Stephen W. Hiemstra's Blog, page 181
August 2, 2019
Elección para Salvación
Stephen W Hiemstra, 2018Por Stephen W. Hiemstra
Sermon dado el 28 de Julio 2019 en El Shadai DC, Manassas, Virginia.
Preludio
Vamos a empezar. Buenos tarde. Bienvenido a la iglesia El Shadai DC. Para aquellos de ustedes que no me conocen, me llama Stephen W. Hiemstra. Soy un autor cristiano y pastor voluntario.
Esta tarde continuamos nuestro estudio sobre la seguridad de salvación en Cristo. En nuestra primara semana hablamos sobre Juan 10 y la naturaleza de la vida eterna. Esta semana prójima mirábamos a la historia de Daniel 3 y la salvación de Dios para Sadrac, Mesac y Abednego del horno en llamas. Esta semana ultima aprendimos que somos barros en los manos del alfarero como describe el profeta Jeremías en capitulo 18.
Hoy días consideramos la pregunta: ¿Que indica que nuestra relación con Dios es seguro? ¿Quien tiene la elección para salvación de Dios y como lo sabemos? Descubarémos que somos bendecido cuando bendecimos los demás.
Invocación
Vamos a orar.
Padre todopoderoso:
Toda alabanza y el honor son tuyos, porque tu nos amas suficiente a mandar su hijo Jesucristo a morir en la cruz y ofrecer nos la vida eterna.
Confesamos que tu estándar de amor es demasiado alto para nosotros porque por naturaleza somos pecadores.
Dibújanos ahora a ti mismo. En el poder de tu Espíritu Santo, abres nuestros corazones, iluminas nuestras mentes y fortaleces nuestras manos en tu servicio. En el precioso nombre de Jesucristo, Amén.
Escritura
El texto de hoy viene del libro de Génesis 12:1-3. Escuchan a la palabra de Dios:
El SEÑOR le dijo a Abram: «Deja tu tierra, tus parientes y la casa de tu padre, y vete a la tierra que te mostraré. Haré de ti una nación grande, y te bendeciré; haré famoso tu nombre, y serás una bendición. Bendeciré a los que te bendigan y maldeciré a los que te maldigan; ¡por medio de ti serán bendecidas todas las familias de la tierra!»(Gen 12:1-3 NVI)
La palabra del señor. Gracias a Dios.
Introducción
¿Que parece una relación buena? (2X)
Normalmente la vida humana presenta retos pequeño y grande. Hay días tranquilo y días con mucho ruido. Siempre hay alguna cosa a hacer para alguien. La idea que una relación existe solamente cuando el sol brilla—como muchas gente creen—es infantil.
En mi caso, temprano en mi matrimonio tuvimos retos de trabajo y retos médicos. Mi esposa fue inmigrante educado como ingeniera y por muchos años no pudó encontrar trabajo en su campo por falta de documentación. Ella vino de Irán y durante los ochentas años como hoy día hubo problemas políticos entre Irán y Estados Unidos. Entonces, Maryam trabajaba por muchos años en tiendas para mujeres y más tarde empezó a ensenar en las escuelas publicas donde no se encontraban suficientes maestras en matemática y química. Después nuestros tres hijos fueron nacidos, ella tuvó cáncer de mama dos veces. En medio de todo esto y mi propia retos de trabajo, nuestra relación fue pruebada y probada. Pobreza y problemas de salud fueron suficiente a destruir las matrimonias de personas que conocíamos. Los subidos y bajados de la vida requiere una relación dura y flexible. Se necesita a tener objetivos en común y paciencia en ganarlos.
Es lo mismo en nuestra fe. (2X) Por esta rasión, describimos la fe como un camino, un viaje de toda la vida. (2X)
Contexto
En nuestro texto de hoy, Dios habla a Abram. Él mandó que Abram hace un viaje dejando su país, su tribu, y su familia. En otras palabras, dejando cada fuente de seguridad en el mundo anciano. La situación de Abram es analógico a la de hispanos hoy día aquí en Estados Unidos.
Interesante, el Señor no lo dijó inmediatamente donde se ir, pero sabemos de la capitulo antes que su padre, Téraj, fue viajando con la familia a Canaán. Téraj morió en Jarán en medio de este viaje. Génesis no dijóninguna palabra sobre la relación entre Téraj y Dios, pero sabemos que Abram continuaba el mismo objetivo viajando a Canaán. En general, sabemos también que muchas veces Dios háblanos por medio de otras personas, incluso personas quienes no le conozcan a él. (2X)
¿Cuándo fue la ultima vez que Dios háblate a ti? ¿Fueron otras personas directamente o indirectamente parte de esta conversación?
Mensaje
Nuestro texto de hoy es conocido como el pacto primero entre Dios y Abram. En un pacto ambos partes quieren algo. Dios mandó que Abram viajar a Canaán. Por su parte, Dios daría Abram una bendición:
“Haré de ti una nación grande, y te bendeciré; haré famoso tu nombre, y serás una bendición. Bendeciré a los que te bendigan y maldeciré a los que te maldigan.”
Quien no quiere esta bendición?
La ultima parte de esta bendición es muy importante: ¡por medio de ti serán bendecidas todas las familias de la tierra! (2X)
Aquí es nuestra llave de elección. Nuestra salvación es obvia cuando bendecimos los demás. No hay un grupo santo fuera del mundo. La iglesia es bendecida cuando se bendecir el mundo en el nombre de Cristo. Somos bendecido cuando bendecimos los demás.
Es como las muchas veces que Pastor Julio esta estado recordándonos: aquí a El Shadai DC amamos Dios y otras personas. (2X) Eso es el signo de nuestra propia salvación cuando lo hacemos.
Es como el apóstol Juan escribe:
“Porque tanto amó Dios al mundo, que dio a su Hijo unigénito, para que todo el que cree en él no se pierda, sino que tenga vida eterna.”(Juan 3:16)
Debido a que somos creados a imagen de Dios, lo que sea que veamos hacer a Dios, también deberíamos hacerlo.
Amén.
Oración de Clausura
Vamos a orar.
Querido Padre,
Gracias por tus bendiciones, especialmente la vida, muerte, y resurrección de Jesucristo.
Camina con nosotros hoy día y cada día cuando compartirnos tus bendiciones con los demás que encontramos diariamente en nuestras familias, trabajos, y barios.
En el poder de tu espíritu santo, danos palabras de gracias y manos para servicio por las personas quienes no te conocen. En el precioso nombre de Jesucristo. Amén.
Elección para Salvación
Also See:
Value Of Life
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/HotWeather_2019
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July 30, 2019
Buechner Paraphrases Jesus’ Life Deeply
Frederick Buechner. 2014. The Faces of Jesus: A Life Story.Brewster: Paraclete Press.
Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra
At one point several years back, I received a mailing from an offset printer in Michigan, Thomson-Shore. Traditionally, publishers ordered a batch of several thousand books where type was set and each page printed a set number of times. Then, another page had the type set and was similarly printed. This is a cheapest way to print books when you know how many books are needed and you need thousands of books. In this mailing, Thomson-Shore included a sample of their work, a short book by Frederick Buechner, The Faces of Jesus.
Introduction
Buechner invites us to reflect on the face of Jesus. He writes:
“See it for what it is and, to see it whole, see it too for what it is just possible that it will become: the face of Jesus as the face of our own secret and innermost destiny: The face of Jesus as our face.”(xv)
For those theologically inclined, Buechner is using the imago dei(the image of God) as a mirror into our souls. He does this by paraphrasing the life of Jesus as revealed in scripture and other writings.
Background and Organization
Frederick Buechner is a graduate of Princeton University, an ordained Presbyterian pastor, and a prolific author. He writes in six chapters:
Annunciation (3-12 pp)
Nativity (15-39)
Ministry (43-81)
Last Supper (85-108)
Crucifixion (111-134)
Resurrection (137-161; v-vi)
The longest chapter is on Jesus’ ministry. These chapters are preceded by an introduction. The book is 4 by 6 inches, double-spaced, and making liberal use of white space, which publishers will recognize as a format typical of poetry and devotionals because it is easy on the eyes.
Voice
Buechner’s voice is important in interpreting Jesus and the reading experience, something not typically commented on in reviews.
Consider the opening paragraph in the chapter on the annunciation:
“Before Abraham was, Jesus said, I am. [John 8:58] Who can say what he meant? Perhaps that just as his death was not the end of him, so his birth was not the beginning of him.”(3)
We do not expect this cite to begin a discussion of Mary’s encounter with an angel informing her of Jesus’ coming. Yet, Buechner speaks here with a deeply theological interpretation of divine sovereignty: as creator, God stand’s outside of created time and space speaking in a divine present encompassing our past, present, and future (4). This cite arises late in Jesus’ ministry and presents a divinity claim—I amis the name of God revealed to Moses in the burning bush—for which Jesus was almost stoned.
A more typical paraphrase of the life of Jesus might be found in the Apostle’s Creed:
“I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Under Pontius Pilate, He was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead.”
In the Creed, we are given basic facts of Jesus as revealed in scripture; in Buechner, we are introduced to deeper reading and interpretation of the scripture itself.
Assessment
Frederick Buechner’s The Faces of Jesus: A Life Story is simply written, but is far from simple minded. Paraphrasing the life of Jesus, Buechner reveals a complex Jesus not well understood by his peers and even less well understood by ours.
Footnotes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederi.... Today, most books are printed individually in a machine resembling a huge photocopy machine, a process known as print on demand. Print on demand is more expensive, but allows books to be published in relatively small numbers. Offset printing normally presumes that you are willing to print large numbers of books and maintain an inventory.
Buechner Paraphrases Jesus’ Life Deeply
Also See:
Top 10 Book Reviews Over the Past 12 Months
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/HotWeather_2019
The post Buechner Paraphrases Jesus’ Life Deeply appeared first on T2Pneuma.net.
July 29, 2019
Holiness: Monday Monologues, July 29, 2019 (podcast)
Stephen W Hiemstra, 2018By Stephen W. Hiemstra
This morning I will share a prayer and reflection on holiness.
After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).
To listen, click on the link below:
https://t2pneuma.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Holiness_Monday_Monologues_20190729.mp3
Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!
Holiness: Monday Monologues, July 29, 2019 (podcast)
Also see:
Monday Monologue On March 26, 2018
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/HotWeather_2019
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July 28, 2019
Holiness Prayer
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
Holy and Loving Father,
Holy, holy, holy art thou, righteous king of the universe who has created, guided, and protected us from the day of our birth.
Forgive us in our fallen state of caring too much for ourselves and too little of those around us, even our friends and family.
Thank you for being who you are and for sending Jesus Christ to be our holy example in life and our redeemer in his death. Have mercy on us for His name’s sake.
In the power of your Holy Spirit, walk with us and guide us each and every day, that will may grow more like Christ, now and always. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
Holiness Prayer
Also see:
Prayer for Healthy Limits
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Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/HotWeather_2019
The post Holiness Prayer appeared first on T2Pneuma.net.
July 26, 2019
Holiness
“For I am the LORD
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God.
You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
(Lev 11:45)
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
In recent years the list of church leaders and high government officials who careers have tanked due to moral failure seems endless. Factors contributing to these moral failures include changing mores, increasing social conflict, and the ability of social media to document our private lives from birth to death. Nothing today is off the record.
The Role of the Church
The church bears responsibility for the moral failures of its leaders. Contributing factors include:
1. The focus on the individual has relegated responsibility to families and individuals to teach and practices holiness that is the proper role of the church.
2. In some denominations, theology has divided law from Gospel suggesting that the holiness code in the Leviticus no longer applies to the Christian.
3. In some churches, the emphasis on love is so pervasive that other parts of the Bible are simply neglected.
4. Preaching in many churches offers nice to know guidance and simple eschews hard teaching on morality especially because of permissive attitudes on issues related to marriage and sexuality in society more generally.
While the traditional teaching of the church is clear on the question of holiness, many churches no longer accept this teaching. The watchword for this new teaching comes directly from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.” (Matt 7:15-16) False prophets need not be ravenous wolves, but weak teaching can lead to bad fruit resulting in unnecessary brokenness and departures from faith. Clearly, God can use broken pastors and broken churches to advance his kingdom, but we should cling to Christ’s mantel as closely as we can and avoid grieving the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30).
Modesto Manifesto
During an evangelistic campaign in Modesto, California in 1948 Billy Graham asked his team to list the reasons that evangelists had failed in previous campaigns. Four items topped everyone’s list:
1. Excessive interest in money and weak accounting of it.
2. Sexual immorality, especially while on the road.
3. Failing to work closely with and respect local churches.
4. Exaggerating ministry successes (Graham 1997, 127-129).
Among these temptations, sexual immorality stood out as a threat and Graham committed himself to never being alone with any woman other than his wife, Ruth. These rules, together known as the Modesto Manifesto, have been picked up by other Christian leaders, including most recently Vice President Mike Pence.1 While not all temptations can be cited as holiness concerns, moral failures figure prominently.
The Role of Christian Leaders
The Beatitudes have a general audience, but they also appear as a kind of commissioning service for disciples, which today would be of special interest to Christian leaders. The Sixth Beatitude focuses on a clean heart—“Honored are the pure in heart”—but, how can I remove the impurities? This is a call for holiness. Jesus provides two methods that stand out: pruning and intensifying.
Prune
Jesus gives us two metaphors of pruning—cutting away unnecessary or unwanted growth to make a plant stronger and more fruitful (John 15:2). The first metaphor involves eyes: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.” (Matt 5:29) The second metaphor involves hands: “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.” (Matt 5:30) In both metaphors, we remove sin from our lives by pruning.2 Jesus’ pruning metaphors imply that sanctification—casting off sin and taking on godliness—is serious business: eyes and hands are parts of the body—parts of us—that are not easily discarded. If the threat of sin were trivial, then a better analogy might have been to trim your nails or cut your hair. But if sin threatens both our physical and spiritual lives, then amputation is an acceptable option and the analogy is not hyperbolic.
Intensify
Jesus widens the scope of commandments under the law by drilling into the motivation for breaking them, intensifying the scrutiny given to sin. For example, when Jesus talks about adultery, he focuses on the lustful look that corrupts the heart, not the sinful act that follows. If sin begins in the heart, then sanctification must strive for purity of heart, and not only avoiding sin, but pursuing godliness, as the Apostle Paul writes:
“But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph 4:20-24)
The likeness of God, of course, refers to the divine image in creation, as implied in the word, godliness, used by Paul in admonishing Timothy: “train yourself for godliness” (1 Tim 4:7). Taking Jesus Christ as our example, we should strive to be a good example to others.
References
Graham, Billy. 1997. Just As I Am: An Autobiography of Billy Graham. New York: Zondervan.
Footnotes
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_G...". 2 The eye gouging and hand chopping metaphors could also have been heard by Jesus’ audience as a messianic call to arms. When the Prophet Samuel anointed Saul messianic king of Israel, he said to him: “And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies.” (1 Sam 10:1) Notice the hand metaphor in this charge. Saul’s first act as king was to save the besieged city of Jabesh-gilead from an Amorite king whose condition for surrender was: “On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus bring disgrace on all Israel.” (1 Sam 11:2) Understanding the story of Saul, Jesus’ metaphors might be interpreted as saying: stand on your own two feet.
Holiness
Also See:
Value Of Life
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/HotWeather_2019
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July 23, 2019
Ed Melick: Strands of Grace, Guest Blog
Ed Melick is the co-producer and co-host of the Grace in 30 radio program on WERA-LP, 96.7 FM transmitting out of Arlington, VA. He has recently written two books that are scheduled for release at the end of summer 2019. The first book, Monumental Hug—Divorce, Cancer, Healing & Grace, is the story of how God’s grace healed his relationship with his ex-wife, and how they walked together through her battle with pancreatic cancer. The second book, Healing Plunge—An in-depth look at healing in the Bible, is a summary of his recent plunge into the topic of healing in the scriptures.
Strands of Grace
What does God’s grace mean to you?
For me, a deep understanding of grace began with a painful divorce.
In April 2008, my wife of over twenty-two years informed me that she wanted to end our marriage. I was devastated. Two days after receiving the news, though, I felt led by God to lay down my life for her no matter what she or her attorney did to me—and He began giving me compelling glimpses of the realness, power, and beauty of His grace. Over the ten years that followed, I experienced the astonishing power of loving my enemy and committed my life to sharing the Good News of God’s grace with everyone I could.
Faithful Witness
During much of the first three-and-a-half years of my separation and divorce, I shared an office with the Director of Sales at my company, Sal D’Itri. I often tell people that Sal had a front row seat to my divorce and everything that was happening in my life and family. At times I felt like he should have pulled out a soft drink and a giant tub of popcorn while listening to me as I regaled him with stories of grief, struggle, and especially grace.
Seed Planted
Toward the end of my tenure at the company, Sal would occasionally say, “We should do a radio show together,” while we were joking around about various topics. My answer was always the same. “No way,” I would say. “I’ll wind up getting on the air and saying something stupid that I’ll regret, or cursing, or whatever.”
Grace in 30
When I was released by the company in the Fall of 2011, we kept in touch, but the topic of a radio show didn’t come up again until the Fall of 2015. Sal called me one day and told me that a local community media organization had just launched a new low-power radio station and that they were looking for content. He wanted to team up and produce and host a program.
My initial reaction was disinterest. Something like a radio program was the furthest thing from my mind. Sal kept pushing, though, and I suggested that we both go off and pray about it for a week, and then come back together and see how we felt.
A week later we were on the phone again and Sal was as pumped as ever. I didn’t really feel any strong urgings one way or another, so I decided to lateral the ball to him. I asked him to take a first cut at the application and then send it to me.
Not long after that I received the completed form from him. It’s at this point that I realized that the radio program could be an excellent channel for sharing what I had learned about the radical power of God’s grace. There seemed to be no doubt that such a message was needed to counter all the negativity, extremism, and un-grace in our culture and media. I decided to dive in and the Grace in 30 radio program was born.
Three Years Later
At the time of this writing, Sal and I have been doing the weekly radio program for over three years and have aired 166 programs. The reason our show exists is to, “See to it that no one misses out on God’s grace” (Hebrews 12:15, CJB). How we do that is by providing compelling examples of grace in action and a spark to get more people expressing it. We host individuals and organizations that are living by grace, so to speak, and we have them issue calls-to-action for listeners to join in and make our families, workplaces, communities, and world better.
We have talked to over one-hundred-and-thirty people. As we hosted more people, we noticed certain themes repeating themselves. I also noticed how these themes overlapped with my experiences expressing grace to my ex-wife. I call these “strands of grace.”
Closeness
One strand that really resonates with me in our culture of division is closeness. Many of our guests talk of the importance of getting close to people who are different than you—especially your enemies—and building lasting relationships with them.
I can’t think of a better example of this than Daryl Davis, an African American musician and author who is on a mission to tear down some of the most extreme barriers between whites and blacks in our country. Daryl has been befriending KKK members and attending their rallies for nearly forty years. As these Klansmen and Daryl get to know each other, the hatreds and prejudices of the Klansmen melt away to such an extent that many of them have renounced their beliefs, and about forty of them have given Daryl their robes and hoods for display in a museum he’s planning to open. Some of the people who left the Klan were very senior in the organization, including former Grand Dragons and Imperial Wizards.
Daryl challenged our audience to take the time to get to know people who are not only different from us, but radically opposed to us. He challenged everyone to walk across the cafeteria and sit down with them, learn about them, and keep that going.
We have heard many stories like Daryl’s about people crossing the lines that divide them from others, like when a Christian lawyer successfully defended a Somali Muslim accused by the U.S. Government of piracy and when a university president slept in a metro station on a frigid February night in order to get a better understanding of what the homeless experience.
Bad Advice
When my wife filed for divorce and moved out, I was offered a lot of mean-spirited advice. People told me I needed to get mean, stop talking to her, and cut off communications between her and my family members. I decided to act counter to that advice and express grace, and I went out of my way to cross, as often as possible, the barrier of separation that my ex-wife had set up between us. I determined that every time I had the opportunity to interact with her I would do so—even when she was only using me to get something done. The results of this were breathtaking and I write about my experiences in my soon-to-be-released book entitled Monumental Hug—Divorce, Cancer, Grace & Healing.
Ultimate Grace
Of course, the greatest example of crossing a boundary occurred when God gave up His divine privileges, took on human form, and eventually died a horrible criminal’s death so that we might receive forgiveness for our sins and eternal life in His coming Kingdom. This should be the gold standard by which we measure our efforts.
I encourage you to consider all of these examples of getting close to those who are different than us, make the effort to get to know your foes (political, professional, etc.), and watch the grace of Jesus Christ dissolve prejudices, build bonds of love, and dramatically heal relationships. Our world desperately needs more people who are doing this.
Also See:
Live Radio Interview Today on Life Issues Show with Lloyd Rosen
Top 10 Book Reviews Over the Past 12 Months
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/HotWeather_2019
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July 22, 2019
Self-Care: Monday Monologues, July 22, 2019 (podcast)
Stephen W Hiemstra, 2018By Stephen W. Hiemstra
This morning I will share a prayer and reflection on self-care.
After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).
To listen, click on the link below:
https://t2pneuma.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Self_Care_Monday_Monologues_20190722.mp3
Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!
Self-Care: Monday Monologues, July 22, 2019 (podcast)
Also see:
Monday Monologue On March 26, 2018
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
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July 21, 2019
Prayer for the Afflicted
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
Almighty Father,
All praise and honor be to you for you hear our cries for mercy and have compassion on those who suffer affliction.
Forgive us for we seldom do either being wrapped up in our own worries and often turn a deaf ear to the suffering of others.
We thank you for the hedge of protection that you offer us through faith and the love you show to sinners who do not know you.
In the power of your Holy Spirit, stay your hand in punishing those that sin repeatedly and do not attend to your commandments. Lift them gently from the recompense of their sin and show them another path. May sin not destroy their lives, their hopes, and the their opportunities, but may their pain turns their eyes to you that they might find a saving faith.
In the precious name of Jesus, your son and our savior. Amen.
Prayer for the Afflicted
Also see:
Prayer for Healthy Limits
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/HotWeather_2019
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July 19, 2019
Self-Care
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
Christian leaders need to be self-aware and take care of themselves. Self-care is as easy as practicing Sabbath rest (Exod 20:8-11) and its significance arises because tired people can neither love God nor their neighbor (Matt 22:36-40). In a deeper sense, we are obligated to care for ourselves and shun sin because our bodies and minds are a temple for the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). Still, in spite of the biblical warrant for self-care, Christian leaders are routinely workaholics and stress addicted, suffering burnout to the point of threatening the ongoing viability of their ministries.
Burnout and Temptation
We are most vulnerable to temptation and sin when our bodies and minds are tired. It is ironic that we think of fasting as a spiritual discipline because fasting weakens our resistance to temptation and sin. After his baptism, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert where he fasted for forty days and the devil tempted three times (Luke 4:1-13). Nouwen (2002, 30,53,75) describes these temptations as the leadership challenges to be relevant, popular, and powerful.
It is widely reported that pastoral burnout often leads to sexual misconduct and departure from ministry. Two pastors close to me early in my career likely succumbed to this temptation. One engaged in a homosexual liaison only to loose his marriage, his job, and, later, his life—he died of AIDS. The other divorced his wife and ran away with a woman in the congregation. Both pastors mentored me for years so I know that such behavior was not typical or expected, but burnout and stress brings out the worst in a person.
I have for years advised seniors that three things were needed for a successful retirement: physical activity, mental stimulation, and connection. For seniors, these three things are need to live a normally, healthy life. They are just as necessary for a healthy life at younger ages, but normally younger people have greater reserves than seniors. Unhealthy lifestyles can, however, cut into reserves at any age.
Physical Activity
Routine, strenuous exercise builds physical capacity by enhancing blood flow, reducing fat, and curbing appetite. It also builds mental capacity in the same manner and by increasing self-esteem. Even moderate physical activity, such walking with your spouse in the evening, can have a positive impact on attitude and physical fitness.
The impact of physical fitness (or lack thereof) on mental agility is directly observable in older people.1 “Sunset dementia” is a condition where seniors are able to remember things and manage life easily during the day but as the afternoon and evening approaches they begin suffering forgetfulness not observed earlier in the day. The condition is perhaps analogous to a younger person drinking a couple beers or suffering sleep deprivation over multiple days in terms of the lost mental capability.
In my own case, appetite is the best indicator of my physical and mental well-being. When I suffer burnout, I eat too much and skimp on my exercise routine. If this goes on too long, I put on extra pounds. Alternatively, the last time I took a consulting assignment I focused so intensely on my work during those three months that lost ten pounds without thinking about it.
Mental Stimulation
As mentioned above, physical activity has a direct, beneficial effect on mental agility. Exercise cleans the plack out of your veins and widens them increasing oxygen flow. This is especially important for mental condition because the brain is single, largest user of blood flow in the body. The more oxygen available to the brain, the clearer our thinking.
The relationship between physical fitness and mentality agility became obvious to me when I was a foreign exchange student for a year in Germany. Germans love to drink beer and play chess so I spent my evenings in local bars playing chess and practicing my German—sober I was too shy at first to speak in my broken German. After several months of drinking beer and playing chess daily, I was unbeatable, but only for the first two to three hours of play. After three hours of playing chess, even known rookies could beat me so I learned to quit after two hours of play.
Beyond physical exercise, the mind also needs a workout. The brain is a physical organ that atrophies with inactivity just like a muscle. In kids under six years old, musical training is known to enhance thinking until much later in life because music employs the entire brain the way that swimming employs the entire body and assure that synapses develop with this wholistic process being employed. For the rest of us, mental exercises, like learning new languages or subjects, alters the brain’s physical structure enhancing our abilities in those directions but also stimulating other parts of the brain to remain fit. Even brain diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease, that cannot be cured are thought to be delayed in their onset by physical and mental exercise.
Connection
Being socially active is important for older people to avoid loneliness and depression, but it is no less important for younger people. It is well-known among educators that college freshman who find clubs and groups to join are much more likely to make a successful transition to college and avoid dropping out.
For seniors, researchers at Duke University (1999) reported:
A study of nearly 4,000 elderly North Carolinians has found that those who attended religious services every week were 46 percent2 less likely to die over a six-year period than people who attended less often or not at all, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center.
While Christians recognize the role of faith in life expectancy, even, even an atheist will recognize the benefits of having close friends and other people who care for you. Life is simply less stressful when you know that that you can share your trials and tribulations with others.
Good Example
For the Christian leader, practicing self-care obviously enhances one’s durability in ministry, but it is also an important area to model a balanced lifestyle in front of others. It it important to note that this modeling extends beyond the Christian community.
Postmodern people are more anxious and depressed than most previous generations because they are more likely to be cutoff from traditional society, their families, their faith communities, and the communities that they grew up in. These sources of stress and others conspire together to produce historically unprecedentedly levels of suicide.
In this context, Christians need together with their leaders to demonstrate what a balanced lifestyle looks like. Who knows who’s life will be spared if we do? The life you save may be your own! After all, burnout comes as more than just a cost to us as individuals.
References
Crowley, Chris and Henry S. Lodge. 2007. Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy–Until You’re 80 and Beyond. Male and Female editions. New York: Workman Publishing.
Duke University. 1999. “Religious Attendance Linked to Lower Mortality in Elderly.” Updated: January 20, 2016. Online: https://corporate.dukehealth.org/news... Accessed: 18 January 2019.
Nouwen, Henri J.M. 2002. In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. New York: Crossroad Publishing Company.
Smith, Houston. 2001. Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief. San Francisco: Harper.
Footnotes
1 Crowley and Lodge (2007, 7) make an audacious claim: over 50 percent of all illness and injuries in the last third of your life can be eliminated by changing your lifestyle. What changes do they recommend? A big part of their advice is regular, strenuous exercise including resistance training. What is regular? At least six days a week. What is strenuous? Exercise able to provide an aerobic effect. What is resistance training? They recommend a program of weight lifting. If you follow their advice, then you can remain like a physically fit, 50 year-old well past the age of 80.
2 Smith (2001, 44) reported the original findings in this study as 28 percent, which substantially underestimated the final number of 46 percent.
Self-Care
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July 16, 2019
Tietjen Introduces Kierkegaard
Tietjen, Mark A. 2016. Kierkegaard: A Christian Missionary to Christians. Downers Grove: IVP Academic.
Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra
An important motive for devoting the last six years to writing about Christian spirituality has been the premise that many Christians have lost touch with their spiritual heritage. In more than one denomination, the basic teachings that launched the denomination are no longer given even cursory attention from the pulpit and synchronistic practices are widely believed to be Christian. Faced with a church that has lost its way and offers little help in dealing with life’s challenges, many young people who grew up in the church understandably see no reason to continue attending. In reading about the such issues, one name gets repeated a lot: Kierkegaard.
Introduction
In his book, Kierkegaard, Mark Tietjen writes:
“My goal is to convince Christians as I have been convinced that Soren Kierkegaard [1813-1855] is a voice that should be sought and heard for the edification of the church.”(25)
Merold Westphal, who wrote the foreword, describes Kierkegaard as a prophet who rails against cheap grace and encourages Christians to think of faith as harder to deal with than it is commonly sold in three ways: (1) it is a lifelong pursuit (2) focused on beliefs and actions (3) that takes sin seriously (12-14). A fourth ways arises in that pastors need both to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable, where most focus exclusively on the former (17).
Cheap Grace
Railing against cheap grace is today more normally associated with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who may have picked up the idea from Kierkegaard. Bonhoeffer (1995, 44-45) wrote:
“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living, and incarnate.”
The Apostle Paul put it this way: we were bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20).
If this critique of the church seems harsh, I remember attending an inquirers weekend at Princeton Theological Seminary in 2003. At a closing dinner, the dean asked each inquirer to talk about why they had come. All but about 2 of the sixty inquirers were fresh out of college and typically answered something like this: I enjoyed my youth group in high school and just want to continue that experience by working for the church.
Cheap grace? Yes, because many churches seek out such young candidates for ministry hoping to attract their kids back into the church. Ironically, the church requiring the most devotion from their members often have the highest retention rates among their kids.
Background and Organization
Mark A. Tietjen received his doctorate from Baylor University and is a director at Stony Brook School in New York. He is the former secretary of the Soren Kierkegaard Society and has written another book: Kierkegaard, Communication, and Virtue: Authorship as Edification (2013). Tietjen writes in five chapters:
Kierkegaard: Friend to Christians?
Jesus Christ
The Human Self
Christian Witness
The Life of Christian Love.
These chapters are preceded by a foreword and introduction and followed by conclusions, suggestions for the further reading, and indices.
Missionary to Christians?
In his conclusions Tietjen offers a number of reasons why Christians may need a missionary. The most controversial one might be that some Christians may “have inherited a perverted form of Christianity.”(161) He offers three views of such perverted forms:
The liberal theology view. Traditional Christian views on sin and the divinity of Christ are unnecessary even though Jesus can help us live a more moral life.
The Pelagian view. Grace is overstated and unnecessary because we can help contribute to our own salvation.
The grace-abuse view. Because of God’s grace, we need not practice God’s law or pursue holiness. (56-57)
While one can argue the need for missionaries to the church, the modern and postmodern church appears to have inoculated many to traditional Christian faith. Tietjen refers to them as Christian admirers who fail to take the life of Christ as something to be imitated. Admirers look on the imitator as a: “religious fanatic, Jesus freak, fundamentalist, and so on.” (74) Thus, the Holy Spirit’s intervention, not better apologetics, seems to be required.
Assessment
Mark Tietjen’s book, Kierkegaard, provides a basic understanding of Kierkegaard’s writing and times. Tietjen is well versed in Kierkegaard’s work and offers many interesting anecdotes.
References
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich 1995.The Cost of Discipleship(Orig Pub 1937). Translated by R. H. Fuller and Irmgard Booth. New York: Simon & Schuster—A Touchstone Book.
Footnotes
A similar phenomenon has occasionally been observed by marketers when the highest priced good is perceived by consumers to be the highest quality—discounting in such cases may actually lower sales revenue. The classic example of this phenomenon is Lite Beer which has frequently sold at a premium to regular beer even though it is essentially made by adding water to that same beer. Part of the mystique is the higher price.
Tietjen Introduces Kierkegaard
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