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Category: Discipleship

  • Bruce G. Epperly: More on Philippians and Spiritual Transformation

    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 (NRSV)

    9781893729971mRecently, 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 is 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.
     
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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.


  • William Powell Tuck: How Do I Love my Enemy?

    by Dr. William Powell Tuck, friarsfragment.com, retired pastor, professor and author of A Positive Word for Christian Lamenting, The Church Under the Cross, Overcoming Sermon Block, and more!
    Dr TuckJesus’ words in Matthew 5:43-44 that we are to love our enemies seems not only difficult but, if we are honest, impossible to put into practice. How, for example, do persons who were freed from years of being imprisoned by terrorists, forgive their enemies? How do relatives, who stand before the Viet Nam Memorial in Washington, D.C., love the enemies who killed their relatives and friends? How do the millions of Jews who saw their husbands, wives, children or parents gassed, victimized and tortured in Nazi concentration camps, forgive them? How do the Japanese, who lived in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, forgive us for dropping the bomb on them? How do the relatives of those who were killed in the twin towers which collapsed from the crashed planes of the 9/11 attacks forgive those who were responsible for such an act?

    A Difficult Saying

    “Forgive your enemies,” sounded difficult in the day when Jesus first uttered it. He was addressing a people who were at that moment enslaved by the Romans. The tax collectors, their fellow Jews, were working with the Roman government to collect taxes from them. Jewish religious leaders often set up restrictions of the law which were so binding that no person who had any kind of ordinary job could possibly follow their rigid regulations.

    Who are Our Enemies?

    Enemies are easy to define in wartime. Let’s put wartime, terrorists, murderers, and rapists aside for a moment and bring our enemies closer to home. Who is our enemy? Our enemy is anybody who hates us or who wishes us harm or injury through word or deed. An enemy comes closer and takes on a familiar face when you see your enemy as someone who may cause you difficulty and turmoil in your job or makes your work miserable. Our enemy may be seen as someone who has caused us to go bankrupt, or smeared your name or hurt your reputation through gossip or slander, or anyone who has told a half-truth about you or sought to cause you harm. Or some one who makes fun of you, puts you down, or ridicules you. An enemy may be someone who has closed the door of communication, or some one who responds differently to you because she has misunderstood or misinterpreted something you said or did. All of us feel we experience some kind of enemy.

    Why Should I Love My Enemy?

    The more basic question seems to be: Why should I love my enemy? Why should we try to love somebody who wants to hurt us, hates us or cause us harm? If you respond to a person who dislikes you or hates you with the same attitude they are directing toward you, you will soon find that your life is poisoned within. Hatred is a self-destructive attitude. Jesus went so far as to say that the wells of anger and lust within determine our outward behavior.
    We need to make a distinction between hating things and hating people. We tend to identify a person with the vicious, destructive or harmful behavior which he or she does. It is easy to hate a murderer, rapist, or terrorist. Instead let’s direct our indignation to the root cause behind the evil and not on the person who is committing the act of evil. We need to love the person and hate the evil. We need to overcome war, prostitution, prejudice, drugs and other enemies, but not by hating the persons involved in them.
    Why should we love our enemy? We love our enemy because love is the only power which can change our enemy. Jesus was not interested in condemning a person but in saving them, making them whole. No prostitute was ever changed by treating her as a prostitute. No thief was ever changed by treating him as a thief. An enemy is not changed by treating him as an enemy. Love is the power which can convert an enemy into a friend. Why do we want to love? Because it is only in forgiving others that we are really forgiven ourselves. This is what Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” If you and I refuse to forgive others, we close the door to our own forgiveness by God.

    Loving Does Not Mean We Have to Like Our Enemy

    We begin to love our enemy by realizing that we don’t always have to like our enemy. There are things that our enemies do that we will never like. Who can like somebody that murders and rapes, robs and kills, or somebody who hurts us with words, or who victimizes us, or who is prejudiced against us? It is difficult to like these people. But we are told not to like them but to love them.
    The word agape is different from a sentimental concept of love. Agape means that you deliberately direct your will to accomplish what is best for your enemies. This kind of love is not based on emotion or sentiment. When I loved my children by directing my will to recognize and motivate the best within them, there were times that I had to deny them what they wanted. At times I had to discipline them or put restraints on what they wanted to do. I had to correct or try to modify their behavior. I may not have liked what they did, but I continued to love my children. I also continue to love myself when I do some things that I don’t like. Real love does not say that it doesn’t make any difference what a person does. By an effort of my will–by loving them–I try to bring about change in their lives.

    Don’t Identify a Person with his or her Sin

    Another way to love my enemy is by not identifying the person with their sins. I make a distinction between my real self and what I do. I need to do the same for others. I have to see the potential within others. If I refuse, I will never give another a chance to change. Jesus looked at people and saw what they could be through grace and forgiveness. He saw Zacchaeus, a tax collector, who was one of the most despised persons of his day. Yet he saw the difference that could be in his life if he would follow him and change his life. He saw within the life of Mary Magdalene, a prostitute and an outcast of society, what she could become through transforming love. He saw within Saul, who was persecuting and executing Christians, a pioneering missionary.
    This is what God does for us. We can learn to forgive our enemies when we begin to realize how often people do not really understand their own actions. Jesus prayed on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The influence of friends, relatives, peer groups, community, social or national pressures, gangs or other pressures cause us to act the way we do. Sometimes, we do not really “know what we do.” But thank God we can break free from packs and their pressure and experience forgiveness and have the opportunity to start again.
    This Radical Forgiveness Identifies Us with God
    Jesus told his disciples that if they learn to forgive their enemies they would be children of the most high (Luke 6:35). This kind of love reveals that we are like our Father. Even if we are like the prodigal son and go into the farthest country of sin, God will still forgive us when we say: “Father, I have sinned.” Out of love God extends grace that issues in our forgiveness.

    This Is a Demanding Love

    This kind of love is not easy. Its claim on our lives and attitude is demanding. The love that Jesus Christ models for us goes beyond anything many we can imagine. This love demands the forgiveness of others, the unwillingness to cling to grudges or harbor hatreds, and the goal of being “perfect” like God. Christ calls us to be unselfish, caring, patient, understanding, loving, and sacrificial. Jesus didn’t say his way was easy. Loving our enemies is difficult and hard to accept. But it is at the heart of our faith. This teaching makes us realize how far we are from following our Lord’s way.
     
     
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  • Doris H. Murdoch: The Mount of Temptation

    by Doris H. Murdoch, teacher and author of Testify: By the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of our Testimony and Constructing Your Testimony
    city-of-palmsWe read about the Mount of Temptation in the books of Matthew (4:1-11), Mark (1:12-13), and Luke (4:1-13). After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the Judean desert wilderness to be tempted by the devil. It is believed that Jesus fasted for forty days in a cave on the Mount of Temptation, also called Mount Quarantal. The Mount of Temptation overlooks the oldest city in the world (10,000 years), the lowest point in the world (1300 feet below sea level), and the city of palms, the city of Jericho. Jericho is located in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley. The summit of the Mount of Temptation is seven miles northwest of Jericho. From the summit, one has a panoramic view of the Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley and the mountains of Moab and Gilead. The Jesus Cave, the place of fasting and meditation, is located within the parameters of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Temptation, which is about halfway up the mountain. At one time, the only way up the mountain was via a walking path, but today the monastery and Jesus Cave can be reached via a cable car.
    After forty days of fasting, Jesus was hungry. The Bible tells us that the tempter or devil came to Jesus and said, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Jesus responds with, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’ ” (Deuteronomy 8:3) Jesus was human like us; He hungered after forty days of fasting. Man’s body must be replenished after fasting. Jesus, unlike humans, was sinless; He faced temptation and did not give in. When faced with temptation, do you find strength in Jesus and the Word of God? Do you try not to give in or be disobedient of God and His commands? Are you striving to be Christ-like?
    jericho-poolIn the second temptation, the devil took Jesus to the Holy City of Jerusalem an-d had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple. The devil said, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’ and ‘On their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ” (Psalm 91:11-12) Jesus responds with, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’ ” (Deuteronomy 6:16) Here the devil tempts Jesus with possessions, power and pride. We all like sporty cars or trucks, stylish clothing, beautiful homes, new technological gadgets, and the material world goes on and on! For a wealthy person or a person with leadership skills or gifts, it is a very strong temptation to get caught up in the devil’s schemes of power and possessions. Do you struggle to be strong in the Lord and allow Him to guide your acquisitions? Do you seek God’s will in how these things are used? Ask yourself, “Am I using these things to serve and glorify God?”
    Lastly, the devil takes Jesus to another mountain and said, “All these things (kingdoms of the world) I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Jesus responds with, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’ ” (Deuteronomy 6:13, 10:20) The devil left Jesus and the angels came to Jesus and ministered to Him. Here, we see Jesus tempted by the devil, promising Jesus the world that was not even within his power. The devil was trying to distort the worldview for Jesus with world control that was not focused on God’s plan for mankind. Jesus kept His focus on God’s purpose for coming to earth as a man. He knew He was here to accomplish the journey to the cross. He was here “for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
    As you recall, Eve was tempted by the devil, a real, fallen angel! The devil was thrown from Heaven because of his desires for power and his pride in that he was as great as God. Satan, the devil, is always around when there are people trying to follow and obey God. Just think, if Jesus would have given in to the devil, he would have failed in His assigned mission on earth, to die on the cross for our sins and to give us the opportunity to have eternal life. If the devil seems to be very active in your life, he may be trying to block God’s purposes for you and others around you. Daily, hour by hour, minute by minute, put your eyes on Jesus. Keep your focus on the journey that God has planned for you and allow God’s will to become your will. Is your victory in Jesus?
     
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  • Ron Higdon: The Challenge of Change

    by Ronald Higdon, retired pastor (including intentional interim ministry), adjunct professor, and author of In Changing Times: A Guide for Reflection and Conversation and Surviving a Son’s Suicide
    in-changing-times-coverA reporter was interviewing an elderly Kentucky farmer and posed an obvious-answer question: “You’ve been farming for over sixty-five years; I bet you’ve seen a lot of changes in that period of time, haven’t you?” The farmer replied, “I certainly have. And I’ve been against every one of them.”
    This is not unlike the song sung by Groucho in an old Marx Brothers movie that has this recurring line: “I’m against it!” This is the theme song of many who see change as only danger and threat. I often quip that I have pastored some churches with the unstated but obvious philosophy: “Come weal or come woe, our status is quo.”
    The above examples keep one in the negative and “kickative” mode because change is the one constant in life that can always be counted on. It is one of the great inevitables written large in the universe. Only of God’s consistency in his grace, mercy, and love can it be said: “As it was in the beginning, so it is now, and so shall it ever be, world without end.”
    A friend was recently talking about some changes that are about to be made in the church of which we are members. Her comment was: “Nothing in my world has remained the same. It seems that everything I have loved and cherished is no more. I guess I had always assumed that at least I could count on my church remaining the same.”
    Books have been written on the impact of the not only increasing amount of change in our world but of the rapidity with which it has come. I told my friend who was lamenting the changes in her life, even in the church, that each day when I get up I look out the window to make certain I’m not living on another planet. Many have brought to our attention our basic dilemma: those of my generation were educated to live in another time and now we find ourselves living in this time. My seminary education was excellent but it certainly did not prepare me for ministry in the church-world of today.
    The reference has been lost but not the story of the Bishop who was meeting with a group of pastors and began his session with the announcement that he had good news and bad news for them. He asked them which they wanted first. After a brief pause, one of the pastors spoke up: “Give us the bad news first.” “It is more difficult to be in pastoral ministry today than in any other time I have known.” After a brief period of silence and heads nodding in approval, the request came: “What is the good news?” The Bishop smiled and confidently announced, “If the fifties ever come back, we’re ready!”
    The impossibility of this kind of “back to the future” does not have to be spelled out even though the attempt to live it out remains in evidence. We shouldn’t have to be told, “There are no trains to yesterday.” We know the intellectual truth of this, even though some continue to wait at the Nostalgia Station for the Express to the past. It’s not coming.
    The time is now. It is not the same as it was in the past and, when the future arrives it will be different than what we are experiencing but, of course, will not be called the future but the present, the now. This is the only time zone in which we can live and in this “new time” in order to live with purpose and hope I believe, that basically, we have to see the changes in our lives as challenges and opportunities.
    In 1980, William Bridges wrote a book titled Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes. He offered what I believe continues to be solid advice: “Whether your chose your change or not, there are unlived potentialities within you, interests and talents that you have not yet explored. Transitions clear the ground for new growth. They drop the curtain so the stage can be set for a new scene. What is it, at this point in your life, that is waiting quietly backstage for an entrance cue?” The challenge in this he spells out in one sentence: “To have a new beginning you need to acknowledge an ending.”
    Why is it so difficult for us to acknowledge that some things are simply over? Endings are usually never swift or easy and are hardly ever complete. I maintain that successful beginnings always depend on reasonably successful endings. The grief process in mourning our losses plays a large part in successful endings and varies greatly with the nature of the loss (ending) and the way we have dealt with previous losses.
    It is not always easy to view change as a time of transition and the opportunity for a new beginning. But that is what it is – if we are determined to be truly alive in the moment in which we are living. Just because something is difficult (and what worthwhile thing isn’t?) doesn’t mean it is not meant to be a part of our learning and growing in God’s world for this time. Who knows what fresh beginnings await us? A lot depends on how we handle the changes that will only keep coming.
     
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  • 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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  • Doris H. Murdoch: The Wailing Wall

    by Doris Horton Murdoch, author of Testify: By the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of our Testimony and Constructing Your Testimony

    The Purification Font at the Western Wall, Wailing Wall, The HaKotel HaMa’Aravi

    I wash my hands in innocence, and go around your altar, O LORD. – Psalm 26:6 (NRSV)
    Wailing wall largeThe Western Wall lies within the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Jews and Christians from all over the world come here to pray. One might view individuals at or near the Wall participating in numerous tasks as they stand before God: purifying through handwashing; preparing their minds for prayer through blessings and positions; reverently touching the Wall structure; bowing on bended knee; wailing or crying; praying; kissing the stonework; writing prayers and stuffing the folded prayers in the deep crevices of the stones; or reading from the Torah, the Jewish Old Testament. These behaviors date back as far as 30 B.C.E. and reaffirm the relationship and respect one has for G-d.
    In II Corinithians 7:1, Paul reminds believers of the daily spiritual cleansing that one is obligated to in awe of God and in thankfulness for the promise of forgiveness of sins, salvation through Jesus Christ and eternal life. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God. Jewish tradition requires purifying oneself before approaching the Western Wall. As one approaches the Western Wall plaza, most individuals will take note of the purification or handwashing stations. As I enthusiastically approached the Western Wall with the rain pouring down over my cloaked body, I failed to take note of the purification stations. I stood in line to approach the Wall and, in my turn, touched the Wall and offered my prayer to God. As I turned around, back to the Wall, I noticed the purification or handwashing fonts. They were white and gold ornate basins with four faucets and doubled-handed cups or vessels available for use in the handwashing ritual, I immediately felt guilty that I had not purified my hands before approaching the Wall. This purification brings one to innocency before God (Psalm 26:6) As one of the most sacred places for Jews, I wanted to honor tradition. As a Christian, I am adopted into God’s family that begins with Jewish tradition through Jesus Christ, our Jewish Savior.
    Purification font closeupI photographed the font and promised myself that I would do further research on the purification font. Then if I ever had the opportunity to go back to Jerusalem, I would be on purifying myself before approaching the Wall for prayer. After researching and learning more about the handwashing ritual, I feel relieved that I had not washed my hands at the washing station because I would have dishonored Jewish tradition by doing this incorrectly. (I learned I had already dishonored tradition by turning my back to the Wall after praying and then carrying on a big discussion with fellow members of the tour group.)
    According to tradition, one fills the 2-handled cup or vessel with water (Males must have their heads covered.). After this, both hands are removed from the cup. Then take the cup in your right hand or dominant hand, and transfer to the other hand, most often the left hand. Pour the water one time over the right hand being sure to wash to the wrist with fingers apart so that all of the hand is cleansed or purified. Transfer the cup to the right hand and pour over the left hand. The cup goes back to the left hand by moving from handle to handle of the vessel washing the right hand. Then transfer back to the right hand and wash the left hand. The process is complete after three washings of both hands. During all of this washing, one is preparing his heart for praying to God by meditating on the words of the handwashing blessing that will be stated at the end of the cleansing process. Washing complete, the individual shakes the excess water from the hands. He then raises his hands to the level of his eyes (Psalm 134:2: Lift up your hands to the holy place, and bless the Lord.) and looks at his hands and says the handwashing blessing:

    Blessed are You Lord, Our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us regarding the washing of the hands.

    He then dries his hands and leaves the empty cup upside down at the station (One never leaves water in the vessel.). The towel should also be disposed of as it holds impurities transferred from the hands to the towel.
    I also learned that I should have backed away from the Wall, for turning your back to the Wall is disrespectful. Other ways of being respectful include: honoring the separation of men and women at the wall (Stay within your section!); turning off cell phones; showing quiet reverence (No conversations with others!); no photography of the Wall on the Sabbath, Friday PM – Saturday PM; and lastly, as mentioned earlier, men should have their heads covered with a yarmulke, sunhat or cap. If I ever have the opportunity to visit the wall again, I think I can be a more respectful visitor to one of the most holy places on earth.
     
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  • David Alan Black: A Mountain to Climb

    by Dr. David Alan Black, author of The Jesus Paradigm, Why Four Gospels?, Seven Marks of a New Testament Church: A Guide for Christians of All Ages (available in Simplified Mandarin) and more! Dr. Black also blogs at daveblackonline.com/blog.htm
    Becky Black Memorial Fund signI came to Zermatt in search of a summit or two — and, like Terry Fox, the Canadian who ran thousands of miles on one leg to raise money for cancer research, I wanted to give a nod to the Becky Black Memorial Fund, which I started a few weeks ago. (To date, 650 million Canadian dollars have been raised in Terry’s name. I’m trying to raise $25,000.) I decided I’d display a banner with Becky’s name on it every time I summited one of Zermatt’s peaks. You ask, “Weren’t you even a little bit afraid?” Oh yeah. For the first hundred yards or so I always had butterflies in my stomach. But as Helen Keller once said, “It’s okay to have butterflies in your stomach. Just get them to fly in formation.” (A heartfelt thanks, by the way, to everyone like Helen Keller who has been an inspiration to me.) To climb my first 4,000-meter peak (that is, anything over 13,123 feet), I drew on less than a year of experience climbing the hills of Virginia and North Carolina. After a lot of looking back at the past year, I asked myself a big question: “Are you really up to it?” Charles Dickens once said that it was focus that made him such an accomplished writer. “I could never have done what I have done,” he said, “without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.” Coming to Zermatt I think was the Lord’s way of saying to me, “Dave, I want you to concentrate yourself one more time.”    (Read more)

  • William Powell Tuck: There Are Many Lessons from Failure

    9781631992209by Dr. William P. Tuck, author of The Church Under the Cross, The Journey to the Undiscovered Country, Overcoming Sermon Block: The Preacher’s Workshop, The Last Words from the Cross, Holidays, Holy Days and Special Days: Preaching Through the Year and more! His blogsite is: friarsfragment.com

    Many people in life have experienced failure. Moses wanted to go into the Promised Land. He had led the Children of Israel for forty years to the Promised Land. God did not permit him to enter that land himself. He caught a vision of it from Mount Pisgah. David longed to build a temple for God. Because of his sin, he was not permitted to do that. But he still has influenced many through his leadership as king in Israel and through his many psalms. Jeremiah wrote about his own sense of failure. He had preached for thirty-eight years that the end was coming for the nation of Israel, but it did not. He experienced only rejection from the people. He felt that he was a failure. But history proved him correct in his prophecy.

    Adoniram Judson wanted to go as a missionary to India with the gospel of Christ, but that door was closed and he turned to Burma. Caruso was told by a music teacher that he had no real potential as a singer. He didn’t listen to that word of failure but went on to be one of the greatest singers of all time. Einstein failed physics. Walter Scott tried to write poetry, but was unable to compose very good poems. Later he wrote novels and became one of the outstanding writers of all times. Georgia Harkness wanted to be a missionary but that door was closed. She went on in her education and got a Ph.D. from Boston University and later became the first woman to be a professor in a theological seminary and to be admitted as a member of the American Theological Society. Helen Montgomery was discouraged from translating the New Testament because she was a woman. But she finished her translation and it was widely praised and accepted.

    Lloyd Douglas was a minister in California and resigned his church with a sense of failure as pastor. At the urging of his brother in law, who reminded him that he had always wanted to write a novel, he began to write. His first novel was the famous Magnificent Obsession. Edison wanted to be a newspaperman, but he spilled acid on the papers and was fired. Later when he was working in his lab and had failed eleven hundred times with various experiments, somebody asked Edison: “Doesn’t that mean that you have failed?” “No,” he responded. “It just means I know eleven hundred things that don’t work!” Charlotte Elliot was ill and suffered greatly but wrote over one hundred hymns.

    Many persons have failed in their original goals. Few reach everything they aim for the first time. R. H. Macy failed seven times before his store caught on in New York City. Whistler, the artist, wanted to be a soldier but failed his chemistry exams at West Point. John Creasy, an English novelist, received seven hundred fifty-three rejection slips before the first of his five hundred and sixty-four novels was published. Babe Ruth struck out thirteen hundred and thirty times. But he also hit seven hundred and fourteen home runs.

    Charles Kettering of General Motors, one of this century’s great creative minds, once wrote these words about the value of learning to fail:

    An inventor is simply a person who doesn’t take his education too seriously. You see, from the time a person is six years old until he graduates from college he has to take three or four examinations a year. If he flunks once, he is out. But an inventor is almost always failing. He tries and fails maybe a thousand times. If he succeeds once then he’s in. These two things are diametrically opposite. We often say that the biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee how to fail intelligently. We have to train him to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.

    From your failures you can learn what doesn’t work and you can take another approach. There is more growth in risking something great and failing than succeeding at something easy or insignificant without cost or risks.

    A Radical Idea

    We may fail in one area of life sometimes. That failure, however, does not have to become final. We can learn from our losses and be better persons because of these experiences.

    Wayne Dyer has challenged us to consider what he describes as a “radical idea.”

    “There is no such thing as failure! Failing is a judgment that we humans place on a given action. Rather than judgment, substitute this attitude: You cannot fail, you can only produce results! Then the most important question to ask yourself it, ‘What do you do with the results you produce?’”

    Whether it is learning to play the piano or guitar or taking up golf or mastering the computer or baking a cake, we may not do well at first. Do we look at the results of our efforts and then ask, “Where do I go from here? What have I learned to help me move further along?” Each ‘failure’ provides a learning opportunity to move us toward achieving better results next time.

    In one of Paul’s Epistles he writes that John Mark had deserted him. He and Barnabas had a falling out over John Mark. Paul felt that Mark had failed him when he needed him. We don’t know why Mark deserted Paul. Was he homesick or afraid? We don’t know. Barnabas continued to work with Mark. Later Mark became one of the great saints in the early church and the author of one of the gospels. Paul changed his mind about him and requested in one of his last letters, “Bring John Mark with you, because he is a great comfort to me.”

    Mark’s failure was not final. Like Mark and many others, we can learn from our failures to become stronger and better persons. “The value of a man,” (or woman) Paul Tournier writes, “is not to be measured so much by his successes as by the way he bears his undeserved failures, that nothing is more dangerous for a man than unlimited success.”

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  • Liz Brown: Am I Not Enough? Pandora's box flung open

    This month, Energion Publications’ author, Dr. Harvey R. Brown, Jr., shares, with her permission, his daughter Liz’s post from her blog, The Single Side.
    Dr. Brown’s contribution to Energion Publications’ Topical Line Drives Series is a book entitled Forgiveness: Finding Freedom from Your Past.
    From Dr. Brown: Liz Brown used to be “Bitsy,” but she fired that name in junior high and became Liz. She is amazing. We have quite a story to share together about our relationship. We were wired so differently, it was really tough to connect with each other as I was parenting her. But after my renewal in 1996, she and I connected at a heart level that neither of us dreamt was possible. The most introverted of all my children, she and I have shared the platform together telling our story at the Korean-American Presbyterian Church national youth event in New Jersey a decade or so ago. When she found out that I was going to be the main speaker for this week, she asked what my topics were. When I told her that one of them was entitled “Healing Father Wounds,” Liz declared, “You can’t share that without my sharing it with you.” I contacted the organizers of the event and they thought it was a wonderful idea. By the time everything was finished, Liz and I co-presented a main session, she had her own session, and she did a separate event for girls only. My introvert! Not only that, she has traveled and participated in ministry schools in New Zealand, and spoken at conferences in Finland. She’s not one to put herself forward, but others have discovered (as I have known) that she has some wonderful insights into Father’s love and His healing Grace. Like I have told her, she is a gifted talker. I always delight when I know that others are getting to hear the Liz that I know. – Dr. Harvey, R. Brown, Jr. (Dad)
    Am I Not Enough? Pandora’s box flung open by Liz Brown
    I am officially breaking my own rules about blogging. “One per week,” I promised myself. “More than that would be overload for readers.” So I thought of writing this today as a draft and releasing it soon. I just can’t do it. Some things cannot be placed on hold. … See more
     
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