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  • Moments and Destiny

    Harvey Brown speakingby Dr. Harvey Brown, Energion Publications Author

    I had occasion the other day to ride through a cemetery. The trip was neither business nor pleasure. Not the business many preachers know as conducting a funeral. Nor was there some unique pleasure of learning about forebears or history. I was taking a shortcut. Very few people take shortcuts through cemeteries. Most are there for the long haul… part of the residential program.

    I live in one of the biggest tourist areas east of the Mississippi. Sevier County—which contains Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee—is within one day’s drive for 75% of our nation’s population. Our county is adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited National Park in the United States. This is significant because most of the Park’s 11-14 million annual visitors stay and play in Sevier County. And they drive on our roads.

    Imagine, if you will, dropping an extra 70,000 or so people into your little town for the weekend. Or the month. Or the summer. Or the summer and the fall. Maybe now you can imagine why I would be willing to take a shortcut through a cemetery.

    My local church meets in a building on Sugar Hollow Road in Pigeon Forge. If I stay off the main drag (the Parkway), I can cut through Shiloh Cemetery, get onto Sharp Hollow which leads to Goose Gap then Clear Fork and Hatcher Top Roads. Perhaps that’s bewildering to you. But it saves me about thirty-two minutes of a fifteen minute drive. That’s probably just a blink of God’s eye. But the older I get, the more aware I am of how much every blink counts. Which brings me back to the cemetery.

    Tombstones tell very little about the persons whose remains occupy the graves. The text on the markers normally includes the name, year of birth and year of death. And of course, there’s the ever-present dash separating those years.

    That dash is not really a straight line. It’s a series of moments meshed together, a continuum of time, events, experiences and relationships that form someone’s history—a history that only God knows.

    You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. – Psalm 139:16 (NLT)

    We often think of what happens to us as random, unrelated incidents. From time-to-time we seem to be able to connect the dots, but unless we are trusting in Father’s providence, we see our lives as scrambled, tangled messes. And we begin to label and define ourselves by our failures and our sins rather than our successes.

    You, as well as I, have probably called yourself a “failure”—especially if you have found yourself stuck in a cycle of repetitive sin. All the while your heart’s desire was to be one of those “overcomers.” But no matter how hard you tried, every setback or moment of defeat moved you closer to hopelessness. Dejection latched onto you like a blood-starved leach sucking away hope and life by the bucket full. Once again you uttered a self-proclaimed epithet, “I am such a failure.”

    If this scenario is replayed enough times, these moments begin to shape your identity. You lose sight of the fact that just because you have experienced failure, the experience does not mean that you are a failure.

    After such a moment of failure, I often have felt like I was destined to live in defeat. I fought recurring battles with pornography since my early teens. After becoming a follower of Jesus as a young adult, many things changed in my life. But the episodic battles with porn continued. Each time I fell, I repeated the “I am a failure” phrase. Moment piled upon moment until I believed that my destiny would never change. I would live the rest of my life like a hamster on its treadmill—running like crazy but never making any progress distancing myself from the demons which plagued me.

    Would I go to Heaven? I was convinced that God’s grace and forgiveness would still work… even for me. 1 John 1:8-9 were forever true. But the cycle of being stuck in repetitive sin was my destiny. I was just too broken, too uniquely flawed to ever be whole. Or holy.

    But praise be to the King Almighty, Invisible, Immortal, the Only Wise God! All that changed in an encounter I had with the Holy Spirit during a conference in St. Louis twenty years ago. (You can read the story of my deliverance in the book, When God Strikes The Match.)

    Three weeks ago, my good friend Tony Roberts made the following statement during a sermon: “The devil isn’t after a moment. He’s after your destiny.”

    My memory immediately flashed through various moments—events of failure that, at the time, seemed to be the culmination of some demonic tactic to keep me living in defeat. But I now believe that the moments of defeat were not the objective. These moments were battles intended to demoralize me and cause me to forget my identity as a child of God. And if I forget or lose my identity, I move from being a victor to a victim.

    As a Holy Spirit filled, born again believer in Jesus Christ, I am a child of a loving Father. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives within me! I am not just victorious, but I am more than a conqueror through him who loved me.

    I am not a hopeless, hapless failure. I am holy through the cleansing of His blood. He is able to keep me from falling and present me faultless before his glorious presence…and with great joy (Jude 24-25). He is able to cause all things to work together for good because I love him and am called according to his purpose.

    I know how easy it is to get stuck in those failure moments and lose sight of my identity. Been there. Done that.

    Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. – Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV

    Moments will pass. But my destiny is forever.

    In other words, your race is a dash… the one between those dates that will be on your tombstone. Sure, there will be moments. But above all, there is a destiny that awaits you as a son or daughter of God.

    “Well done.”

    (Editor’s Note: Dr. Harvey Brown is also the author of Energion Publications’s Forgiveness: Finding Freedom from Your Past.)

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  • Charting a New Course

    Credit: OpenClipart.org
    Credit: OpenClipart.org
    We’re excited about what we have accomplished over the last several months here on the Energion Discussion Network, and we’re looking to make some changes to make our content and presentation even better. You can see our announcement on our news blog. Rev. Steve Kindle, who has been the EDN editor for all this time, is moving on. No, he’s not doing less, but he’ll be doing something new. We’ll certainly be talking about that here as soon as we have all the details! Steve is still an Energion author and a valuable member of our publishing family.
    We’re going to start rolling out these changes on June 21, 2016. Posting will be a bit less regular between now and then, but we’re not abandoning this site. In fact, we’re planning to make it more active.
    So stick with us, and grow!

  • An Inconvenient History Lesson

    by Herold Weiss

    GospelHaving discussed with some seriousness critical topics of interest to Christians who value what the Bible has to say about them, I think it is time for me to take an ironic pen in hand and draw a caricature of the history of the Gospel. Caricatures distinguish themselves by taking a feature and exaggerating it out of proportion. As such, caricatures can be mean, and may give offense to those who see themselves as the victims of someone’s lack of respect for authority, or malicious distortion of the past. On the other hand, caricatures may also be valid ways to call attention to aspects of the truth that are often overlooked, or are distorted in order to promote a particular version of reality. While the appreciation of caricatures requires a sense of humor, once their picaresque dress is recognized they may be the best way to bring to the forefront an issue worthy of serious consideration. In this case caricatures are used as the basis for a thesis about the Gospel.
    Thus, with tongue in cheek, I offer my condensed history of the Gospel in twenty five words . . . or more:
    The Gospel of Christ was power to do the will of the God who gives life to the dead.
    The Greeks made it a mystical philosophy.
    The Romans made it a legal state.
    The Russians made it an icon paraded for veneration.
    The Germans made it a proletarian revolution.
    The Spaniards made it a colonial instrument for the subjugation of native peoples.
    The Portuguese made it what consecrated their imaginary multicontinental nation.
    The Dutch made it the protector of a profitable laisse faire.
    The English made it an agent for mercantile empire building.
    The Americans made it a financial enterprise for the benefit of shareholders.
    The Mainline Churches made it a bourgeois living standard.
    The Conservatives made it an idol with traditional authority.
    The Liberals made it a cultural monument to be evaluated.
    The Fundamentalists made it a divine message that can be manipulated.
    The Evangelicals made it the means for a romantic forever-friendship with Jesus.
    The Charismatics made it the escape hatch to another world.
    The Apocalypticists made it a mystery locked in a safe to which only they have the key.
    Throughout history the Gospel of Christ has been in need of being rescued from its purveyors.
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  • Biblical Teaching about Inspiration

    by Edward Vick

     
    Inspiration bannerWe begin this section with a caveat. We are speaking in what follows of individual writings speaking about other writings. The term ‘writings’ (or ‘Scriptures’) in the New Testament is the Greek word graphai, a plural form, from which we get such words as graph, graphic and all the other words of which these form a part (e.g. photographic, lithograph). This word has a general and so a rather vague reference. We cannot therefore, as some people would like to think, speak about ‘the Bible’s view of itself’. When some of the statements were made the Bible did not yet exist as a whole. Moreover the recognition of a particular body of books was in the future. Only when that recognition was established was it possible to speak of ‘the Bible.’ That was, of course, after the production of any particular writing. What we should rather say is that some writings talk of other writings. One may, of course, take what these writings say of those others as true of the whole. But that is an interpretation. It was not the intention — how could it have been? — of the writers themselves. This will become clear as we consider the particular passages themselves in some detail. We shall have to ask whether we can say for sure which writings are being spoken of, when the term ‘writings’ is used.
    It is therefore misleading to say, ‘the Bible claims’ to be inspired.
    There is no “the Bible” that claims to be divinely inspired. There is no “it” that has a “view of itself”. There is only this or that source, like II Timothy or II Peter, which make statements about certain other writings, these rather undefined. There is no such thing as “the Bible’s view of itself” from which a fully authoritative answer to these questions can be obtained.
    It is wrong to claim that the New Testament states clearly and unambiguously that ‘it’ is inspired. As we have seen, the canon has a history. Some books were considered secondary, even disputed. II Peter was one of these secondary books and II Timothy was considered marginal. This means that two of the less important books make claims about source writings which they know. The term Scripture means ‘writing,’ simply ‘writing’. We have no means of knowing which books they are speaking about. We cannot, must not, assume that II Timothy 3:16 is referring to the twenty-seven books of the canon which we adopt. We do not know how many such writings II Timothy knew. We cannot say that this passage represents the New Testament teaching about itself. The passage reads: ‘All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.’ The marginal note correctly indicates that the language is ambiguous. It reads as an alternative: ‘Every Scripture inspired by God is also profitable. . . .The ambiguity is inherent in the Greek construction. The text reads: pasa graphe theopneustos kai ophelimos pros didaskalian. There is no verb, no ‘is’ in the sentence. Rendered word for word, which in this case is not misleading, the passage reads: ‘every writing inspired and (or also) profitable for instruction.’ We have to supply ‘is’. But the writer does not indicate where we shall put it, and so we do not know which of the following alternatives he intended. We can read either: (l) ‘every writing is inspired and profitable’ or (2)‘every inspired writing is also profitable’.
    In the first case we have supplied ‘is’ after graphe ‘writing.’ In the second case we have supplied it before kai (and), which, since it then introduces a second adjective ophelimos, is translated ‘also,’ as it often is. There is no stretching or distortion. To translate the passage as in 2. is to render into English a perfectly normal usage from Greek. The sentence is ambiguous in Greek and requires consideration of both (1) and (2) to render that ambiguity. So much for the language.
    Therefore, first, we cannot say which books the writer refers to either from the meaning of the words of the passage, or from its context. We cannot, therefore, construct from this one use of the term ‘inspired’ a theory of the authority of the whole Bible. Second: the term is used only once, and the associations with the Greek culture render it unsuitable for use as the basis of a doctrinal theory. It is only as the concept of inspiration is duly qualified that it may be used as a theological principle. Even then it has serious limitations. This is because the Biblical materials are so diverse that we cannot impose one and only one model of inspiration on them.
    Even if it were the case that the Bible claimed that the Bible had authority, that the Bible was ‘inspired,’ holy, set apart, that would not prove that it was. We just cannot take as a general principle: What x, say a book, claims to be it is or, If someone makes a claim, that person is the something he claims to be.  That we must establish on other grounds. Not all those who claimed to be prophets inspired by God were prophets inspired by God. Several stories in the Old Testament make the point that other considerations than that a person makes a claim have to be carefully weighed before a decision is reasonably made about the claim.
    We mentioned the Greek concept of inspiration. The word theopneustia itself is not biblical. It is not found in the Septuagint but it is part of the religious vocabulary of Greece. Inspiration is a kind of possession. The state of mind is readily identified. It is a kind of madness, dementia, loss of wits and remembrance. The accompanying behaviour is unusual. The person has visions and utters words, is beyond consciousness and needs an interpreter to judge of their sanity and of the truth or falsity of the matter. When they speak they do not know what they say. ‘No man, when in his wits, attains prophetic truth and inspiration, but when he receives the inspired word, either his intelligence is enthralled in sleep, or he is demented by some distemper or possession.’ So it is necessary to ‘set up spokesmen to pronounce judgment on inspired divination.’
    Christian theology of revelation could be developed along such lines. Were that done, the unusual behaviour of the individual would then have to be explained. If one took the problem boldly in hand, the unusual phenomena accompanying the visitation might be taken as evidence that it was authentic. The physical or psychological state would then be interpreted as positive evidence of the divine activity. But that is the very thing in question. It is illogical, and so irrational to argue from an unusual psychological or physical state for support of the trustworthiness of the sayings delivered. Plato knew that. An interpreter or ‘spokesman’ (prophetes) was needed to assess the whole business.
    There were ecstatic ‘prophets’ in the Old Testament story, and they were considered to be mad. Their ecstasy was wild and contagious. It is as if something enters into a person from without and he becomes another person. Such is the literal meaning of ‘possession’ and ‘ecstasy.’ ‘The spirit of the Lord will come mightily upon you and you shall prophesy with them and be turned into another man.’ That was said of Saul. And when the ‘prophet’ comes with a notorious message to Jehu, his servants ask him, ‘Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?’
    But the Hebrew understanding of prophecy did not in the main develop along these lines, the lines of mantic possession. Nor did the Christian understanding. It could have done, and later to some extent it did. Philo the Jew spoke of the divine possessing the human and shaping words within the man. Many Jews treated their books as though they had been produced in this way. Some Christian writers use metaphors which suggest possession of the human by the divine. Athenagoras speaks of man as the flute and God as the flute player. The Holy Spirit is like a player blowing into the flute.
    There is no suggestion on the part of the New Testament writers that this was the way they thought about the matter. They do not think of possession, nor of a verbally inspired text, nor of inerrancy as Philo had done. That was left to much later Christian writers for whom inerrancy and verbal inspiration was crucial. But from the beginning that was not the case. The reason for this is that they do not think of the activity of the Holy Spirit in this way. The Holy Spirit is active in the many and varied activities which make up the whole of the church’s life and witness. The whole Christian movement is inspired. Without the Spirit there could be no witness, no love, no unity.
    The term used of ‘the writing’ in II Timothy 3:16, theopneustos, means literally ‘God-breathed.’ It is a combination of the words for ‘God’ and for ‘breath’, ‘breathing.’ The term ‘inspiration’ is a very free translation, and is thus inexact. As we have seen, the term, once used of the writings, calls on a whole range of meanings which are not suitable here.
    Nor does the text claim a great deal for the ‘inspired’ writings. They are ‘profitable for instruction and for edification.’ That does not particularly set them apart from many other writings. The later high sounding claims made in the name of inspiration have no basis whatever in the modest association of theopneustos with edifying.
    Writers up to and around AD 200 have various ways of describing what it is that makes New Testament Scripture different. The writings are sacred because they are inspired by the Holy Spirit. The terms used vary. The writers are pneumataphorioi ‘bearers,’ i.e. instruments, of the Spirit. Their minds are ‘flooded’ with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the source of inspiration is the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the writings reflect the authority of Christ. The writings are kuriakai graphai (the Lord’s writings). Christ speaks through the writings. Some speak of the inspiration as having to do with the very words, and of the Spirit as foreseeing what would happen, e.g. that heresies would arise, and speaking appropriately to the situation they foresee. Sometimes Scripture is said to be perfect and infallible. Scripture is holy.
    The term for ‘spirit’ in the Old Testament is ruach, in the New Testament pneuma. In both cases the term means ‘breath,’ ‘wind.’ Breath is air in motion, and without inbreathing air there can be no life. Breath is life-giving. Without breath there can be no speech. When the breath moves over the vocal cords and articulate sounds are produced, communication becomes possible. It is itself invisible but its results are quite visible and tangible. The term ruach is in the Old Testament books used of the life-giving power of Yahweh, and of the revelation he makes through the prophets to man. He breathes the ‘Spirit’ into the lifeless form and man becomes a living being. He sends his ‘Spirit’ and the prophet speaks the ‘word of the Lord.’
    Since the term ruach, spirit, is a way of speaking of God, the writers of the Old Testament recognize that God is in some sense present in the very process by which he comes to be revealed. God is in some way present in the events which make possible the speaking of the prophet.
    So the metaphor of inspiration, in-breathing, has connections with this process of revelation. The word of the Lord and the Spirit of the Lord are dynamically one. When ruach is used metaphorically, at its root is the idea of movement, creative and revealing movement. Breath is air in motion. So there are remarkable and sometimes devastating results. The wind moves mightily. Storms follow, and leave their trace. So it is with the Spirit of God.
    It is clear that the ruach has many different meanings, and can express in concrete terms, physical terms, a quite basic conviction of the Old Testament, namely that God is active in the midst of his people in many different ways. The idea of God’s spirit influencing persons and events through persons underwent change and refinement as time passed.
    The earlier prophets behaved in very strange ways. On those occasions when the ruach came upon them, entered into them, they were filled as the lungs are full of breath. So possessed, they did strange things. Then the spirit left them and they resumed their normal personalities and more normal activities.

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  • THE 'UNCHURCHED’:  A challenge for mainline Christianity

    by Rev. Dr. Robert R. LaRochelle

     
    UnchurchedCurrent data indicates that an increasing number of Americans identify themselves as ‘unchurched’. This includes not only those who, in their adult life, do not go to church, but also a great number who were not raised within a church tradition. While it seems to me that more conservative Christian churches have had considerable success attracting good numbers of these individuals, mainline churches, including those who identify as progressive, seem to lag behind. In my area of the country, this has certainly been my impression.
    In a brief article, I cannot delve into all of the reasons or potential strategies for changing this situation. In considering the issue, however, I would like to make these suggestions:

    1. That local churches rethink how we go about getting the word out about our churches. A church’s social media presence is important and cannot be underestimated.
    2. That we recognize the reality that many couples, heterosexual or homosexual, come from ‘ mixed’ religious backgrounds. This includes many individuals who did not have a ‘churched’ upbringing. Resources such as my book A Home United published by Energion may be helpful in encouraging dialogue among those couples, a dialogue that can be extended out to others.
    3. That churches renew their commitment to adult education, while looking for creative ways to do it effectively. Sitting back in the church building and waiting for people to come may have been a great strategy in the 1950’s, but not anymore. We have to look for viable ways to be present in our communities.
    4. That local churches not shy away from talking to people about the unique spiritual resources to be found in their denominational identity. To do so is not to deny ecumenism. As a matter of fact, in my book Crossing the Street, also published by Energion, I contend that we benefit from knowledge of and exposure to a variety of worship traditions, including musical ones. It is simply to say that it is good for a Presbyterian to talk positively about the values of that tradition in presenting a church as attractive to those who know little about it. I would also note that within denominations you will find a depth of theology and theological discussion that should not be bypassed in the quest for ecclesiastical relevance.

    Finally and, tying this all together, is my strong belief that churches have to get VERY INTENTIONAL about reaching out to the unchurched. My suggestion to the reader is that you do whatever you can to make this a real priority in your church. Do what you can to discuss and raise consciousness about this issue.
    I would appreciate your comments!
    Rev. Dr. Bob LaRochelle is Pastor at Christ the King Lutheran Church, Windsor, Connecticut
    Follow him on Twitter at @REVDRBOBL
    Follow Christ the King Lutheran @CTKWindsor
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  • Irenaeus, Human Perfection, and the Nature of the Universe

    by Allan R. Bevere

     
    IrenaeusHere someone may raise an objection. “Could not God have made humanity perfect from the beginning?” Yet one must know that all things are possible for God, who is always the same and uncreated. But created beings, and all who have their beginning of being in the course of time, are necessarily inferior to the one who created them. Things which have recently come into being cannot be eternal; and, not being eternal, they fall short of perfection for that very reason. And being newly created they are therefore childish and immature, and not yet fully prepared for an adult way of life. And so, just as a mother is able to offer food to an infant, but the infant is not yet able to receive food unsuited to its age. In the same way, God, for his part, could have offered perfection to humanity, but humanity was not capable of receiving it. –Irenaeus (second century AD).
     
    In this passage Bishop Irenaeus suggests that God did not create humanity in a state of perfection because perfection requires a maturing process. Irenaeus states that by necessity human beings have a beginning in time and, therefore, must be “inferior” to the one who created them. Humanity is not simply able to receive such perfection; it is something attained over time as one grows in love and grace. Such a lack of perfection is suggested in the Garden of Eden story where Adam and Eve are forbidden to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The fact that they lacked such knowledge prior to their disobedience meant they lacked perfection. As is clear from the narrative, the problem with the first couple was not their humanity, it was their disobedience. There is an immaturity, writes Irenaeus, that goes hand in hand with a lack of perfection. In the same way maturity and perfection are indispensably connected. Since maturity cannot be had instantaneously, neither can perfection. One moves toward it.
    While the going on to perfection theme is very familiar to Wesleyans, it nevertheless challenges us to reflect not only on our own lives and our relationship, our journey with Jesus Christ, but if Irenaeus is correct, it causes us to think about the very nature of the universe itself. John Polkinghorne, a theoretical physicist and Anglican priest, suggests in his book, Quarks, Chaos and Christianity that the universe itself has been created to “mature”, which means that creation is not static and complete, but rather that it is continuing even now, that God is still creating, or in theological terms re-creating. This should not surprise Christians who speak so freely about the human relationship with God as a journey, as one of growth. This is simply consistent with the very nature of the universe itself. Evolutionary theory is nothing more than God’s involvement with creation, creating and also allowing its contingencies to go where they may. God’s creation of human beings with a free will is simply consistent with the free process built into the fabric of the universe itself. God must act consistently.
    Thus, God is not a helpless spectator, nor is God the divine puppet master pulling the strings of a helpless and predetermined creation. Jesus went to the cross as one who chose freely to do so and as one who was fulfilling the will of his Father. The cross of Christ is the fullest expression of the nature of God and the nature of his relationship to humanity and the entire creation.
    As the universe expands outward and history moves forward, God journeys with us and the universe, leading and guiding and allowing. Our hope is not in the universe itself, nor in history, but in the eternal and perfect God who moves with us toward perfection.

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  • A Theological "Chicken or Egg"

    by Bob Cornwall

    SacramentsIn a previous posting I raised the question of what baptism might look like, or at least be understood, in the context of the practice of the Open Table. If all are invited to the Lord’s Table, where does that leave baptism? As I’ve noted in previous essays I am part of a Believer Baptism tradition. It is a position that I have come to embrace. I believe that it has a strong biblical foundation, but I understand that the infant baptism tradition has a long pedigree.
    I’m writing this essay on the afternoon of Pentecost Sunday. It is on the Day of Pentecost that the Spirit falls on the church leading to a display of the Spirit’s presence that leads to a sermon by Peter. People ask Peter about the steps needed to be taken to be saved, and Peter offers this formula – repentance, baptism, forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s a simple process that offers a strong foundation to the Christian experience. In Romans 6, Paul dives deeper into the meaning of baptism. He suggests that baptism connects us with Jesus. That is, we identify ourselves completely with Jesus’ own experience of death, burial, and resurrection. The actual process of immersion beautifully illustrates this act of identification. We experience and burial as we enter the water, and we experience Jesus’ resurrection as we come out of the water.
    As we consider the meaning of baptism in the 21st century, especially when it involves adults who have decided to become part of the Christian community, baptism serves as a sign of union with Christ.  Church of Christ theologian John Mark Hicks offers this vision that I think is helpful.

    Our union with Christ means that his experience becomes our own. We are not only baptized into his death, but die with him in that baptism as we are plunged into death itself. Our old humanity is crucified and buried with Christ just as Christ’s own Adamic humanity was crucified and buried. Jesus was raised as a new human, free from death itself. So, also, we are raised a new humanity free from the guilt and power of sin as well as from the dominion of death. Our union with the death of Christ is also our union with his resurrected life. We rise from the watery grave to live a new life. [Hicks, John Mark (2014-04-27). Enter the Water, Come to the Table (Kindle Locations 977-981). Abilene Christian University Press. Kindle Edition.]

    Union with Christ means that Jesus’ life experiences (including death, burial, and resurrection) become our own. With him we become a new person.
    Baptism, as I’ve noted before, has a variety of meanings and purposes, but ultimately it’s about union with Christ. Even becoming a church member through baptism involves in a sacramental way union with Christ. In baptism we become part of the Body of Christ. As Paul tells the Corinthians:
    For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we are all made to drink one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12-13).
    Baptism is more than a rite of passage or the necessary first step to taking communion. In this new day communion will often come before baptism. We do experience union with Christ at the Table, but in baptism we consciously seek to unite ourselves with Christ. The Table is the first step toward union, which takes place as we enter the water and then rise again with Christ.  Baptism allows us the opportunity to make this choice to fully identify with the one who died, was buried, and was raised by God so that we might taste the blessings of union with Christ.

    MarriageBob’s latest book is “Marriage in Interesting Times.” It can be reviewed here: http://www.bobcornwall.com/2016/05/marriage-in-interesting-times-another.html
    and ordered here: https://energiondirect.info/small-group-resources/marriage-in-interesting-times

  • Learning to Lament

    by Chris Surber

     
    GriefWe’ve forgotten how to grieve. In our efforts to sterilize and glamorize our lives we have ostracized anguish. It isn’t allowed in our smoke filled light show worship services because it’s frankly a downer. It’s not welcomed in our mass marketed DVD Bible Studies because it doesn’t draw crowds.
    Today we want to happy and in the process we’ve forgotten that God is usually found most easily in our pain. We usually move too quickly through pain and grief. We treat it like a hindrance to spiritual growth rather than the beautiful opportunity for spiritual growth that it is.
    In fact, grief is a necessary part of connecting human pain to divine healing and God’s purposes in it.  “Christians grieve, just like all other human beings.  But the major and all-important difference is that Christians grieve in hope.” (James R. White, Grieving: Our Path Back to Peace) We need to learn how to lament! That is, we must actively grieve before the Lord because it is a necessary part of the process of connecting personal pain to the divine plan and the will of God for us.
    When we suffer the loss of a loved one there is a natural reaction of sorrow and sadness along with the possibility of many other emotional responses. When we are personally attacked or slandered or when someone we love is the victim of violence or abuse it’s ok and even good to allow ourselves to suffer for a season. A lot of Christians today are trapped in unprocessed grief and pain because rather than finding God in their pain through active lament, they glossed over it to get “happy” again. Sometimes we need to weep.[ene_ptp] There is a great tradition of lament in the Scriptures.  Public and private cries of pain and sorrow abound in the Bible. In Psalm 56:8 the Psalmist writes, “Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll – are they not in your record?”  Lament is a normative part of the life of the child of God.  The local community of faith is called to be a community of healing.  The local church is more than merely a place for love to be shown.
    The calling of God on the people of God in community extends well beyond the borders of showering one another with the love of God. In his book, Being the Body, Charles Colson writes, “Fellowship is more than unconditional love that wraps its arms around someone who is hurting.  It is also tough love that holds one fast to the truth and pursuit of righteousness.”   The Church is a place of horizontal connection with one another in our grief and suffering, and vertical connection with God in all things. The fellowship of believers is not only a place for discussions of salvation and broad Bible doctrine—it is a place for lament.
    Lament is the uncommonly tapped resource of God’s people on the path of discipleship. Yet, it is a recurrent theme in the Bible. As evidenced by Scripture, lament is not simply a passive acceptance of the will of God or of the presence of pain in one’s life.  Rather, it is an active response to the external stimuli of pain and sorrow in direct connection with one’s faith in God.
    In other words, it is a natural part of the process of knowing God and following Christ. Contrary to the stoic or snide, happy attitudes found among so many people today, lament in times of trial and grief is common, almost assumed in the Scripture.
    Expressing our pain through prayers, cries, and groans of lament does not divorce us from God.  It is an integral part of honest dialogue with one’s creator.  The biblical genre of lament is abundant and rich, both theologically in the expression of the heart of God for those who suffer, and practically, giving insight and examples for those who suffer today.
    If you are in pain today, cry out to God in anguish! If you are sorrowful, groan with utterances only God can comprehend. My friend, don’t fall into the trap of much of modern church life that you have to be happy to know God. He is very often found in our pain, where He is there, offering healing and love.
     

    “A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you! Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call! For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh. I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink, because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down. My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass. But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.” (Psalm 102:1-12 ESV)

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  • Pathways to Prayer

    by David Moffett-Moore

     
    PrayerCharlie Brown’s  Snoopy likes to dance, chanting, “To dance is to live, to live is to dance!” and he makes a convincing case. He dances with vigor and abandonment. Snoopy throws his whole being into the dance; in return, the dance expresses all that Snoopy is and hopes for.  I like to dance, but I could never make a living at it!
    I suppose arguments could be made for other elements of life to be full expressions of life. I’ve heard the saying, “Some people eat to live, some live to eat.” Musicians focus the wholeness of their being on the song; athletes focus their energy and attention on the game. My wife Becki loves to garden. For a recent retreat, each person was to bring something that would identify the core of their being; Becki took her garden gloves.
    I want to make the argument that prayer can be the dance of our soul, the expression of our life, the wholeness of our being, the focus of our energy and attention, and identify the core of our being. We are born praying; the cry of the newborn is the cry of life. As it is more normal and natural for us to breathe than to not breathe, so it is more normal and natural for us to pray than to not pray. We may hold our breath for a time, but our bodies will soon return to breathing. We may hold our prayers for a time, but soon our spirits will return to their patterns of prayer. As the body must breathe, so the spirit must pray.
    We pray as infants, “I want. I hurt. I’m frightened.” We pray as children, “God bless mommy; God bless daddy.” We pray earnestly as youth, when we first realize our conscience, “I’m sorry.” Anne Lamont suggests three prayers that are most basic and universal, “Help, Thanks, Wow.”  Meister Eckhart claims, “If the only prayer you would say in your whole life is “Thanks,” that would be enough.” C.S. Lewis confesses, “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking or sleeping. I pray because it doesn’t change God, it changes me.”
    We can grow in prayer. We can become more mature, more familiar, more experienced, yet all this is a natural development of our native intuition to pray. Over the centuries countless books have been written on prayer, describing it, what it is and how it works, and offering helps for us to grow in our experience and understanding of prayer.  I have added my own humble supplement.
    My contribution to the Topical Line Drive series, entitled “Pathways to Prayer,” begins with this limitation to its intended scope, “This little volume is not a great treatise on the meaning and purpose of prayer, nor is it a scientific investigation on the function of prayer, nor a psychological examination of prayer’s impact on our lives. It is a simple little devotional intended to offer encouragement for those wanting to grow in their prayer lives, with some suggestions on how to do so. I pray that it may be helpful.”
    To one who was born to pray, from one who hungers to pray, I invite you to read it and join with me in the pilgrimage of prayer.
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  • Foot Washing and You (There is a connection)

    Foot Washing and You (There is a connection)

    by Bill Tuck

     
    FootwashingWhen I was pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, one of my church members told me that one of the most vivid memories that he had from his small rural church was the service of foot washing.  I don’t expect that there are too many of us who have actually participated in church foot washing services.  Some church traditions observe foot washing as an annual practice of their Maundy Thursday liturgy.  Monks in Benedictine Monasteries wash the feet of guests as a part of their hospitality.  But among many church groups today any talk about foot washing usually brings only snickers or sneers.
    John is the only gospel writer to record the foot-washing episode.  John seems to depict the setting of this story on the night before the Passover.  The other gospels set the Last Supper on the night of the Passover celebration itself.  John, however, shows Jesus being crucified on the Passover.  You can debate whose chronology is correct.  John’s purpose was to depict Jesus as the Paschal Lamb.  Raymond Brown, the noted New Testament scholar, observes that there is nothing in the Passover tradition that can be compared to foot washing. This episode then was simply an occurrence that arose out of the need at a particular moment.[ene_ptp] The traditional approach sees this story primarily as a sign of the humility of Jesus.  What was it that prompted Jesus to initiate this acted parable?  The attitude of the disciples as they approached this meal likely gives us a clue.  Many scholars feel that the disciples were probably debating who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom of God right before they came to the table.  The air may have been thick with hostility.  Angry thoughts were directed at the two disciples who thought they were going to be “big shots” in Jesus’ kingdom when he came into power.
    The assignment of who washed the feet of the other disciples was likely a duty at which they took turns.  No one disciple would have had it all the time.  Whoever’s turn it was this night ignored it.  As the disciples came in for the Passover meal, they reclined on cushions or on the floor beside the table.  Because of the heated debate about who was going to be first, no one was going to stoop to do a slave’s work of washing somebody else’s dirty feet.
    John said: “Jesus took a towel and a basin.”  The King James translation gives an incorrect image in its translation.  Jesus did not wait for the meal to be over before he got up.  Jesus got up and girded himself in the middle of the meal, as though he could stand it no longer.  Had he wondered why no one had accepted the customary duty of washing the feet of the disciples?  He could feel the tension among his disciples, so he stopped eating and took a towel and basin.  He might have taken a sword as a sign of religious power.  He might have taken gold as a sign of monetary power.  He might have taken the Torah as the sign of religious power.  He might have taken a crown as a sign of political power.  But he took a towel and basin—a sign of humility and service—and washed the feet of the disciples.
    Why did Jesus perform this humble act of a servant?  John tells us, “Because Jesus loved them to the limits.”  He loves the disciples to the “uttermost.”  Jesus loved all of the disciples.  Judas was not excluded.  John clearly indicates that Jesus knew that he was going to be betrayed by Judas.  Jesus washed the feet of all the disciples, including Judas.  Can you imagine Jesus tenderly washing Judas’ feet?  Did Jesus whisper to him, “You still have an opportunity to turn away from your act of betrayal?”  Up to the end Jesus tried to reach Judas. Were there still some words of love that were projected?  We do not know.  But the only defense Jesus used was love.  Even his touch, however, could not deter Judas.
    Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and this acted parable symbolized humility and service.  But this action was much more than that.  It was also a sign of cleansing.  When Jesus approached Peter, the “big fisherman” was filled with astonishment and shame because he had been unwilling to perform the fatigue duty of washing the feet of the other disciples.  “No, Lord,” Peter exclaims, “You can’t wash my feet.”  “If you do not allow me to wash your feet, you have no part of me.”  There have been those who have tried to interpret this statement as a reference to baptism.  But it seems to me that this action is a prophetic sign.  It points to the redemptive death of Christ.  John is seeking to tell his readers that this act of humiliation is the sign of the One who would wash and cleanse us all by his sacrificial death.  In one of our hymns we sometimes sing about “the fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins.”  We are cleansed as we are plunged beneath “the fountain filled with blood.”  Foot washing is a sign of the cleansing which Christ gives us through the power of his sacrifice and death.  I believe foot washing is much more than a symbol about baptism.  Our baptism is a sign of the greater cleansing—the cleansing that Jesus Christ brings through the essential washing of his death.  The first requirement of every disciple is self-surrender.  We must let Christ serve us—wash us—so we can be clean.
    John tells us that Jesus was conscious of who he was.  He laid aside his outer garments.  This action was symbolic of Jesus “laying down” his life.  “The laying aside of his outer garment” is symbolic of Jesus’ incarnation.  John states that Jesus knew that he had come from God and was going back to the Father.  He had laid aside his divinity and came into the world in human form.  Laying aside his divinity, Jesus came into the world and took the form of a servant.
    I believe that foot washing was also a sign of Jesus’ death which would bring redeeming grace to cleanse his followers.  Throughout a disciple’s life, he or she would need constantly to be cleansed again, because each one would sin again and again.  Having experienced the redeeming grace of Christ, we will need to return to Christ to ask him to forgive us again for our other sins.
    I think this story is also a sign of a way of life.  Jesus by taking a towel and a basin symbolized that his life and those who followed him were called to imitate the way of service.  “I have given you an example that you should do unto others as I have done unto you.”  Does that mean we are supposed to perform foot washing all the time?  No, that is not the primary message of this sign.  Jesus is our model—our pattern.  He has called us to a higher way.  We are to imitate Christ.  Foot washing is a sign of our call to serve and minister in Jesus’ name.
    In the Eastern Church there is a tradition for a Maundy Thursday liturgy which dates back to the fifth century.  The archbishop enters the cathedral on Maundy Thursday robed in all of his vestments, accompanied by twelve priests and the reader of the Gospel.  After the choir has sung the introits and collects, the celebrant removes his outer vestments and girds himself with a towel and pours water into a basin.  He begins to wash the feet of the priest who represents the disciples.  The priest who represents Judas eagerly sticks out his feet for Jesus to wash and kiss.  Then another priest who portrays Simon Peter is in tears and draws his feet back in reluctance.
    The service concludes with the recitation of the dialogue from John 13 and with the words, “Now you are clean but not all.”  The archbishop turns and points to Judas.  Edwyn Hoskyns, the Cambridge New Testament scholar, states that this ritual drama was not commemorated as an isolated incident in the life of Jesus nor was it merely an example of humility.  “It forms,” he believes, “part of the commemoration of the Passion and the liturgy is dominated by the thought of the Incarnation, the Death, and the Resurrection of the Son of God.”
    Jesus has called each of us to take a towel and basin and go into the world and serve in his name.  It may be that when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, that acted parable was a sign that they were being set apart as servants too.  “I have given you an example that you should do as I have done.”  You are being called to serve as I have been called to serve.  Some of the disciples died as martyrs.  Their call to service required some of them to lay down their life for Christ.
    In churches where the minister wears a robe and a stole, the stole is not worn merely as decoration.  The stole is a symbol of the towel.  It is a visible reminder of service.  Maybe it would be appropriate for an ordination service of a minister or a deacon to include a foot washing service.  The minister or deacon would actually wash the feet of others.  This would be a statement that the minister is being set apart not to be a big shot in the church but to be a servant.
    The Church of Jesus Christ, if it really models itself after him, will take the form of a servant.  Jesus said, “I came into the world not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give my life a ransom for many.”  “The greatest of all,” Jesus said, “is the servant of all.”  “If anyone would be first, he/she must be least of all.”  If his church is really authentic Church, it will model its life after our Lord who took the Suffering Servant as his image.  He was willing to lay down his life in sacrifice for us.  The Church is not to be served or to serve itself but to minister in the world in Jesus’ name.  Jesus calls us not to see whether we can be big shots but whether we can serve.
    Years ago when missionaries first went to China they asked a group of Chinese pastors what most impressed them and appealed to them about the teachings of Jesus when they first heard them.  None of them noted his miracles or the Sermon on the Mount.  One of them said quietly that the thing that most impressed them was the story about Jesus in the upper room washing the feet of his disciples. The sign of foot washing also calls us to practical service.  The Christian life is both prayer and worship, but it is also the bearing and lifting of burdens in the everyday world around us.  Let us take the towel and basin, and follow our Lord who served us supremely through his death and calls us to serve and live for him.
     

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