior witness, superior covenant, superior blood, superior priesthood, and superior deliverance. In the eleventh chapter of the book the author reminds the church that what God was doing long ago in Israel finds its culmination and fulfillment in Christ and his church. The author speaks of attending religious feasts and sacrifices as a thing of the past. He considers what Christ has done once and for all in the heavenly realm as that which was merely foreshadowed by its model, the ancient earthly temple in Jerusalem.
I cannot speak for the author, but after reading his letter, especially chapters 9 and 10, I imagine he would dissuade Christians from celebrating Jewish festivals in the place of joining Christ’s global church in celebrating events like Christmas and Easter. Speculation aside, he certainly tells Christians that they cannot live however they want. Instead, he argues for being holy and cleansed, but there is no talk of keeping the Mosaic Law as a means of such cleansing, which makes sense. Given what he says about the supremacy of Christ, why would he go back and encourage people to keep the old law by the letter? He encourages the people to keep steadfast in their faith by meeting regularly with fellow believers and together living out their shared faith through love and good works, which sounds a lot like orthodox Christian teaching that has carried on for centuries worldwide.
Having addressed the place of the Mosaic Law in Hebrews, Acts offers helpful answers as to how Jewish Christianity can be. The early church’s response was twofold: First, it can be very Jewish for those who were Jews before coming to faith in Christ. Second, it doesn’t have to be completely Jewish for those who were not Jews before coming to faith in Christ. The earliest of church controversies and councils had to do with this very issue. As with most councils, the result was a compromise. Gentile Christians did not have to keep the letter of the Mosaic Law, but there were ways they could be mindful of the consciences of Jewish Christians who still observed the Mosaic Law. Today, those disparate ways of being Christian, both Jewish and Gentile, still hold. God is still at work calling Jewish people to the gospel of Christ, and many of them find ways to grow in their faith and maintain much of their Jewish identity as Christians. But not everyone has to experience the Christian faith in this manner, especially people who were not Jewish before coming to faith in Christ.
If not the law, then what?
Christ sent out his Apostles, including Paul, to reach all peoples. He told Peter not to declare unclean what he has declared clean. He told Paul that he was a chosen vessel to the Gentiles. And when it comes to being cleansed and showing God good manners, the Jesus-sent Apostles of the early church pointed to the Spirit-filled new covenant and its fruit of holiness, not the letter of the Mosaic Law. Paul likened the Law to a teacher, whose role was to point to Christ, and now that Christ has come its role as a manners-teaching guardian is no longer needed. Paul certainly knew of Jeremiah’s prophecy about the new covenant. No longer would God’s people need to be taught their manners from some outside Law. He will himself put his law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
Jesus’ actions after his resurrection and ascension coincide with what the Gospels say about his ministry on earth. Sure, he attended Synagogue and went to the temple. Where else would he go? He also said plainly that he came to fulfill the law, not abolish it, and so he did.
The question is what is the law’s purpose. It wasn’t to save, which just about all Christians can agree on. It wasn’t to follow by the letter, given what Jesus does and says about it. He heals on the Sabbath, allows his disciples to pick corn on the Sabbath, and dismisses dietary laws outright. What was the law’s purpose, then? “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves” (Hebrews 10:1). The law was prelude. It was not evil. It was good. But it was also incomplete, pointing to a new covenant between God and his people and a new mediator of that covenant, the God-human Jesus Christ. And the newness doesn’t end with Christ. It continues with the Holy Spirit, who is the empowering presence of God in those who have faith in the gospel of Christ and are being comformed to the image of his Son by living faithfully in God’s ways. The Mosaic law was not abolished, but fulfilled in Christ, and we honor the spirit of that law by being Spirit-filled people with the spirit of God’s law—loving him with all our hearts, minds, strength, and souls and loving our neighbors as ourselves—written on our minds and hearts. Those are the roots of the Christian faith, and I wouldn’t exchange them for anything.
The Extremes
When it comes to the Mosaic Law some people argue that there is no law whatsoever, Mosaic or otherwise, for God’s people, so you can do whatever you want. God won’t really care. Others say the Mosaic Law is confirmed in Christ, so make sure you follow it well out of respect for God, showing everyone that you know good manners and can keep pure God’s way by the letter of his holy law. On the other hand, I’ve yet to see any Christian be completely lawless, though. And I’ve certainly seen zero Christians follow the letter of the Mosaic Law consistently. What Orwell said about communism rings true for Mosaic law-keeping Christians today: All six hundred laws are equal, but some laws are “more equal” than others.
As for Jewishness, the extremes throughout history have been lamentable. For many years Christians have treated Jews poorly, culminating in Nazi Germany where the idea of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesus gave permission to treat Jews as sub-humans. Despicable! On the flipside there is a growing movement, mostly among Gentile dispensational Christians, that thinks all Christians should become more Jewish. They extend this stance beyond biblical laws to include extra-biblical customs too. They have rejected their roots in Christ’s church for a supposedly deeper root in Judaism.
The Middles
Having covered the extremes, albeit with the broadest of brushes, the majority of Christ’s church today and throughout history stands firmly in the middle of both issues. While Galatians and Romans are helpful places to go regarding the ongoing role of the Mosaic Law in the Christian life, the book of Hebrews offers the clearest answer for Christ’s church.
In that book, the unnamed author addresses Jewish people who came to believe in the gospel of Christ, but after hardships and pushback were having second thoughts about their faith. Some were on the verge of recanting their faith in Christ and going back to their old way of life in Judaism. Hebrews encourages them to stay in the Christian faith because Christ is superior to what God did previously with national Israel: superior witness, superior covenant, superior blood, superior priesthood, and superior deliverance. In the eleventh chapter of the book the author reminds the church that what God was doing long ago in Israel finds its culmination and fulfillment in Christ and his church. The author speaks of attending religious feasts and sacrifices as a thing of the past. He considers what Christ has done once and for all in the heavenly realm as that which was merely foreshadowed by its model, the ancient earthly temple in Jerusalem.
I cannot speak for the author, but after reading his letter, especially chapters 9 and 10, I imagine he would dissuade Christians from celebrating Jewish festivals in the place of joining Christ’s global church in celebrating events like Christmas and Easter. Speculation aside, he certainly tells Christians that they cannot live however they want. Instead, he argues for being holy and cleansed, but there is no talk of keeping the Mosaic Law as a means of such cleansing, which makes sense. Given what he says about the supremacy of Christ, why would he go back and encourage people to keep the old law by the letter? He encourages the people to keep steadfast in their faith by meeting regularly with fellow believers and together living out their shared faith through love and good works, which sounds a lot like orthodox Christian teaching that has carried on for centuries worldwide.
Having addressed the place of the Mosaic Law in Hebrews, Acts offers helpful answers as to how Jewish Christianity can be. The early church’s response was twofold: First, it can be very Jewish for those who were Jews before coming to faith in Christ. Second, it doesn’t have to be completely Jewish for those who were not Jews before coming to faith in Christ. The earliest of church controversies and councils had to do with this very issue. As with most councils, the result was a compromise. Gentile Christians did not have to keep the letter of the Mosaic Law, but there were ways they could be mindful of the consciences of Jewish Christians who still observed the Mosaic Law. Today, those disparate ways of being Christian, both Jewish and Gentile, still hold. God is still at work calling Jewish people to the gospel of Christ, and many of them find ways to grow in their faith and maintain much of their Jewish identity as Christians. But not everyone has to experience the Christian faith in this manner, especially people who were not Jewish before coming to faith in Christ.
If not the law, then what?
Christ sent out his Apostles, including Paul, to reach all peoples. He told Peter not to declare unclean what he has declared clean. He told Paul that he was a chosen vessel to the Gentiles. And when it comes to being cleansed and showing God good manners, the Jesus-sent Apostles of the early church pointed to the Spirit-filled new covenant and its fruit of holiness, not the letter of the Mosaic Law. Paul likened the Law to a teacher, whose role was to point to Christ, and now that Christ has come its role as a manners-teaching guardian is no longer needed. Paul certainly knew of Jeremiah’s prophecy about the new covenant. No longer would God’s people need to be taught their manners from some outside Law. He will himself put his law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
Jesus’ actions after his resurrection and ascension coincide with what the Gospels say about his ministry on earth. Sure, he attended Synagogue and went to the temple. Where else would he go? He also said plainly that he came to fulfill the law, not abolish it, and so he did.
The question is what is the law’s purpose. It wasn’t to save, which just about all Christians can agree on. It wasn’t to follow by the letter, given what Jesus does and says about it. He heals on the Sabbath, allows his disciples to pick corn on the Sabbath, and dismisses dietary laws outright. What was the law’s purpose, then? “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves” (Hebrews 10:1). The law was prelude. It was not evil. It was good. But it was also incomplete, pointing to a new covenant between God and his people and a new mediator of that covenant, the God-human Jesus Christ. And the newness doesn’t end with Christ. It continues with the Holy Spirit, who is the empowering presence of God in those who have faith in the gospel of Christ and are being comformed to the image of his Son by living faithfully in God’s ways. The Mosaic law was not abolished, but fulfilled in Christ, and we honor the spirit of that law by being Spirit-filled people with the spirit of God’s law—loving him with all our hearts, minds, strength, and souls and loving our neighbors as ourselves—written on our minds and hearts. Those are the roots of the Christian faith, and I wouldn’t exchange them for anything.
October 29, 2015
The Scale Don't Lie: How practices shape our bodies and souls
Practices shape our bodies
Fifteen years ago when I was single I had a gym membership. I lifted weights, did some cardio (or whatever they call it now), played hockey, and ate things like a can of tuna for supper many nights a week. I weighed a lot less in those days.
I’m fat now and have been for some time and there’s no mystery as to why. My body has been shaped by my practices. It was slimmer when I exercised more and ate less. It’s pudgier after doing the opposite for several years. Unless you suffer from certain medical complications or are a high-metabolism person who eats a zillion calories and can’t put on weight, it’s no secret what shapes our bodies. It’s what we do (or don’t do). Is it any different with our souls?
Practices shaped the early church
Luke shares with us how Christ’s church quickly grew from a handful of frightened people sequestered in one place to a global movement thousands strong. God’s empowering presence fell upon the church and prompted them to preach to their neighbors that they must repent and be baptized. Once many of their neighbors did, here’s what came next:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-47).
Were you to read further in the book of Acts, you would find the gospel of Jesus Christ spreading like wildfire from Jerusalem, where the above passage takes place, to its surrounding areas and eventually the known world. Jesus appointed the church’s first leaders to be his sent witnesses, and they obediently went, sending others along the way. Jesus’ mission may have been their driving focus, but the shape of the church as a whole got its every contour from the practices the individuals performed both alone and together as the church. Practices don’t just shape our bodies; they also shape our individual souls and our churches.
Practices still shape the church today
In the gym the saying goes, “no pain, no gain.” It’s a principle of weightlifting that muscles respond to opposition by breaking down, only to recover even stronger for the task at hand. The early church experienced much opposition that strengthened them. People were put to death for their faith. Parents shunned children who accepted Christ. Fathers lost their livelihood in response for their conversion to the gospel. And the church grew. Tertullian, who was a church leader a couple centuries after Christ, remarked that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
And so it goes today. Globally, Christ’s church is experiencing growth as never before—and persecution as never before. Sent-ones are reaching out to their friends, family, neighbors, and even enemies with good news of God’s kingdom, regardless of their material poverty, threat of imprisonment, or being shunned by family members and employers alike. God continues to empower his church to grow despite opposition. God’s people meet in homes, share in fellowship, eat together as spiritual families, and give out of their own poverty to help whoever among them has need. Sound familiar?
Meanwhile in America things look rather different. I cannot speak for every American church, but the practices that shape most Christians here little resemble that of the early church in Acts chapter 2 or the global church today. Like people with gym memberships who never use them, we meet together rarely, certainly not daily. Many of us feel like our time to be shaped by the church’s teaching ends around 6-8th grade or so. We fellowship plenty with family and friends on our own, but our identity as a church is sketchy outside of a Sunday morning worship service. We give out of our excess what is leftover to God’s needs, whether that be time or money, but we rarely go without something we want, often taking for granted that we have been provided everything we need.
To be sure, there is no threat of imprisonment, shunning, or loss of income by being a Christian in America. But that’s not the only thing that shaped the early church and continues to shape the global church. The identity of being sent-ones, missionaries, can be our identity too. The devotion to daily practices of teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, prayer, and generosity is just as available to us as it is to anyone else in the world, if not more, when we consider the staggering amount of material wealth at our disposal. What is missing is the first thing Luke says above: devotion.
Step on the scale
What practices shape your life? Many of us are devoted to entertainment, pleasure, anxiety, pride, greed, lust, and a whole host of other maladies that weaken Christ’s church in America. What would it look like to exchange our devotion to ourselves for the kind of devotion the early church had?
Take stock this week of the practices that shape your soul to find out what you value and delight in: What is responsible for the most miles on your vehicle? What do you spend the most free time doing? What repeatedly shows up in your checking account register or credit card statements as unplanned expenses? How do you start your day? How do you end it? What do you think about all the time? What do you always find resources (time, energy, money) to do? What is the first thing you want to shed off your schedule whenever you can? And so on.
If worship makes you groan, if you have no hunger and thirst for righteousness, if your conscience is seared to sin, if you prefer to think about and talk about everything but God, and if you struggle to be a witness to the good news of God’s kingdom because you don’t think you’ve seen God at work in your own life in a while, then it’s time to assess what practices have shaped your soul.
An utter lack of joy in salvation and gratitude to the Lord are the chief symptoms of a soul that is out of shape, and if that’s you, there should be no surprise as to why. It’s what you do (or don’t do). Now that you’ve stepped off the scaled, what will change?
Fifteen years ago when I was single I had a gym membership. I lifted weights, did some cardio (or whatever they call it now), played hockey, and ate things like a can of tuna for supper many nights a week. I weighed a lot less in those days.
I’m fat now and have been for some time and there’s no mystery as to why. My body has been shaped by my practices. It was slimmer when I exercised more and ate less. It’s pudgier after doing the opposite for several years. Unless you suffer from certain medical complications or are a high-metabolism person who eats a zillion calories and can’t put on weight, it’s no secret what shapes our bodies. It’s what we do (or don’t do). Is it any different with our souls?
Practices shaped the early church
Luke shares with us how Christ’s church quickly grew from a handful of frightened people sequestered in one place to a global movement thousands strong. God’s empowering presence fell upon the church and prompted them to preach to their neighbors that they must repent and be baptized. Once many of their neighbors did, here’s what came next:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-47).
Were you to read further in the book of Acts, you would find the gospel of Jesus Christ spreading like wildfire from Jerusalem, where the above passage takes place, to its surrounding areas and eventually the known world. Jesus appointed the church’s first leaders to be his sent witnesses, and they obediently went, sending others along the way. Jesus’ mission may have been their driving focus, but the shape of the church as a whole got its every contour from the practices the individuals performed both alone and together as the church. Practices don’t just shape our bodies; they also shape our individual souls and our churches.
Practices still shape the church today
In the gym the saying goes, “no pain, no gain.” It’s a principle of weightlifting that muscles respond to opposition by breaking down, only to recover even stronger for the task at hand. The early church experienced much opposition that strengthened them. People were put to death for their faith. Parents shunned children who accepted Christ. Fathers lost their livelihood in response for their conversion to the gospel. And the church grew. Tertullian, who was a church leader a couple centuries after Christ, remarked that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
And so it goes today. Globally, Christ’s church is experiencing growth as never before—and persecution as never before. Sent-ones are reaching out to their friends, family, neighbors, and even enemies with good news of God’s kingdom, regardless of their material poverty, threat of imprisonment, or being shunned by family members and employers alike. God continues to empower his church to grow despite opposition. God’s people meet in homes, share in fellowship, eat together as spiritual families, and give out of their own poverty to help whoever among them has need. Sound familiar?
Meanwhile in America things look rather different. I cannot speak for every American church, but the practices that shape most Christians here little resemble that of the early church in Acts chapter 2 or the global church today. Like people with gym memberships who never use them, we meet together rarely, certainly not daily. Many of us feel like our time to be shaped by the church’s teaching ends around 6-8th grade or so. We fellowship plenty with family and friends on our own, but our identity as a church is sketchy outside of a Sunday morning worship service. We give out of our excess what is leftover to God’s needs, whether that be time or money, but we rarely go without something we want, often taking for granted that we have been provided everything we need.
To be sure, there is no threat of imprisonment, shunning, or loss of income by being a Christian in America. But that’s not the only thing that shaped the early church and continues to shape the global church. The identity of being sent-ones, missionaries, can be our identity too. The devotion to daily practices of teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, prayer, and generosity is just as available to us as it is to anyone else in the world, if not more, when we consider the staggering amount of material wealth at our disposal. What is missing is the first thing Luke says above: devotion.
Step on the scale
What practices shape your life? Many of us are devoted to entertainment, pleasure, anxiety, pride, greed, lust, and a whole host of other maladies that weaken Christ’s church in America. What would it look like to exchange our devotion to ourselves for the kind of devotion the early church had?
Take stock this week of the practices that shape your soul to find out what you value and delight in: What is responsible for the most miles on your vehicle? What do you spend the most free time doing? What repeatedly shows up in your checking account register or credit card statements as unplanned expenses? How do you start your day? How do you end it? What do you think about all the time? What do you always find resources (time, energy, money) to do? What is the first thing you want to shed off your schedule whenever you can? And so on.
If worship makes you groan, if you have no hunger and thirst for righteousness, if your conscience is seared to sin, if you prefer to think about and talk about everything but God, and if you struggle to be a witness to the good news of God’s kingdom because you don’t think you’ve seen God at work in your own life in a while, then it’s time to assess what practices have shaped your soul.
An utter lack of joy in salvation and gratitude to the Lord are the chief symptoms of a soul that is out of shape, and if that’s you, there should be no surprise as to why. It’s what you do (or don’t do). Now that you’ve stepped off the scaled, what will change?
October 22, 2015
The Hunt: What I’ve learned searching for pheasants on the prairie
Before my Dad drove home from helping me move to South Dakota he handed me a brand-new shotgun. It was a housewarming gift of sorts. “Since you’re moving to bird-hunting heaven,” he said, “you better have your own gun.”
I’d never been to South Dakota before our visit here to candidate as a pastor four years ago. I had heard about pheasants and tried to look for them on our long drive from Kansas City. I thought I saw some in ponds near the highway, but only heard laughter when I asked the locals if pheasants were on ponds. “No, those are ducks,” was the reply. Sooner or later I saw my first actual ringneck pheasant, but not on a pond. Once you see one you recognize it forever. Male pheasants, the kind you can hunt, glisten in the sun, full of green, red, and white feathers. They are unique birds.
Pheasants go mostly unseen because they don’t fly much. They nest on the ground. They run fast on the ground. And when they do take flight it’s rather low, low enough to hit a mini-van. Believe me, I know.
During the spring and summer the pheasants of the Dakotas have a coming out party. Any drive around dusk will be peppered by flocks of them eating gravel at the side of the road. The young pheasants mature during this time, becoming full-grown right before hunting season. Once the season starts, though, pheasants are hard to find. And that’s when the hunt begins.
How to Hunt Pheasants
Each fall people drive from far and wide to our area to hunt pheasants. They like to hunt in groups. And it’s best to take dogs with you. The whole thing is scripted and methodical. The hunters scout a location that is ideal for pheasants with shelter, food, and water nearby. Once a location is picked, the group comes up with a plan. Several hunters will go to one end of a field or slew and slowly march arm’s length apart from one another in a straight line behind their dogs. A couple hunters, called blockers, stand put at the other end of the field.
If pheasants are in the field, they stand little chance of survival. The dogs will disrupt them enough to get them to fly up in the air. Once lifted, a nearby hunter behind the dog will have a clear shot for a few seconds. If he misses, the bird’s flight path will take him toward the blocking hunters at the other end of the field who will have a clear shot for even more seconds. The pheasant’s only hope is to have someone like me aiming at him. I always miss.
Hunting gives someone plenty of quiet time to think while keeping the body busy. Over the years I’ve found several connections between hunting and the Christian life.
There is a season: Hunting wouldn’t work if it were open season year round. The harvest time is a natural fit for the hunt, since the fields are disrupted, making them easier to walk through, and the birds have all grown to adulthood. Jesus often talked about fields and harvests, noting when they were white and ready. I never know when someone I encounter is ready to accept the gospel, but I do know that I can share the good news with them in hopes that it might be open season. Sometimes it is. Other times it isn’t. And that has nothing to do with my specific words or actions.
Accepting seasons allows me to be obedient to God’s command and trust him in his providence without ever giving up. Cam Roxburgh likens witnessing to cooking pasta. You know your pasta is cooked when you throw one against the wall and it sticks. Sometimes the gospel will stick. Sometimes it won’t. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try again or at all.
There is a body: Some hunting and fishing is best done alone. People want to be in solitude, keep quiet, or not risk upsetting the prey. Pheasant hunting is the opposite, because the more hunters the merrier. Everyone has a role to play; there are no bystanders.
Were God interested in setting up a private religion for isolated individuals, he would’ve gone about things much differently than he did. For all our technology, television preachers, and Internet communities, God is pleased to do his work through the local church. And just like the hunt, each member has a vital role to play. Mentoring is best done in a group. I may have never downed a bird in the air, but I’m confident that with more experience under veteran hunters, I’ll finally do it some day. They encourage me with their stories, give me tips on technique, and allow me the opportunities to succeed or fail. It’s less fun to have a good shot when no one else sees it. Likewise, when there is a bad break or tough miss, the solace of your hunting partners is helpful.
All of that happens within a church body. As disciples we allow God to use elders to mentor us, in hopes that we will in turn mentor others. We invite them to study, pray, serve, and so on in hopes that they will in turn mentor someone else.
Hunting, like anything else, is always one generation away from its death. If the men who hunt refused to pass on their passion, love, and experience to the next generation, then it would die. The church is little different in that aspect, although I wonder how much passion people have for it amid the wealth and ease that is American life today.
There is a purpose: Right now hundreds of men are in South Dakota, spending valuable dollars on gas, ammunition, licenses, food, drink, etc. Many of them do it every year. There’s a payoff for them, and believe me it’s not because pheasant breast is a gourmet delicacy. Around here, people usually give it away for free to any taker. If you ever come across it, cook it with lots of bacon. No, the purpose of hunting lies in the convergence of joy, satisfaction, fun, and camaraderie that go along with the hunting experience as a whole. It’s not the meal; it’s the feel.
Were I to contrast the thoughts men in my area have with fishing and hunting to being a church member, I imagine they would have a harder time figuring out the purpose of the latter. Sure, many of them would stress individual salvation, baptism, and what not. In America we think all of that can be done just fine without fussing much with church involvement. So what is the purpose of being a church member? Attendance patterns, commitment, and involvement reveal that a lot of people don’t know the answer. And that’s not entirely their fault; it’s partly mine as a church leader.
The purposes of hunting and being a church member overlap. When done well each member plays a vital role in the purpose of proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom to our community. We scout for fields, we methodically plan on how best to focus outwardly and reach our neighbors, and we support each other in our quest to be God’s witnesses. Our time of worship on Sundays is like the pre-hunt lunch at the café, where we debrief the hunt from before, enjoy each other’s company, share a communal meal, and plan the work that lies ahead of us. Likewise, our mentoring and discipleship is vital as we invite others into our group, passing down what we learned onto them. Over time, they become one of us and find their place at the table. Eventually, they will be responsible to mentor and recruit others to join them.
Hunting may not be your thing, which is fine by me. I’m not sure it’s my thing. But I’ve got a friend coming up all the way from Texas to hunt in a couple weeks. My gun and boots will be ready. Maybe I’ll down my first bird. We’ll see. It’s open season!
I’d never been to South Dakota before our visit here to candidate as a pastor four years ago. I had heard about pheasants and tried to look for them on our long drive from Kansas City. I thought I saw some in ponds near the highway, but only heard laughter when I asked the locals if pheasants were on ponds. “No, those are ducks,” was the reply. Sooner or later I saw my first actual ringneck pheasant, but not on a pond. Once you see one you recognize it forever. Male pheasants, the kind you can hunt, glisten in the sun, full of green, red, and white feathers. They are unique birds.
Pheasants go mostly unseen because they don’t fly much. They nest on the ground. They run fast on the ground. And when they do take flight it’s rather low, low enough to hit a mini-van. Believe me, I know.
During the spring and summer the pheasants of the Dakotas have a coming out party. Any drive around dusk will be peppered by flocks of them eating gravel at the side of the road. The young pheasants mature during this time, becoming full-grown right before hunting season. Once the season starts, though, pheasants are hard to find. And that’s when the hunt begins.
How to Hunt Pheasants
Each fall people drive from far and wide to our area to hunt pheasants. They like to hunt in groups. And it’s best to take dogs with you. The whole thing is scripted and methodical. The hunters scout a location that is ideal for pheasants with shelter, food, and water nearby. Once a location is picked, the group comes up with a plan. Several hunters will go to one end of a field or slew and slowly march arm’s length apart from one another in a straight line behind their dogs. A couple hunters, called blockers, stand put at the other end of the field.
If pheasants are in the field, they stand little chance of survival. The dogs will disrupt them enough to get them to fly up in the air. Once lifted, a nearby hunter behind the dog will have a clear shot for a few seconds. If he misses, the bird’s flight path will take him toward the blocking hunters at the other end of the field who will have a clear shot for even more seconds. The pheasant’s only hope is to have someone like me aiming at him. I always miss.
Hunting gives someone plenty of quiet time to think while keeping the body busy. Over the years I’ve found several connections between hunting and the Christian life.
There is a season: Hunting wouldn’t work if it were open season year round. The harvest time is a natural fit for the hunt, since the fields are disrupted, making them easier to walk through, and the birds have all grown to adulthood. Jesus often talked about fields and harvests, noting when they were white and ready. I never know when someone I encounter is ready to accept the gospel, but I do know that I can share the good news with them in hopes that it might be open season. Sometimes it is. Other times it isn’t. And that has nothing to do with my specific words or actions.
Accepting seasons allows me to be obedient to God’s command and trust him in his providence without ever giving up. Cam Roxburgh likens witnessing to cooking pasta. You know your pasta is cooked when you throw one against the wall and it sticks. Sometimes the gospel will stick. Sometimes it won’t. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try again or at all.
There is a body: Some hunting and fishing is best done alone. People want to be in solitude, keep quiet, or not risk upsetting the prey. Pheasant hunting is the opposite, because the more hunters the merrier. Everyone has a role to play; there are no bystanders.
Were God interested in setting up a private religion for isolated individuals, he would’ve gone about things much differently than he did. For all our technology, television preachers, and Internet communities, God is pleased to do his work through the local church. And just like the hunt, each member has a vital role to play. Mentoring is best done in a group. I may have never downed a bird in the air, but I’m confident that with more experience under veteran hunters, I’ll finally do it some day. They encourage me with their stories, give me tips on technique, and allow me the opportunities to succeed or fail. It’s less fun to have a good shot when no one else sees it. Likewise, when there is a bad break or tough miss, the solace of your hunting partners is helpful.
All of that happens within a church body. As disciples we allow God to use elders to mentor us, in hopes that we will in turn mentor others. We invite them to study, pray, serve, and so on in hopes that they will in turn mentor someone else.
Hunting, like anything else, is always one generation away from its death. If the men who hunt refused to pass on their passion, love, and experience to the next generation, then it would die. The church is little different in that aspect, although I wonder how much passion people have for it amid the wealth and ease that is American life today.
There is a purpose: Right now hundreds of men are in South Dakota, spending valuable dollars on gas, ammunition, licenses, food, drink, etc. Many of them do it every year. There’s a payoff for them, and believe me it’s not because pheasant breast is a gourmet delicacy. Around here, people usually give it away for free to any taker. If you ever come across it, cook it with lots of bacon. No, the purpose of hunting lies in the convergence of joy, satisfaction, fun, and camaraderie that go along with the hunting experience as a whole. It’s not the meal; it’s the feel.
Were I to contrast the thoughts men in my area have with fishing and hunting to being a church member, I imagine they would have a harder time figuring out the purpose of the latter. Sure, many of them would stress individual salvation, baptism, and what not. In America we think all of that can be done just fine without fussing much with church involvement. So what is the purpose of being a church member? Attendance patterns, commitment, and involvement reveal that a lot of people don’t know the answer. And that’s not entirely their fault; it’s partly mine as a church leader.
The purposes of hunting and being a church member overlap. When done well each member plays a vital role in the purpose of proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom to our community. We scout for fields, we methodically plan on how best to focus outwardly and reach our neighbors, and we support each other in our quest to be God’s witnesses. Our time of worship on Sundays is like the pre-hunt lunch at the café, where we debrief the hunt from before, enjoy each other’s company, share a communal meal, and plan the work that lies ahead of us. Likewise, our mentoring and discipleship is vital as we invite others into our group, passing down what we learned onto them. Over time, they become one of us and find their place at the table. Eventually, they will be responsible to mentor and recruit others to join them.
Hunting may not be your thing, which is fine by me. I’m not sure it’s my thing. But I’ve got a friend coming up all the way from Texas to hunt in a couple weeks. My gun and boots will be ready. Maybe I’ll down my first bird. We’ll see. It’s open season!
October 15, 2015
What a friend we have in Zacchaeus: Reflections on Luke 19:1-10
Most children who grow up in American churches know about Zacchaeus, and for good reason. He was short. Kids are short. He was frustrated that he couldn’t see past a crowd. My shoulders, neck, and legs have all ached from supporting ever-growing children who want to see over a crowd. Zacchaeus climbed a tree. Kids love to climb trees. Zacchaeus was lonely. It doesn’t take much for a kid to feel lonely.
My wife joked yesterday about how Zacchaeus would not care for his legacy in America as the wee little tree climber. But once you take a closer look at his story you see a prime example of the Christian faith. Seek Jesus. Welcome Jesus gladly. Be generous. Reconcile with others.
This week our afterschool kids’ club looked at the Zacchaeus story as only told in Luke’s Gospel (19:1-10). Before reading the story I asked the kids about cheating, and several of us came up with examples of other people we knew who cheated at games. I told the kids about my shock the first time I played Uno with someone who placed 3-4 cards at once in the pile, pretending they were placing just one.
After a couple minutes of sharing cheating stories, one girl said that she’s cheated too. I looked at her and nodded my head. I said, “me too.” I then asked all the kids who among them had cheated. We all had.
I then introduced them to Zacchaeus who was good at cheating for money. Many of the one-percenters of Wall Street may have stunk at sports, but they thrive in exploiting the rules of the game that is capitalism. In auto racing people say “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying,” and my guess is Wall St. says something like that too.
Such behavior is nothing new. Tax collectors in the first century were duly despised, not only for collecting tribute for Caesar, who ruled through violence, but also for skimming off the top to enrich themselves. Caesar didn’t care as long as he got his, so in a world full of pyramid schemes, there is no grander triangle than the one with Caesar at the top. The higher up that pyramid, the richer you were. And Luke tells us that Zacchaeus was a wealthy tax collector. He was also a known cheat.
I asked the kids before reading them the story how Jesus might respond to this cheater that no one liked. Wisely, the kids gave mixed opinions. Some people, knowing that Jesus was loving and friendly, thought that Jesus would be kind to Zacchaeus. Others, knowing that Jesus was holy and not a fan of cheating, thought Jesus would not like Zaccheus. One third-grader was even able to speak with the nuance of a trained theologian, explaining to everyone that Jesus would love Zacchaeus himself, but not appreciate his cheating.
After reading Luke’s story it struck me that the exchange between Jesus and Zacchaeus is mostly unstated. There is no scolding. There is no sinner’s prayer either. But there is belief, acceptance, repentance, and fruit that brings assurance of salvation.
At first Jesus sees Zacchaeus and says, “I must stay at your house today” to which Zacchaeus responds by coming down from his tree and welcoming Jesus gladly. Zacchaeus was near Jesus because he was curious. He wanted to know if the stories he heard about Jesus were true. Could God really care about despised people like tax collectors? Yes. But as with any encounter between Jesus and a sinner in Scripture, there is a change. Zacchaeus repents, not just by renewing his mind, but also by making things right. He uses his wealth to repay what was wronged. He goes above and beyond restoration by being generous with the poor with half his assets. Jesus commended Zacchaeus as a true child of Abraham, who was once lost but is now found.
Adults don’t seem to relate to Zacchaeus much. It’s not because we grew up and stopped climbing trees. It’s because we’re scared. Zacchaeus only says one thing in Luke’s Gospel: “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” (19:8).
Contrast those words to the average church member in America who gives 2.5% of their money to church and charity and 2% of that amount to global missions, not to mention resistance among many to offer aid to the poor in their own community. If we’ve cheated somebody we’d likely try to ignore them till death than apologize and ask their forgiveness. I have much to learn from Zacchaeus.
Jesus pronounced that salvation came to Zacchaeus’s house that very day, and it did in the form of Jesus. But the effects of salvation were felt far outside those walls as far as Zacchaeus’s generosity reached. Zacchaeus, the so-called wee little man, left a large footprint in Jericho and beyond. What footprint have you allowed God to make through you?
If you want increase that footprint the first steps are to seek Jesus and welcome him gladly. Everything else follows from there.
My wife joked yesterday about how Zacchaeus would not care for his legacy in America as the wee little tree climber. But once you take a closer look at his story you see a prime example of the Christian faith. Seek Jesus. Welcome Jesus gladly. Be generous. Reconcile with others.
This week our afterschool kids’ club looked at the Zacchaeus story as only told in Luke’s Gospel (19:1-10). Before reading the story I asked the kids about cheating, and several of us came up with examples of other people we knew who cheated at games. I told the kids about my shock the first time I played Uno with someone who placed 3-4 cards at once in the pile, pretending they were placing just one.
After a couple minutes of sharing cheating stories, one girl said that she’s cheated too. I looked at her and nodded my head. I said, “me too.” I then asked all the kids who among them had cheated. We all had.
I then introduced them to Zacchaeus who was good at cheating for money. Many of the one-percenters of Wall Street may have stunk at sports, but they thrive in exploiting the rules of the game that is capitalism. In auto racing people say “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying,” and my guess is Wall St. says something like that too.
Such behavior is nothing new. Tax collectors in the first century were duly despised, not only for collecting tribute for Caesar, who ruled through violence, but also for skimming off the top to enrich themselves. Caesar didn’t care as long as he got his, so in a world full of pyramid schemes, there is no grander triangle than the one with Caesar at the top. The higher up that pyramid, the richer you were. And Luke tells us that Zacchaeus was a wealthy tax collector. He was also a known cheat.
I asked the kids before reading them the story how Jesus might respond to this cheater that no one liked. Wisely, the kids gave mixed opinions. Some people, knowing that Jesus was loving and friendly, thought that Jesus would be kind to Zacchaeus. Others, knowing that Jesus was holy and not a fan of cheating, thought Jesus would not like Zaccheus. One third-grader was even able to speak with the nuance of a trained theologian, explaining to everyone that Jesus would love Zacchaeus himself, but not appreciate his cheating.
After reading Luke’s story it struck me that the exchange between Jesus and Zacchaeus is mostly unstated. There is no scolding. There is no sinner’s prayer either. But there is belief, acceptance, repentance, and fruit that brings assurance of salvation.
At first Jesus sees Zacchaeus and says, “I must stay at your house today” to which Zacchaeus responds by coming down from his tree and welcoming Jesus gladly. Zacchaeus was near Jesus because he was curious. He wanted to know if the stories he heard about Jesus were true. Could God really care about despised people like tax collectors? Yes. But as with any encounter between Jesus and a sinner in Scripture, there is a change. Zacchaeus repents, not just by renewing his mind, but also by making things right. He uses his wealth to repay what was wronged. He goes above and beyond restoration by being generous with the poor with half his assets. Jesus commended Zacchaeus as a true child of Abraham, who was once lost but is now found.
Adults don’t seem to relate to Zacchaeus much. It’s not because we grew up and stopped climbing trees. It’s because we’re scared. Zacchaeus only says one thing in Luke’s Gospel: “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” (19:8).
Contrast those words to the average church member in America who gives 2.5% of their money to church and charity and 2% of that amount to global missions, not to mention resistance among many to offer aid to the poor in their own community. If we’ve cheated somebody we’d likely try to ignore them till death than apologize and ask their forgiveness. I have much to learn from Zacchaeus.
Jesus pronounced that salvation came to Zacchaeus’s house that very day, and it did in the form of Jesus. But the effects of salvation were felt far outside those walls as far as Zacchaeus’s generosity reached. Zacchaeus, the so-called wee little man, left a large footprint in Jericho and beyond. What footprint have you allowed God to make through you?
If you want increase that footprint the first steps are to seek Jesus and welcome him gladly. Everything else follows from there.
October 8, 2015
Scenes at a Methodist Wedding
Weddings are worship, at least that was the message shared during the rehearsal of my first ever Methodist wedding. Besides a brief word of prayer at beginning and end, the rehearsal was about as worshipful as a family meal at a crowded restaurant. The next day, though, I experienced wedding as worship and was overwhelmed. I used to hate going to weddings as a boy, always being on Saturdays and all and ruining my plans. But as an adult I’ve come to enjoy them more, and my first Methodist wedding ceremony has been my favorite one to attend as a guest. I will prize it forever.
Methodists see the wedding ceremony as an act of worship, where the sacred space we meet in is maximized by use of congregational hymns, preaching of the word, and observing of the Lord’s Table. It also never hurts when dressed-up children start things off by presenting candles to the Lord’s table, walking slowly down the aisle to the sound of a bell chorus from the balcony.
While the rehearsal was familiar to me, the ceremony itself was not. It was both solemn and silly, as we sang the old Neander hymn, Praise to the Lord, Almighty, and also heard someone else sing the Kermit the Frog classic, Rainbow Connection. I enjoyed how the wedding was participatory for all of us, not just a handful of people, as the entire cloud of witnesses offered their blessing on the couple, sang in unison while standing, and united with the couple around the bread and wine of the Lord’s Table. The wedding homily was also challenging as God’s Word once more reminded me and everyone else present how God is love.
The minister read from 1 John chapter 4. There, John tells us that God is the kind of love that gives. The love that puts others first. Love that dies and in dying, gives. The only kind of love that matters. As the couple professed their love to one another, God’s love sealed their vows, and a few minutes later their lips sealed each other’s.
If we insist on getting married in a church sanctuary, seeing the wedding ceremony as an act of worship makes perfect sense. Go ahead and have a friend sing a solo written by Steven Curtis Chapman. Sure, write up your own vows that talk about making waffles and what not. But why not also give God the praise, glory, and credit he deserves too? Weddings don’t have to just be about the couple or their meddling parents. They can also be about their Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.
Anyone can officiate a marriage. If you have a face and a smartphone, just go online and get joke ordained by some slapdash group and poof, you are now a minister. But if you want God to be a part of your wedding, then ask a real pastor. And this Baptist pastor might take a cue from our Methodist siblings and recommend you consider your wedding to be about God instead of just you.
For all our talk about marriage and weddings in this country God often seems left out of both the ceremony and the daily lives of spouses. Invite him back to our marriages by prizing worship, discipleship, and mission as couples and families. We could even symbolize our desire to honor God through our marriages by starting things off right with weddings that are acts of worship.
My favorite part of the entire day was when the congregation sang the old Neander hymn. The last verse says, “Let the Amen sound from his people again, gladly for aye we adore him.” That’s my favorite part, and it might’ve been the bride’s too. She had a look of fullness in her eyes as she sang those words aloud to her groom with her eyes watering up as she looked up into his eyes and clutched both his hands. And to that I say, Amen!
Methodists see the wedding ceremony as an act of worship, where the sacred space we meet in is maximized by use of congregational hymns, preaching of the word, and observing of the Lord’s Table. It also never hurts when dressed-up children start things off by presenting candles to the Lord’s table, walking slowly down the aisle to the sound of a bell chorus from the balcony.
While the rehearsal was familiar to me, the ceremony itself was not. It was both solemn and silly, as we sang the old Neander hymn, Praise to the Lord, Almighty, and also heard someone else sing the Kermit the Frog classic, Rainbow Connection. I enjoyed how the wedding was participatory for all of us, not just a handful of people, as the entire cloud of witnesses offered their blessing on the couple, sang in unison while standing, and united with the couple around the bread and wine of the Lord’s Table. The wedding homily was also challenging as God’s Word once more reminded me and everyone else present how God is love.
The minister read from 1 John chapter 4. There, John tells us that God is the kind of love that gives. The love that puts others first. Love that dies and in dying, gives. The only kind of love that matters. As the couple professed their love to one another, God’s love sealed their vows, and a few minutes later their lips sealed each other’s.
If we insist on getting married in a church sanctuary, seeing the wedding ceremony as an act of worship makes perfect sense. Go ahead and have a friend sing a solo written by Steven Curtis Chapman. Sure, write up your own vows that talk about making waffles and what not. But why not also give God the praise, glory, and credit he deserves too? Weddings don’t have to just be about the couple or their meddling parents. They can also be about their Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.
Anyone can officiate a marriage. If you have a face and a smartphone, just go online and get joke ordained by some slapdash group and poof, you are now a minister. But if you want God to be a part of your wedding, then ask a real pastor. And this Baptist pastor might take a cue from our Methodist siblings and recommend you consider your wedding to be about God instead of just you.
For all our talk about marriage and weddings in this country God often seems left out of both the ceremony and the daily lives of spouses. Invite him back to our marriages by prizing worship, discipleship, and mission as couples and families. We could even symbolize our desire to honor God through our marriages by starting things off right with weddings that are acts of worship.
My favorite part of the entire day was when the congregation sang the old Neander hymn. The last verse says, “Let the Amen sound from his people again, gladly for aye we adore him.” That’s my favorite part, and it might’ve been the bride’s too. She had a look of fullness in her eyes as she sang those words aloud to her groom with her eyes watering up as she looked up into his eyes and clutched both his hands. And to that I say, Amen!
September 24, 2015
Remembering Rich Mullins: His Liturgy and Legacy 18 Years after Death
Growing up in a fundamentalist Baptist church was like sitting on the tip of an iceberg that was mostly submerged underwater. We thought ourselves a faithful little island, secure amid the flotsam passing us by. We gave ourselves much credit for our stability, but never once did we plunge beneath the water’s edge to see what lied beneath.
Had we done so, we would have found that keeping alive 1950s white American culture, thoroughly modern hymns, and the preservation of archaic English had little to do with our stability. Our church was actually based on Christian orthodoxy, forged in the earliest years of the church and preserved through all the twists and turns God’s people have endured as the gospel of Christ spread from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth, even suburban Kansas City where I grew up.
I partly have Rich Mullins to thank for opening my eyes to what lied beneath the surface of my faith. He introduced me to the Apostle’s Creed, sacramentalism, and the mystery of the Incarnation in ways my church never did. I learned all this while playing his music continually, working one of my first jobs in high school as a flower delivery driver.
Contemporary Christian Music As Best As I Remember It
Growing up in the 1980s and 90s, Christian music skyrocketed. At one time the most popular artists viewed their music as ministry, where the shell of the music was dispensable as long as the message got out to the masses. For example, DC Talk had three different genres of music in three consecutive albums in the 90s. Looking back, that was quite an impressive feat, since the albums aren’t all that bad. Likewise, the Newsboys morphed from metal hairband to white boy hip-hop to soft rock during the same era. Christian music at the time was locked firmly into modernity. The medium didn’t matter, only the message did. And the message spoke to our minds, often bypassing our hearts and especially our bodies.
The message from most artists was a rather shallow one. Come to our big father’s house where we can play football. Shine like Jesus did, so people will be attracted to what you’ve got. Don’t mind if people label you a Jesus freak. It was all those campy Christian t-shirts put to song where someone else’s slogan was transformed to God’s message by way of copy and paste.
Rich Mullins’s music was different. He not only crafted the message of his songs carefully, but the music itself mattered to him. There was an aesthetic value to it that a lot of other Christian artists lacked. He was part folk singer, belting out songs in his scratchy voice as only he could. In that way I liken him to Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and even Leonard Cohen. They’d never win singing competitions like The Voice, but their songs fit their unique voices. It’s hard to imagine anyone else singing them. There’s a pain in the melodies. There are scars hugging the vocal cords. There is a beautiful merger of writer and singer, which makes all of them poets.
Poetry in contemporary Christian music was rare, and Rich’s poetry testified to the slow conforming of a sinner into a true saint, not a fake one.
Rich Mullins Was a Sinner
Rich could’ve been a protest singer, but instead he filed song by song his own sort of protest against American church culture by becoming transparent. There’s nothing romantic about the perverse desire of sin and those who fall into its trap, so I am thankful for those God keeps from its grasp. The best ministers know the depths of sin, often because they’ve lived it, so they also know grace. And Rich knew grace.
Instead of making Christianity sound palatable and easy, like a lot of hymns and Christian songs tend to do, Rich admitted it was hard. Oftentimes those who grow up in the faith are not prepared for it to collide against the fallen world. Rich’s music helped me in that journey. He sang about trouble coming. He wrote about his heart turning black, learning secrets he wished he could unknow. He never took himself too seriously, once remarking that when he thinks of new songs, sometimes they come to him as more harmonies and empty words.
Rich Mullins Knew Jesus
My church growing up believed in Jesus’ humanity, but didn’t capitalize on its significance. For that, I thank Rich Mullins. He wrote a song about how his infancy and childhood might’ve mirrored Jesus in some ways, and he was right. He even dedicated an entire album to Jesus, looking at all the angles, including how his own people repeatedly didn’t get him. All these years later we still don’t, but focusing on that mysterious union of God and humanity is a great place to start, and Rich’s songs point us there.
Rich Mullins Knew Love
Inspired by Brennan Manning, Rich summed up God’s love as a reckless, raging fury. It’s a love that seizes, captures, and woos. It’s a love that is found outside the pages of Scripture, peppered throughout the night sky. It’s a love that glues together families and friendships. It’s a love that survives betrayal and rebellion. It’s the love that anyone would read in the Gospels; only I never read the Gospels much growing up. Rich’s music, though, forced me to look into them again.
Rich Mullins Knew Sacraments
Perhaps one reason I research so much on the sacraments is that I only heard bad things about them while growing up. God was limited, so limited, that I told myself things like if I didn’t read my Bible in the morning, live sinlessly, and pray continually for salvation, that God would abandon me. As much as I enjoyed the outdoors, I wasn’t trained to look for God in and through nature. Our church didn’t make much of God’s presence in the elements resting on the Lord’s Table or the waters of baptism. Such things, by design, direct us to look for God elsewhere in the world as we experience it fully with our bodies, and Rich’s music turned my attention to such things.
Rich was a midwestern guy. He grew up in Indiana and lived for a while in Wichita, Kansas. He traveled the wide-open prairies and found God in them. The thunderous sky calls out God’s name. There is fury in the pheasant’s wings. God’s temple is the earth with its bright blue skies and windy grasslands. He even wrote a song to thank God for the color green.
Rich Mullins Knew Loss
Rich’s Dad was a farmer with one son who let him down by becoming a musician. Their relationship was rocky all the way until his Dad died rather young. As a rural pastor who lost his Dad young, Rich’s song to his parents, “First Family,” brings tears to my eyes each time I hear it.
The cities have their fine arts, gourmet restaurants, and sights and sounds of people everywhere. Their church services can have productions with multi-media that rival some concerts. The educated classes that attend them often love to read, write, and are eager for Bible study too.
In the plains, though, people have a faith just as deep and strong, even if it is expressed through spring planting and homemaking. Rich writes about his parents: “Talk about your miracles. Talk about your faith. My Dad, he can make things grow out of Indiana clay. Mom can make a gourmet meal out of just cornbread and beans. And together they gave faith hands and feet, and somehow gave it wings.” Sometimes faith needs wings to spill laughter across these cold Dakota hills.
Rich’s Faith Carries On
Rich died in a single-car accident in 1997. God has gifted English-speaking churches with many musicians and artists since then, but Rich's music still stands out. He not only takes us to Jesus, he takes us down the long and winding road that leads there. It’s not an easy road to advertise by way of t-shirts, slogans, and catchy pop music. It’s also one that often prompts more questions than it resolves. Regardless of what life brings, though, I’ll carry on. Just like Rich did.
Had we done so, we would have found that keeping alive 1950s white American culture, thoroughly modern hymns, and the preservation of archaic English had little to do with our stability. Our church was actually based on Christian orthodoxy, forged in the earliest years of the church and preserved through all the twists and turns God’s people have endured as the gospel of Christ spread from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth, even suburban Kansas City where I grew up.
I partly have Rich Mullins to thank for opening my eyes to what lied beneath the surface of my faith. He introduced me to the Apostle’s Creed, sacramentalism, and the mystery of the Incarnation in ways my church never did. I learned all this while playing his music continually, working one of my first jobs in high school as a flower delivery driver.
Contemporary Christian Music As Best As I Remember It
Growing up in the 1980s and 90s, Christian music skyrocketed. At one time the most popular artists viewed their music as ministry, where the shell of the music was dispensable as long as the message got out to the masses. For example, DC Talk had three different genres of music in three consecutive albums in the 90s. Looking back, that was quite an impressive feat, since the albums aren’t all that bad. Likewise, the Newsboys morphed from metal hairband to white boy hip-hop to soft rock during the same era. Christian music at the time was locked firmly into modernity. The medium didn’t matter, only the message did. And the message spoke to our minds, often bypassing our hearts and especially our bodies.
The message from most artists was a rather shallow one. Come to our big father’s house where we can play football. Shine like Jesus did, so people will be attracted to what you’ve got. Don’t mind if people label you a Jesus freak. It was all those campy Christian t-shirts put to song where someone else’s slogan was transformed to God’s message by way of copy and paste.
Rich Mullins’s music was different. He not only crafted the message of his songs carefully, but the music itself mattered to him. There was an aesthetic value to it that a lot of other Christian artists lacked. He was part folk singer, belting out songs in his scratchy voice as only he could. In that way I liken him to Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and even Leonard Cohen. They’d never win singing competitions like The Voice, but their songs fit their unique voices. It’s hard to imagine anyone else singing them. There’s a pain in the melodies. There are scars hugging the vocal cords. There is a beautiful merger of writer and singer, which makes all of them poets.
Poetry in contemporary Christian music was rare, and Rich’s poetry testified to the slow conforming of a sinner into a true saint, not a fake one.
Rich Mullins Was a Sinner
Rich could’ve been a protest singer, but instead he filed song by song his own sort of protest against American church culture by becoming transparent. There’s nothing romantic about the perverse desire of sin and those who fall into its trap, so I am thankful for those God keeps from its grasp. The best ministers know the depths of sin, often because they’ve lived it, so they also know grace. And Rich knew grace.
Instead of making Christianity sound palatable and easy, like a lot of hymns and Christian songs tend to do, Rich admitted it was hard. Oftentimes those who grow up in the faith are not prepared for it to collide against the fallen world. Rich’s music helped me in that journey. He sang about trouble coming. He wrote about his heart turning black, learning secrets he wished he could unknow. He never took himself too seriously, once remarking that when he thinks of new songs, sometimes they come to him as more harmonies and empty words.
Rich Mullins Knew Jesus
My church growing up believed in Jesus’ humanity, but didn’t capitalize on its significance. For that, I thank Rich Mullins. He wrote a song about how his infancy and childhood might’ve mirrored Jesus in some ways, and he was right. He even dedicated an entire album to Jesus, looking at all the angles, including how his own people repeatedly didn’t get him. All these years later we still don’t, but focusing on that mysterious union of God and humanity is a great place to start, and Rich’s songs point us there.
Rich Mullins Knew Love
Inspired by Brennan Manning, Rich summed up God’s love as a reckless, raging fury. It’s a love that seizes, captures, and woos. It’s a love that is found outside the pages of Scripture, peppered throughout the night sky. It’s a love that glues together families and friendships. It’s a love that survives betrayal and rebellion. It’s the love that anyone would read in the Gospels; only I never read the Gospels much growing up. Rich’s music, though, forced me to look into them again.
Rich Mullins Knew Sacraments
Perhaps one reason I research so much on the sacraments is that I only heard bad things about them while growing up. God was limited, so limited, that I told myself things like if I didn’t read my Bible in the morning, live sinlessly, and pray continually for salvation, that God would abandon me. As much as I enjoyed the outdoors, I wasn’t trained to look for God in and through nature. Our church didn’t make much of God’s presence in the elements resting on the Lord’s Table or the waters of baptism. Such things, by design, direct us to look for God elsewhere in the world as we experience it fully with our bodies, and Rich’s music turned my attention to such things.
Rich was a midwestern guy. He grew up in Indiana and lived for a while in Wichita, Kansas. He traveled the wide-open prairies and found God in them. The thunderous sky calls out God’s name. There is fury in the pheasant’s wings. God’s temple is the earth with its bright blue skies and windy grasslands. He even wrote a song to thank God for the color green.
Rich Mullins Knew Loss
Rich’s Dad was a farmer with one son who let him down by becoming a musician. Their relationship was rocky all the way until his Dad died rather young. As a rural pastor who lost his Dad young, Rich’s song to his parents, “First Family,” brings tears to my eyes each time I hear it.
The cities have their fine arts, gourmet restaurants, and sights and sounds of people everywhere. Their church services can have productions with multi-media that rival some concerts. The educated classes that attend them often love to read, write, and are eager for Bible study too.
In the plains, though, people have a faith just as deep and strong, even if it is expressed through spring planting and homemaking. Rich writes about his parents: “Talk about your miracles. Talk about your faith. My Dad, he can make things grow out of Indiana clay. Mom can make a gourmet meal out of just cornbread and beans. And together they gave faith hands and feet, and somehow gave it wings.” Sometimes faith needs wings to spill laughter across these cold Dakota hills.
Rich’s Faith Carries On
Rich died in a single-car accident in 1997. God has gifted English-speaking churches with many musicians and artists since then, but Rich's music still stands out. He not only takes us to Jesus, he takes us down the long and winding road that leads there. It’s not an easy road to advertise by way of t-shirts, slogans, and catchy pop music. It’s also one that often prompts more questions than it resolves. Regardless of what life brings, though, I’ll carry on. Just like Rich did.
September 17, 2015
Why Don’t They Care Anymore about Church?: Discipleship Without Mentoring and Other Church Mistakes
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken – Ecclesiastes 4:12
Most Young Adults Leave Their Churches
Young adults are leaving churches in droves. This isn’t a new trend. It’s not surprising. And it affects all kinds of churches. Our rural church confirms what the national statistics say. Of our weekly attendance that averages some sixty people on a Sunday morning, there is barely one person between the ages of 18 and 24 most weeks.
We have a Sunday School for kids from the ages of four through high school. Interest in it among students peaks around seventh grade and declines from there. Our church supports a regional Christian camp that has great facilities, a wonderful staff, and produces a high quality product for campers each summer. Despite their efforts, senior high camp attendance has plummeted in recent years. Our church also confirms that trend as we send many campers each summer, but interest seems to be peak around seventh grade or so and declines from there.
Some Young Adults Stay
While there are a lot of reasons why teens and young adults leave the church behind, I’d like to focus on those who remain against the odds. Why do they stay when so many of their friends leave? Thankfully, the answer is at one time biblically sound and practically efficient: reinforced mentoring. A lot of churches use the word discipleship, but if it lacks intentional mentoring, then all our Sunday School classes, teen events, youth groups, missions trips, and camps are not really discipling young people. Instead they are doing something else, something easy to leave behind once children grow up to be teenagers and young adults.
Over a century ago G. K Chesterton said, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” As much as statistics are helpful in tracking trends in church attendance and polls about what people think of their faith and the church, sociologist Christian Smith has argued extensively that a lot of young people are not leaving a faith that is their own. Rather, they never had it to begin with. Despite their attendance at programs and events, they were poorly mentored in the Christian faith. Many parents mean well by thinking that church involvement will be positive for their young children, while the parents themselves stay away. But is it really a shock when the kids grow up and stay away too? As much as church programs for kids can mentor them a little, it is hard to override the mentoring taking place every day at home.
The more spiritual mentors a child has growing up, the more likely she will remain in the faith as she gets older. Although there is nothing firmly scientific with the work of the Spirit and the power of the gospel, studies show that if every child has five spiritual mentors in their lives they will likely have a faith that is their own that they consider valuable enough to hold onto throughout their young adult years and beyond. If a pastor or youth pastor is one mentor, just who are the other four?
Parents As Spiritual Mentors
Christian Smith concludes that the most important pastors in any child’s life are their parents. Among people in the church, parents spend the most time with their children, invest more than anyone else in their children, and have the longest and strongest relationships with their children. Just like cooking, fishing, hunting, rooting for their favorite sports teams, and all sorts of other things that make life worth living, parents have the opportunity to show their kids by example what they value and pass down that legacy to the next generation.
I don’t have to be an NFL quarterback to have confidence throwing a football to my daughter in the backyard. I don’t need to be a James Beard award-winning chef to show my son how to make lobster bisque from scratch. And I don’t have to be a trained theologian to show my children how my faith informs other aspects of my life. I pray with them. I listen to them. I read the Bible with them. I encourage them to be generous with others, leading by my own example in giving my time, energy, and money to help others. I teach them about forgiveness, starting with myself when I let them down. When the church allows for opportunities for worship, discipleship, and outreach, I take them with me. And when I am there, I participate, and I encourage them to do the same. It’s not rocket science. It’s Christian parenting.
One way or another parents mentor their children in the faith. If they never attend church, never pray in public, never read the Bible together, and never talk about their faith, that’s mentoring. It’s just the wrong kind of mentoring, and it will likely produce teens and young adults who will follow the most powerful examples in their own lives when it comes to their faith and the church. They’ll largely leave it behind.
Elders As Spiritual Mentors
Baptists have long struggled with making too little of the church. We like our associations to be voluntary. We like the priesthood of all believers. We like written ballots on measures great and small. And we like potluck meals. As a lifelong Baptist, I embrace what it means to be a Baptist through and through. But one thing often left understated is seeing the church as the body of Christ and each member as a vital organ within it.
Some churches lose the battleship mentality where every member has an important role to fulfill to carry out the ship’s mission and exchange it for a cruise ship mentality where every member pays the ship’s staff to cater to them. God designed the church to be a big family with multiple generations working together to worship God, mentor one another in the faith, and proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom to the community.
In order for that to happen, we need to see the church as an organism rather than a collection of siloes. Siloes are great for storing things apart from other stuff, but in the church they are deadly. We get locked into our own silo of activity, sometimes for decades, and never get out. We limit what God can do in us and through us.
Many churches in America are gifted with older members who are full of stories, wisdom, and mentoring potential. But a lot of them see themselves as retired. They did their part when they were younger, and now they want to withdraw and have the younger people step up. I suppose that system worked okay when there is always a supply of younger people, but in many churches that supply has run dry. No one mentors younger people within the church. Think of what it would look like if elders in the church resolved to mentor the younger. What if they opened their homes and dinner tables to them? What if they invited them to help on projects? What if they took an interest in their lives? What if after their own kids grew up and moved out they considered themselves spiritual parents or grandparents to young people in the church?
That model of elders in the church acting as spiritual mentors to younger people is what Paul describes in the pastoral letters, such as Titus. Anymore, America has become a place full of generational siloes. Technology has a way of doing that. The church has a brilliant opportunity to be counter-cultural by breaking down the walls and allowing generations to mentor one another.
Peers As Spiritual Mentors
Another model in the early church was that every church was a church-planting church and every Christian a missionary. There was no age restriction on the missionaries of the early church, because being a missionary does not have to mean growing up, getting formal theological training, and moving away. Being a missionary means proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to your community. And our children, teens, and young adults all have a community of peers that are a ripe mission field.
Just like a parent doesn’t have to be a professional theologian to be a capable spiritual mentor, a young person doesn’t need to be William Carey to be a missionary to her peers. All she needs to do is invite others, especially younger people, to join her in worship, spiritual disciplines, and outreach.
Peers act as mentors all the time, which is one reason why our church’s spiritual growth among young people seems to peak so young. The mentoring that often takes place in our community is that once a teenager can drive, find steady work, and date, then there is little need for them to bother much with church stuff anymore. And the younger follow suit. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and I am pleased to say I do see exceptions from time to time.
Pastors/Youth Leaders as Spiritual Mentors
I saved the least for last. When most people think about spiritual mentors they think about a pastor or youth leader, but we make less of an impact than the three kinds of mentors above. And that’s okay. If I am fulfilling by job description found in Ephesians chapter 4, then my role is mostly about equipping others for the work of the ministry. If the church is trained to act as if I’m the only spiritual mentor around, then I am failing at my job.
While our role may be limited, it is a vital role. I consider pastors and youth leaders to be more like back-ups. In a way we can mentor the mentors, but most of the time we support them. We pray. We serve. We recruit. We train. And then we smile when we see God at work in and through others, giving him all the glory.
Conclusion
There is no need for doom and gloom when it comes to God’s church. Christ told Peter that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Our churches have opportunities for explosive growth, which may not be measured by weekly worship attendance and giving. Maybe we’ll come up with a new scorecard based on outreach and mentoring. The two go together.
Most Young Adults Leave Their Churches
Young adults are leaving churches in droves. This isn’t a new trend. It’s not surprising. And it affects all kinds of churches. Our rural church confirms what the national statistics say. Of our weekly attendance that averages some sixty people on a Sunday morning, there is barely one person between the ages of 18 and 24 most weeks.
We have a Sunday School for kids from the ages of four through high school. Interest in it among students peaks around seventh grade and declines from there. Our church supports a regional Christian camp that has great facilities, a wonderful staff, and produces a high quality product for campers each summer. Despite their efforts, senior high camp attendance has plummeted in recent years. Our church also confirms that trend as we send many campers each summer, but interest seems to be peak around seventh grade or so and declines from there.
Some Young Adults Stay
While there are a lot of reasons why teens and young adults leave the church behind, I’d like to focus on those who remain against the odds. Why do they stay when so many of their friends leave? Thankfully, the answer is at one time biblically sound and practically efficient: reinforced mentoring. A lot of churches use the word discipleship, but if it lacks intentional mentoring, then all our Sunday School classes, teen events, youth groups, missions trips, and camps are not really discipling young people. Instead they are doing something else, something easy to leave behind once children grow up to be teenagers and young adults.
Over a century ago G. K Chesterton said, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” As much as statistics are helpful in tracking trends in church attendance and polls about what people think of their faith and the church, sociologist Christian Smith has argued extensively that a lot of young people are not leaving a faith that is their own. Rather, they never had it to begin with. Despite their attendance at programs and events, they were poorly mentored in the Christian faith. Many parents mean well by thinking that church involvement will be positive for their young children, while the parents themselves stay away. But is it really a shock when the kids grow up and stay away too? As much as church programs for kids can mentor them a little, it is hard to override the mentoring taking place every day at home.
The more spiritual mentors a child has growing up, the more likely she will remain in the faith as she gets older. Although there is nothing firmly scientific with the work of the Spirit and the power of the gospel, studies show that if every child has five spiritual mentors in their lives they will likely have a faith that is their own that they consider valuable enough to hold onto throughout their young adult years and beyond. If a pastor or youth pastor is one mentor, just who are the other four?
Parents As Spiritual Mentors
Christian Smith concludes that the most important pastors in any child’s life are their parents. Among people in the church, parents spend the most time with their children, invest more than anyone else in their children, and have the longest and strongest relationships with their children. Just like cooking, fishing, hunting, rooting for their favorite sports teams, and all sorts of other things that make life worth living, parents have the opportunity to show their kids by example what they value and pass down that legacy to the next generation.
I don’t have to be an NFL quarterback to have confidence throwing a football to my daughter in the backyard. I don’t need to be a James Beard award-winning chef to show my son how to make lobster bisque from scratch. And I don’t have to be a trained theologian to show my children how my faith informs other aspects of my life. I pray with them. I listen to them. I read the Bible with them. I encourage them to be generous with others, leading by my own example in giving my time, energy, and money to help others. I teach them about forgiveness, starting with myself when I let them down. When the church allows for opportunities for worship, discipleship, and outreach, I take them with me. And when I am there, I participate, and I encourage them to do the same. It’s not rocket science. It’s Christian parenting.
One way or another parents mentor their children in the faith. If they never attend church, never pray in public, never read the Bible together, and never talk about their faith, that’s mentoring. It’s just the wrong kind of mentoring, and it will likely produce teens and young adults who will follow the most powerful examples in their own lives when it comes to their faith and the church. They’ll largely leave it behind.
Elders As Spiritual Mentors
Baptists have long struggled with making too little of the church. We like our associations to be voluntary. We like the priesthood of all believers. We like written ballots on measures great and small. And we like potluck meals. As a lifelong Baptist, I embrace what it means to be a Baptist through and through. But one thing often left understated is seeing the church as the body of Christ and each member as a vital organ within it.
Some churches lose the battleship mentality where every member has an important role to fulfill to carry out the ship’s mission and exchange it for a cruise ship mentality where every member pays the ship’s staff to cater to them. God designed the church to be a big family with multiple generations working together to worship God, mentor one another in the faith, and proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom to the community.
In order for that to happen, we need to see the church as an organism rather than a collection of siloes. Siloes are great for storing things apart from other stuff, but in the church they are deadly. We get locked into our own silo of activity, sometimes for decades, and never get out. We limit what God can do in us and through us.
Many churches in America are gifted with older members who are full of stories, wisdom, and mentoring potential. But a lot of them see themselves as retired. They did their part when they were younger, and now they want to withdraw and have the younger people step up. I suppose that system worked okay when there is always a supply of younger people, but in many churches that supply has run dry. No one mentors younger people within the church. Think of what it would look like if elders in the church resolved to mentor the younger. What if they opened their homes and dinner tables to them? What if they invited them to help on projects? What if they took an interest in their lives? What if after their own kids grew up and moved out they considered themselves spiritual parents or grandparents to young people in the church?
That model of elders in the church acting as spiritual mentors to younger people is what Paul describes in the pastoral letters, such as Titus. Anymore, America has become a place full of generational siloes. Technology has a way of doing that. The church has a brilliant opportunity to be counter-cultural by breaking down the walls and allowing generations to mentor one another.
Peers As Spiritual Mentors
Another model in the early church was that every church was a church-planting church and every Christian a missionary. There was no age restriction on the missionaries of the early church, because being a missionary does not have to mean growing up, getting formal theological training, and moving away. Being a missionary means proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to your community. And our children, teens, and young adults all have a community of peers that are a ripe mission field.
Just like a parent doesn’t have to be a professional theologian to be a capable spiritual mentor, a young person doesn’t need to be William Carey to be a missionary to her peers. All she needs to do is invite others, especially younger people, to join her in worship, spiritual disciplines, and outreach.
Peers act as mentors all the time, which is one reason why our church’s spiritual growth among young people seems to peak so young. The mentoring that often takes place in our community is that once a teenager can drive, find steady work, and date, then there is little need for them to bother much with church stuff anymore. And the younger follow suit. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and I am pleased to say I do see exceptions from time to time.
Pastors/Youth Leaders as Spiritual Mentors
I saved the least for last. When most people think about spiritual mentors they think about a pastor or youth leader, but we make less of an impact than the three kinds of mentors above. And that’s okay. If I am fulfilling by job description found in Ephesians chapter 4, then my role is mostly about equipping others for the work of the ministry. If the church is trained to act as if I’m the only spiritual mentor around, then I am failing at my job.
While our role may be limited, it is a vital role. I consider pastors and youth leaders to be more like back-ups. In a way we can mentor the mentors, but most of the time we support them. We pray. We serve. We recruit. We train. And then we smile when we see God at work in and through others, giving him all the glory.
Conclusion
There is no need for doom and gloom when it comes to God’s church. Christ told Peter that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Our churches have opportunities for explosive growth, which may not be measured by weekly worship attendance and giving. Maybe we’ll come up with a new scorecard based on outreach and mentoring. The two go together.
September 10, 2015
Hypocrisy Hunters are Hypocrites: Three Steps to Get Out of the New Political Game
As a nation we seem to be expertly skilled in exposing hypocrisy, pointing out differences in looks, and condemning people because they are not like us. Politics has behaved that way for decades, and as our society has turned from being overtly religious, everything has now become political. Every person, a politician. Every idea, an opportunity for attack. Every face, subject to our scrutiny. And every person’s story, mere fodder for negative campaigning.
The latest focus of our perpetual outrage is a county clerk in Kentucky. I won’t bore you with details about why she is in the news this week. What I noticed in my corner of the world was that many of the people who disliked her ideas wouldn't settle for disagreeing with what she thought, they also tore into her physical appearance and personal history. One former pastor saw the same thing and wrote, “it’s a good thing the woman at the well in Samaria met Jesus instead of people on social media today.”
The political game in the States is to appear better than your opponent. The ideas matter less than the presentation. Scandals can be anything and everything, or even nothing. Perception is reality. Career politicians, with their hoards of cash and teams of aids, have a hard enough time dredging their bellies through the muck. Us mere mortals fail at every turn.
I have no solutions on how our society as a whole can turn away from its toxic talking-head syndrome, but I have found helpful reminders in Scripture on how we, as God’s people, can give up our seats at the gaming table.
Step One: Watch Your Tongue
Technology has made it easier for our tongues to do permanent damage. Thoughts in our heads go away with little harm done. A harsh word spoken can sting for a while and then pass with time. But an angry text, comment, email, or message can linger as long as the recipient chooses to keep it. Now more than ever we must watch what we say with our tongues, type with our fingers, or push with our thumbs.
James reminds us, “the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures are being tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (3:5-8).
When we see or hear something that enrages us, it’s easy to consider our tongues to be our most powerful weapons. We can share that snarky comment. We can advertise that hypocrisy we spot. We can make public that private thought we had about someone’s appearance. And so on. But James reminds us that in some ways our tongues control us. This summer we’ve had hazy days in South Dakota from wildfires taking place hundreds of miles away in Washington, and each of those fires ignited with a single spark. Our tongues can spark all sorts of fires within ourselves that spread across the World Wide Web. Our tongues have no rest, for as soon as one fire dies out a new one takes its place.
Buck the trend to market your life and simply live it. If what you are about to say or type is not for the building up of others or the glory of God, then think twice before speaking or posting it.
Step Two: Remember God’s Image
As Christians we believe that all humans are created in God’s image. Humans have value because they are human, not because they were wanted by their mothers before birth, can contribute to society’s liking, or look and think just like we do. Just like freedom of speech is meaningless unless we allow for speech we deem disgusting, believing that all humans are made in God’s image is meaningless unless we look for it in people who drive us nuts.
Mr. Rogers was a pastor before he had his children’s show, and he put it this way: “Frankly, there isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you’ve heard their story.” We often hear other people’s stories halfway, filtering them through the bias we already held for or against them. We have to hear each other’s stories afresh without the political game whispering in our ear and replace it with Jesus’ reminder that everyone is made in God’s image.
That brings me back to the woman at the well in John chapter 4. Her story was one of five husbands and a relationship with someone who was not currently her husband. Her story was one of ostracism, as she avoided other people and went to her work alone. Her story was one of expecting others to dismiss her. But Jesus didn’t listen to her story to hunt for hypocrisy. Instead, he reveals himself to her in ways he doesn’t to anyone else in the Gospel of John. He tells her plainly that he is Israel’s Messiah, and he offers her living water. He saw God’s image in her in the present by asking her for a drink and treating her with respect despite her past.
Step Three: Be a Witness
A popular site recently produced a video entitled “I’m A Christian, But I'm Not.” It’s not worth your time to seek it out, because the video’s title could easily end with the word “really.” Reactions often cause overreactions, and it is tempting to overreact to the vitriol of politicking all around by crawling in a hole and refusing to speak or share anything meaningful. Or speaking plenty, but saying the same exact thing popular culture says, as the people in the "I'm a Christian, But" video tend to do. Such behavior is sub-Christian, for Christ has commissioned us to be his witnesses, not culture's witnesses. As Christ's witnesses we actively point to Christ, not ourselves.
There are helpful and unhelpful ways to be Jesus’ witness. Jesus himself revealed to us that his way was one of building relationships, doing good works, and showing love to others while never skimping on the truth. The people he forgave and healed he told to go and sin no more. He didn’t pretend that sin wasn’t sin, nor did he minimize its consequences. Rather, he died for them.
Jesus calls us salt and light to the world and tells us to do this: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:13-16).
Life is more than politics, and when we watch our tongues, look for God’s image in others, and actively point to Christ, we’ll get back to doing what Christ has called us to do. We’re never supposed to be hypocrisy hunters, we’re commissioned to be faithful witnesses.
The latest focus of our perpetual outrage is a county clerk in Kentucky. I won’t bore you with details about why she is in the news this week. What I noticed in my corner of the world was that many of the people who disliked her ideas wouldn't settle for disagreeing with what she thought, they also tore into her physical appearance and personal history. One former pastor saw the same thing and wrote, “it’s a good thing the woman at the well in Samaria met Jesus instead of people on social media today.”
The political game in the States is to appear better than your opponent. The ideas matter less than the presentation. Scandals can be anything and everything, or even nothing. Perception is reality. Career politicians, with their hoards of cash and teams of aids, have a hard enough time dredging their bellies through the muck. Us mere mortals fail at every turn.
I have no solutions on how our society as a whole can turn away from its toxic talking-head syndrome, but I have found helpful reminders in Scripture on how we, as God’s people, can give up our seats at the gaming table.
Step One: Watch Your Tongue
Technology has made it easier for our tongues to do permanent damage. Thoughts in our heads go away with little harm done. A harsh word spoken can sting for a while and then pass with time. But an angry text, comment, email, or message can linger as long as the recipient chooses to keep it. Now more than ever we must watch what we say with our tongues, type with our fingers, or push with our thumbs.
James reminds us, “the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures are being tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (3:5-8).
When we see or hear something that enrages us, it’s easy to consider our tongues to be our most powerful weapons. We can share that snarky comment. We can advertise that hypocrisy we spot. We can make public that private thought we had about someone’s appearance. And so on. But James reminds us that in some ways our tongues control us. This summer we’ve had hazy days in South Dakota from wildfires taking place hundreds of miles away in Washington, and each of those fires ignited with a single spark. Our tongues can spark all sorts of fires within ourselves that spread across the World Wide Web. Our tongues have no rest, for as soon as one fire dies out a new one takes its place.
Buck the trend to market your life and simply live it. If what you are about to say or type is not for the building up of others or the glory of God, then think twice before speaking or posting it.
Step Two: Remember God’s Image
As Christians we believe that all humans are created in God’s image. Humans have value because they are human, not because they were wanted by their mothers before birth, can contribute to society’s liking, or look and think just like we do. Just like freedom of speech is meaningless unless we allow for speech we deem disgusting, believing that all humans are made in God’s image is meaningless unless we look for it in people who drive us nuts.
Mr. Rogers was a pastor before he had his children’s show, and he put it this way: “Frankly, there isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you’ve heard their story.” We often hear other people’s stories halfway, filtering them through the bias we already held for or against them. We have to hear each other’s stories afresh without the political game whispering in our ear and replace it with Jesus’ reminder that everyone is made in God’s image.
That brings me back to the woman at the well in John chapter 4. Her story was one of five husbands and a relationship with someone who was not currently her husband. Her story was one of ostracism, as she avoided other people and went to her work alone. Her story was one of expecting others to dismiss her. But Jesus didn’t listen to her story to hunt for hypocrisy. Instead, he reveals himself to her in ways he doesn’t to anyone else in the Gospel of John. He tells her plainly that he is Israel’s Messiah, and he offers her living water. He saw God’s image in her in the present by asking her for a drink and treating her with respect despite her past.
Step Three: Be a Witness
A popular site recently produced a video entitled “I’m A Christian, But I'm Not.” It’s not worth your time to seek it out, because the video’s title could easily end with the word “really.” Reactions often cause overreactions, and it is tempting to overreact to the vitriol of politicking all around by crawling in a hole and refusing to speak or share anything meaningful. Or speaking plenty, but saying the same exact thing popular culture says, as the people in the "I'm a Christian, But" video tend to do. Such behavior is sub-Christian, for Christ has commissioned us to be his witnesses, not culture's witnesses. As Christ's witnesses we actively point to Christ, not ourselves.
There are helpful and unhelpful ways to be Jesus’ witness. Jesus himself revealed to us that his way was one of building relationships, doing good works, and showing love to others while never skimping on the truth. The people he forgave and healed he told to go and sin no more. He didn’t pretend that sin wasn’t sin, nor did he minimize its consequences. Rather, he died for them.
Jesus calls us salt and light to the world and tells us to do this: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:13-16).
Life is more than politics, and when we watch our tongues, look for God’s image in others, and actively point to Christ, we’ll get back to doing what Christ has called us to do. We’re never supposed to be hypocrisy hunters, we’re commissioned to be faithful witnesses.
