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Category: Books

  • Allan R. Bevere: Politics of Witness: Introduction

    by Dr. Allan R. Bevere, pastor, professor and author of The Politics of Witness: The Character of the Church in the World, Colossians and Philemon: A Participatory Study Guide, and The Character of our Discontent.
     
    For the next few Thursdays I will be publishing a series of posts on a subject that is very important to me– so important in fact that I wrote a small book on the subject — The Politics of Witness. The reasons for this series is the continued misunderstanding of my position and those of us who embrace what I also refer to as a robust political ecclesiology. My position does not promote withdrawal from the culture or nation state politics, nor does it embrace a very untenable personal/public dichotomy. The reasons for this continued misunderstanding are found in the very context I desire to critique. I will post more on this over the next few weeks.
    While the subject of the church’s witness has hardly been ignored, I overtly tie the church’s witness to politics and politics to ecclesiology. I ask the church to consider the recovery of a robust political ecclesiology that sees the very life and witness of the ecclesia as its politics, and that the primary and central political posture of the church toward the nations is not one of influence in the political chambers of Washington D.C., but by embodying in its collective life what God expects of the nations. The church can only reclaim its mission and prophetic witness in the world by embracing the politics of witness. I seek a way out of a status quo ecclesiology and a completely uninteresting understanding of nation state politics. I believe that God is looking for a remnant to faithfully embody the politics of witness to the nations. (Read more …)
     
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  • Bruce G. Epperly: Spiritual Transformation and Philippians

    by Dr. Bruce G. Epperly, pastor, professor, and author of Philippians: A Participatory Study Guide, FInding God in Suffering: A Journey with Job, Jonah: When God Changes, Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God and more!

    Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.                        – Philippians 4:4-9

    Recently, I coined the term “theospirituality” to describe the interplay of our theological visions and our spiritual practices. I believe that the apostle Paul is a master of theospirituality, especially in his Letter to the Philippians. He makes the following assertions in the course of the text:

    • God will bring the good work God has begun in our lives to fulfillment and it will be abundant. (1:3-11)
    • Christ’s mind dwells in us. (Philippians 2:5-11)
    • Christ’s mind is relational and affirmative, and grounded in love and not fear. (2:5-11)
    • Our salvation or wholeness is a matter of God’s grace and our agency. (2:12)
    • God is intimate. (4:5)
    • God empowers us to respond to every situation. “I can do all things.” (4:13)
    • God will provide for our every need. (4:19)

    Paul’s Philippian vision is grounded in his belief that God is with us, moving in our lives, providing us with wisdom and energy, and inviting us to be God’s partners in bringing beauty to the world.

    Paul also provides us with a way to experience his vision of reality that involves an integration of practice and action. As a matter of fact for Paul everything we do is a spiritual practice. Central to Paul’s spiritual formation is a life of constant prayer. For Paul prayer is a state of mind, transcending mere words. Pray about everything, small and large. Ask God for what you need and give thanks for your blessings. Don’t worry, but place everything in God’s hands. Make a commitment to live joyfully. This was good news in Philippi; it is good news today!
    Perhaps, more telling for our time is Paul’s counsel to “think about these things,” to live affirmatively rather than negatively. This is a challenge these days: we are constantly surrounded by negativity. Politicians bully, insult each other, and tell us to be very afraid. The 24/7 news cycle gives us language of doom and gloom, and imagines a dystopian future for all of us. Even weather reports on sunny days speak of news from the “storm desk” and see a drop of rain as a potential crisis.
    We can’t escape the realities of negativity, but we need not be ruled by them. In a world, shaped by negativity, Paul counsels us to live affirmatively, guarding our minds by positive thinking: “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable.” This is the power of affirmative faith that transforms our minds, and opens us to God’s presence in our lives.
    For Paul, the Christian life is joyful. But, joy is not an accident, but a matter of intentionality. God’s grace permeates all things, and we can, by our openness, awaken to that grace in every moment of our lives.


  • Bruce Epperly: Philippians and Facebook Etiquette for Christians

    by Dr. Bruce G. Epperly, pastor, professor and author of Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God, Finding God in Suffering: A Journey with Job, Transforming Acts: Acts of the Apostles as a 21st Century Gospel, Ruth and Esther: Women of Agency and Adventure, and more!
    A number of years ago, I wrote a piece in which I asserted that Facebook provides an opportunity for people to affirm the holiness of everyday. Now, in this election year, I have a different perspective. Yes, I still believe that Facebook reflects the moment by moment wonder of living and our gratitude for life itself in its quotidian activities. As such, Facebook can contribute to our spiritual growth and our empathy with others’ spiritual journeys. It can create community and renew friendships.
    But, Facebook has become over the past year a place of venom, insult, and impoliteness in which people regularly post responses with words they would never say in face to face encounters. In the past few months, I have had someone drop the F-bomb on my wall in response to my affirmation of President Obama and another person refer to me as ignorant when my position differed from his. I have found that you can even talk about the weather and receive a contrary response. I have been insulted by the left for being too moderate and the right for being too progressive. I have received disparaging remarks from Clinton, Sanders, and Trump supporters, all of whom have questioned my good faith. Moreover I see the commandment not to bear false witness routinely violated by persons who would otherwise claim to be honest followers of Jesus. Lies about political figures or distortions of facts are routinely posted by otherwise decent people, sometimes just a few minutes after leaving church.
    9781893729971mI believe that the words of Philippians 4:4-9 provide good counsel for Facebook users who claim to be followers of Jesus. First, Philippians counsels “let your gentleness be known to everyone.” This is surely good spiritual counsel for Facebook users: When you post, it is appropriate to answer a few fundamental questions: Does your post have an irenic spirit? Do you respond in terms of policy, beliefs, and issues, and not in terms of personality? Do you assume that your position is limited – that’s the reality of perspective and sin – and not absolutely right? Do your posts evidence respect for those with whom you dialogue, formerly known as the “loyal opposition.”
    Philippians tell us to be gentle even when you disagree. Are you adding joy to the world, as Paul counsels, or do your posts create alienation between people?
    Paul also says, “whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” In other words, live affirmatively and speak affirmatively. In the political realm, focus on the positives of your candidate’s position and not the negatives of the other candidate. Don’t post news items without checking for their accuracy. While I don’t post news items often, I always go to factcheck.org, polifact.com or snopes.com before posting something about whose veracity about I’m uncertain. While these sites aren’t perfect, they are generally free of bias and give positive and negative evaluations of both conservative and liberal candidates.
    Philippians reminds us to look for the best in others and try to understand contrasting positions before challenging them. Other persons may be just as sure of their position as you are sure of your own. Further, people of differing viewpoints also love their nation and seek the highest good for our country. Try to avoid name calling even if it is tempting to say “Lyin’ Donald Trump” or “Crooked Hillary Clinton.”
    Don’t claim expertise where you have none. I tend to use terms these days such as “I have a contrasting position” or “I believe otherwise” or “we will have to disagree on this” rather than any sort of invective. After all, I could be wrong and in the spirit of Niebuhr, I need to look for the truth in my neighbor’s falsehood and the falsehood in my own truth. All perspectives are limited, finite, and prone to self-interest. Moreover, sin infects even our highest motives.
    Finally, ask yourself the following questions before posting or responding: Is this true or accurate? Is it healing? Will it only add fuel to the fire of polarization? Does it glorify God and contribute to a “more perfect union”?
    We need to follow our better angels, as Lincoln counseled, and this applies to Facebook, the election, and every aspect of our lives. Above all, let us who claim to be Christians be persons who are instruments of peace, following the pathway of Jesus, and leaning not to our own perspective but following God’s greater vision, so that we might be healthy activists and hospitable in our disagreements, and claim our vocation as God’s healing partners in our troubled world.
     
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  • David Moffett-Moore: God of All Creation

    by Dr. David Moffett-Moore, pastor and author of The Jesus Manifesto: A Participatory Study Guide to the Sermon on the Mount, Pathways to Prayer, Wind and Whirlwind: Being a Pastor in a Storm of Change, and more!
     
    9781631990106mThe Psalmist writes, “O God, our God, how majestic is your name over all creation!” as book-ends for a psalm that beholds the wonders of the universe, the stars above and the flocks beneath, and in wonder and delight is moved to glorify God.
    My father was walking home from a Boy Scout meeting late one evening and, beholding the canopy of creation over his head, the heavens in all their glory, felt that oceanic oneness and described this experience as his call to professional ministry. Growing up in a Christian Scientist household, he had little experience of clergy yet this mystic encounter convinced him to become one.
    “Why not a scientist?” I asked him. “Why not an astronomer or astrophysicist and study those stars in the midnight sky?” But it was not that kind of reasonable, rational experience; it was more experiential than intellectual. He felt called, compelled to a spiritual pursuit based upon this physical, tangible experience.
    I think modern science is, or at least can be, a divine revelation and an opportunity to experience the divine in contemporary ways. God may be encountered in telescope or microscope, in petri dish or specimen slide as readily as in any sacred text, any holy canon.
    One of the biblical images of God and nature is that all the universe is but the garb that God wears, worn not to conceal but to reveal God’s divine presence in, with and through all of God’s creation. In my studies of Celtic spirituality I am reminded that the Christian Celts regarded the created order as God’s first revelation and any text on a page or written manuscript as a secondary revelation. Even according to those written words, God’s first spoken words were “Let there be!” and there was, as God in Genesis speaks creation into being.
    In my book Creation in Contemporary Experience I include introductory chapters on scripture and doctrine, but the meat of the book is in modern science as contemporary revelations and experiences of the divine. Evolutionary biology and morphic field theory, the big bang as God’s “Let there be,” quantum mechanics as the dance of the cosmos, chaos theory as allowing free will, Christ as an event of spiritual singularity.
    I believe that the God who loves us, forms us, frees us and fills us, desires to be known and experienced by us, wants to be at one with us in our atonement, and therefore continues to reveal God’s presence, purpose and promise to us through our study of all creation, from quarks to quasars, from electron probability fields to black holes. I believe that scientists of all stripes can join with mystics and theologians, declaring “O God, our God, how majestic is your name in all creation!”
     
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  • David Alan Black: A New School Year and a Favorite Book

    from David Alan Black‘s blogsite, jesusparadigm.com.
    Book Cover EnglishI’m really looking forward to a fun and exciting fall semester, not least because I’m teaching NT Intro again for the first time in several years. The course covers Acts – Revelation, which means that, if I time things just right, the semester will end before I have to discuss the Apocalypse (wink, wink)! Let me tell you how we’re beginning the class. Day One consists of students reading the book of Acts and then also reading my Seven Marks of a New Testament Church – which, I would remind you, is nothing but an exegesis of Acts 2:37-47, eleven of the most action-packed verses in the entire New Testament. Students will then produce a “reaction paper” to what they have read and I’ll ask for a few volunteers to share with the rest of us what they learned. Thus, from the very first day of class, we’ll be asking ourselves the question: “What does an obedient church look like?” Christian discipleship means placing ourselves under orders. It’s not merely a psychological experiment in self-improvement (along with watching our weight and catching up on our Honey-Do lists). As disciples, we are not on our own. The goal is not self-actualization but obedience to the instructions of the church’s Head and only Boss. (Read more … )

  • Thomas Hudgins: On Being Filled with the Spirit

    What do you think it means to be filled with the Spirit? Thomas Hudgins suggests just continuing to read Ephesians 5:18-21 to discover what will happen when we’re filled with the Spirit (audio only).
     

    Aprenda a leer el Griego del Nuevo TestamentoThomas Hudgins led the team that translated Aprenda a Leer el Griego del Nuevo Testamento (David Alan Black, author). He is under contract writing a volume in our Topical Line Drives series on understanding textual criticism. He blogs at Jesus + Nothing = Everything  and Across the Atlantic.

  • Sin that Entangles (Hebrews 12:1)

    forgiveness cover 600pxLast night I had the privilege of chatting with Harvey Brown, Jr., author of the book Forgiveness: Finding Freedom from Your Past in the Topical Line Drives series.
    One of the key lines, which I paraphrase, was when Harvey said that if a pastor truly preached grace and forgiveness every week from the pulpit he would be called a heretic.
    I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
     

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  • Tabitha Edwards-Walton: Letter from Heaven, "I love you, Mom!"

    Poetic Life Front Coverby Tabitha Edwards-Walton, author of Poetic Life Experiences and Poetic Diversities
    Note: This is a new poem from Tabitha, not found in her two previous books.
     
    Mom, I hope by now you understand,
    That it’s Okay, I am in the Promised Land.
    He told me that one day I would Fly Away.
    My father said, “I am coming for you one day.”
     
    He said, “Fly with me, my Child.” I said, “Father, I am ready!”
    He did not take my life; He gave me eternity.
    I am with our Heavenly Father,
    Where I can play and hold the hand of your mother.
     
    Mom, there are so many flowers! I will save the prettiest one for you!
    You have to wait, because it is not your time though; you still have more to do.
    When it is your time, I will run to you with all of my charms.
    I will receive you with smiles and open arms.
     
    I will watch over you as you have always done for me.
    I am your protector; now you see.
    Father said, I did a good job by helping so many.
    Love always, your Buddy
     
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  • Tuesday Night Hangout: Marriage in Interesting Times

    This past Tuesday night (July 19, 2016), Energion owner Henry Neufeld interviewed Dr. Bob Cornwall about his new book Marriage in Interesting TImes: A Participatory Study Guide. One of the key questions is just what is a biblical marriage and how does one go about studying the biblical view(s) on marriage and applying principles to our lives in the 21st century.
    Free evaluation copies of Bob’s study guide are available to people who are considering using it in a small group or classroom study. Find more information and a form to request a free evaluation copy on this page.
    9781631992278m

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  • Divisiveness and Disciples

    By Rev. Dr. Robert R. LaRochelle
    X:/Energion Publications/Bob LaRochelle/9781938434013-cov.slaAnyone who has been following the 2016 Presidential campaign, even on the most elementary level, has been exposed to what can be politely described as a high level of nastiness. For a variety of reasons, the animosity involved in our political discourse has intensified over these past few years and, in my view, has reached, if not an all-time low, definitely a modern one. Name calling, derisiveness toward opponents, supporters of one candidate screaming at and engaging in fisticuffs with supporters of another, have become part and parcel of our current political situation. I also have to say that if one need not be a liberal Democrat to express profound moral concern about the way the presumptive Republican nominee has treated his opponents in this campaign and has created a climate whereby divisive and racist language has become acceptable and even normative to many, including our young.
    Even in writing this, my concern right now is that because I have pointed out my concerns about the way in which a particular candidate has campaigned, as a result, many people reading this will be immediately turned off and dismiss my comments because of what they may assume would be my political leanings, an assumption, I would suggest, that one could not necessarily glean from my comments above. After all, notable Republicans such as John Kasich and Jeb Bush as well as his brother, the former President, and the 2012 GOP nominee, Mitt Romney, (and many more) have expressed the same concerns.
    Here is my issue:  Those of us who profess that we are seeking to be followers of Jesus are disciples of the One who teaches us this about God: God is compassionate, loving, forgiving and engaged in drawing us human beings into a recognition of the inherent value of one another. Jesus was one who broke barriers, who really sought to tear down walls between people who had been divided from one another- Jew and Samaritan, man and woman, righteous from unrighteous. Jesus’ prayer as He approached imminent death was ‘ That they may all be one‘. It is this sense of oneness–  the inherent unity of all that God has created, which is a fundamental tenet of Christian understanding.
    Quite honestly, this approach toward life is antithetical to much of the tone of this campaign. Sadly, the tone of the campaign has made it easier for so many, including our young, to be nasty, prejudicial and downright mean, derisive toward others who are perceived as ‘ Other.’ One would like to think that with all of the horrific examples we know of in the history of the world, we as a society would be well beyond this. Yet, we are not, and instead are at a very perilous point.
    Yet, as always, the message of Jesus presents us with a necessary corrective and with a vision of God that has significant practical implications in our daily lives.

    In a world which needs the bold proclamation of an inclusive Gospel vision of justice, peace and hospitality, it is important that Catholics and Protestants work together both to understand the ‘ecumenical center’ they share and to live out its implications as Christian witness to the bigger and wider world. In doing so, those in this ecumenical center are poised to provide the kind of Christian witness which stands as a necessary corrective to those who have portrayed Christian faith as antithetical to science, reason, and to the bold proclamation that the grace of God is meant for ALL! (Crossing the Street, 193)

    Divisiveness has been too dominant a force in the history of the world and, sadly, within the Christian church. It is the unnecessary tension caused by religious differences among people who love each other, spouses, parents and children, brothers and sisters, and long-term friends that motivated me to try to help people find positive ways of communicating about their religious differences.

    When I speak of a home united, yes, I am speaking as a Christian, but I am also speaking in a pluralistic world wherein organized religion has often contributed to the very opposite of unity and love. I am asking you, the reader, to live lives of love with those to whom you are committed. I am saying this with the conviction I find in my Scripture that, in the very act of real love, the love I profess was made incarnate in Jesus, in that very act of loving those whom we can see, we are loving the God we think we can’t! (A Home United, 65)

    What is it going to take to move beyond this sad and absurd current climate?  It seems to me that you will find people of faith who affiliate as Democrats, Republicans and Independents.  It would be nice if those of us whose faith serves as the underpinning and foundation of our lives could allow it to motivate our political discourse. And, while I have pretty strong opinions about a lot of political issues, I will also affirm with that great bumper sticker distributed by Sojourners that “God is NOT a Republican…or a Democrat.” God is God … the source of unity, love and compassion. Created in God’s image, may we strive to be so as well!!!

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