Category: Site Admin

I was struggling with exactly what to write about on this site when a friend reminded me that I have a sermon written and preached that is all about living under Christ’s archy. I will not write the entire sermon in one blog because it will be long and tedious for all of us. I will take it a section at a time.
We have a detailed life plan for how to live under Christ’s archy provided for us in what we call The Lord’s Prayer. It is a doable way to live a full life. This prayer is found in Matthew 6:9-13. While the KJV is not my favorite version of Scripture, I am aware that a great number of Christians use KJV language to pray this prayer so I am going to use KJV language here as well.
We begin with, “Our Father, who art in heaven.”
I often wonder if many of us have ever truly grasped what we are saying here…..and have the right to say! We are addressing God and not being punished for it! We are talking to God with the understanding that God not only allows humanity to speak but also listens and encourages us to speak. More than that we get to call God a parent. We can approach God with the assumption that God cares enough to listen, protect, and guide us.
I believe it is important to remember that God is different to everyone. There are people who have been deeply hurt by fathers and men so God is female. There are others for whom GOd is definitely male. There are people for whom God is both male and female or neither male not female. For some God is Comforter, for others God is Protector, and for others God is best friend. I have learned not to destroy someone’s image of God whether good or bad, correct or incorrect. God will meet each of us however we need to be met and as we grow, mature, heal, and discover God, our image of God changes with us. God is more than any one of us can label and about the time we think we have it figured out and nailed down, we will be wrong!
However we view God doesn’t change or limit the fact that we have been given the right to call on God, to speak with God, to confide in God, and to claim the promises of God. So, we say, “Our Father, who art in heaven.”
God’s location is important to our understanding of this life. When we state that God is in heaven we are claiming a belief and a promise that this life is not all there is. Whether you believe in a physical Heaven and Hell or not, the ultimate definition of Heaven is to be in the presence of God and the ultimate definition of Hell is to be separated from the presence of God – permanently. Experiencing the presence of God begins in this life. We get to see glimpses of heaven every time we deliberately place ourselves in the presence of God. This is the place where we can be transformed, offered hope, experience healing, and know that we are truly heard and loved by God.
“Hallowed is Thy name.” What is hallowed? That word doesn’t mean much to folks anymore. For that matter, we have slowly lost a sense for the holy and the sacred over time. In a world in which we are encouraged to live our lives with ourselves at the center of it (and the world) we have lost the realization that there is something bigger than us. God is holy, without the human trappings of mistakes, sin, troubles, etc. God and God alone is worthy of worship. Even if God does not sign autographs, make millions of dollars throwing a ball, or appears on the Red Carpet, God is what is hallowed and holy.
Many people believe in God, fewer people worship God, even fewer people love God, and even fewer deliberately place themselves into the presence of God in order to worship and be transformed.
Two aspects of living under Christ’s archy is to:
1. Enter into the presence of God by calling on God’s name.
2. Worship and be willing to be transformed by what is truly holy.

Something happened this week that caused me to stop and reflect a little.  I have gotten somewhat immune to the reactions I get as a female preacher.  I have been argued with, informed that hell was my future (as well as all my congregants), I have been banned from places, barred from associations, and even physically attacked all beause I have dared to trod where apparently only men are allowed (in some opinions).  I have stepped aside on three occassions for weddings/funerals because someone in the family did not approve of my gender.  There are some who do not think that a wedding is legitimate if a woman performs it.  What if a female judge performed the wedding?  Marriages are civil unions and the minister/judge/whomever… is licensed by the state so it is legit.  The hang up seems to be whether or not it is legit in the eyes of God. 
For the first time, a bride told her family that she was having me officiate and that was that.  Her sacrifice is that there won’t be certain family members in the wedding and maybe not even attending the wedding.  What really got me though was the wording the family used when speaking with the bride.  You see they told her that they were trying to raise their children right and that they didn’t want them to see a woman pastor because it wasn’t right.  My first reaction was amazament and my first thought was, “Well!  It’s not like I will be doing a pole dance!”  I guess I need to zip my robe all the way up so there is no cleavage showing in the LAYERS of clothing that UMC clergy have on anyway. 
The bride’s refusal to give in to the family made me stop.  First, I was humbled and awed because Ihave gotten used to just stepping aside.  It is the pastoral thing to do in order to try to help a family keep peace and have a truly blessed wedding day.  It does grate on the nerves, I will admit.  What I am supposed to do – have gender reassignment surgery?  Then I am in trouble for that as well. 
Second, I have to look at what Christ did.  He never addresses the issue.  What he did do was actually speak to women as though they were human and not sofas.  He raised them up, let them be effective, healed them, and in general was a decent guy.  He wasn’t threatened and didn’t feel the need to exert any kind of power or authority.  He went even further and he touched lepers, ate with tax collectors, and went into all the wrong parts of town. 
What does it mean in today’s world to be under Christ’s archy?  For one thing, I believe we need to quit having turf wars.  A woman was the very first to proclaim the gospel and the men didn’t believe her even then!  Next, we need to be greatful for any who feel they are called and step up and out to try to show the love and grace of God to others.  This world is bruised and battered.  It is time for us to focus on that part not on who gets to do the nursing.  There was a time when women weren’t allowed to do that either……
There is a complete lack of bias and judgement in the way in which Christ ministered, healed, and taught.  The only folks that he called out and was forceful with were the pious, judgemental, religious folk of the day who were more about being right and important than they were about being Godly. 
I was raised that women were to know their place and not be in ministry.  I have changed and so has my father.  I have true compassion for folks who believe that.  I had to come a long way to be who I am.  There is more than enough work to do for everyone.  It is all right that I go off to Africa by myself to be a missionary and preach the gospel and minister to folks.  It is not all right that I preach the gospel and minister to folks in the pulpits of America.  Double standard much?  Seriously, it is time for the debate to end.  I am tired.  I do not do what I do to be a bra burning rebellious woman who needs to dominate men.  I don’t tell them they are going to hell because they are daring to put words in God’s mouth and daring to put stumbling blocks in the way of those who are called.  I do what I do because God has called me.  Since God does the calling, I am coming to understand that I do not need to justify my actions to humanity.  God trumps.  Thank God! 
Being under Christ’s archy means letting go of certain ideas.  Jesus did all the wrong things in order to do all the right things.  What right things will you do?
 
 

This was my post last year on September 11. What do you think? How should Christians respond to this anniversary, especially those who live in America where this memory is so visceral and raw?
Where were you? What were you thinking on that day? How has your thinking changed over the course of the last ten years?
—–
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Rom 12:17-21)
We should never forget what happened on 09/11/2001 but neither should we set ourselves to seek vengeance for those events. The Gospel is never proclaimed faithfully by someone with a sword in their hand or screaming in hatred or burning books. Our first and highest duty is to Christ and His Kingdom, not the national security of America. We as a family will remember 9/11 today, not as a call to vengeance but repentance. We will pray today for Muslims, that Christ will be shown to them in all His glory by the humble and meek witness of His followers. We will also pray for the repentance of those who call for the death of unbelievers and seek to supplant God as the dispenser of justice.
Winning the war on terror will not win a single soul for Jesus Christ.

And the Good News Is: http://t.co/0FdNyEa

— Willliam Boyd Grove (@wboydgrove) September 10, 2011

This is a link that Bishop Grove put out there on twitter. I guess we should just be parting happily with our money……
How does this factor into rendering unto Ceasar what is Ceasar’s?

My name is Shauna Hyde and I have issues with obedience and allegiance. You see it’s been my experience that power is abused and authority is used to control, subject, and in general irritate other folks just it’s possible. It is difficult for me to place myself under anyone’s archy……but then I met Christ….as a person not as a religious idea. I quickly learned that Christ does not subject or control. Christ empowers us. He is the Master that leads, guides, protects, and teaches his students to be the best they can be. When I finally chose to be in Christ’s archy my life changed. I found myself doing things and being a person that I never believed I could do or be. My first Sunday in my first appointment as a minister, I found myself having to answer the question of how I could be a woman and a minster. The discussion went on for some time when a woman stood up and told us,”We need to think about this differently because if the Lord can use an *ss, He can surely use a woman!” What a way to describe an archy! I remember that day every time I believe there is something I cannot do because she is right-in Christ’s archy, there are infinite possibilities and hope for what seems impossible or not the way it should be. Christ empowers not subjects!
So I join this project in the hope that folks can understand that allegiance to Christ is not a horrific ordeal. It is not betraying spouse or country. It is not a prison term or a death sentence. It IS life changing and one commitment in life worth doing.
As we change and grow we can start to be more grace-filled and temper our actions, thoughts, and words with love. We will get to the point where we stop yelling at the politicians on TV calling them *ss’s (of course we good Christians would never do that…….) to saying, “Well, if the Lord can use an *ss……

Hello… my name is Alan. It’s been less than one hour since I usurped the rule of Jesus Christ in my life…
When I was first asked to take part in this project, I thought to myself, “What do I know about Christ’s archy?” My second thought was similar: “I need to learn about Christ’s archy, not write about it!”
But, what better way to learn about the rule of Christ in my life, in the life of the church, and in the world than to study, write, learn, discuss, etc.? So, I’ve jumped in… perhaps not with both feet, but at least I’m ready to stick my toes into the water.
I began blogging just over five years ago at “The Assembling of the Church.” I began the blog to parallel my PhD studies. As the name of the blog  implies, I primarily write about the church gathering together as described and instructed by the authors of the New Testament.
After writing a few posts about church gatherings, I quickly found that it is impossible to only write about the gathering of the church. So many other issues affect the way we understand the church and our times of assembling together with other brothers and sisters in Christ. For example, the way we understand leadership among the church (elders/pastors/etc.), the way we understand teaching, the way we understand the Lord’s Supper and baptism, the way we understand our responsibilities toward one another, and many, many other things affect how we meet together.
On top of all of these, as God’s children and brothers and sisters in Christ, our response to the rule of Christ in our lives, in the life of the church, and in the world (Christ’s archy) certainly affects how we meet together.
So, I look forward to thinking about, studying, writing, discussing, and learning with the other collaborators to this project. I hope that you will decide to take part by commenting on the posts published here.

I’m jumping into this project with both feet, and I hope you are looking forward to it as well.  I believe there is great potential in challenging one another to live in a very practical manner under the absolute authority of Jesus Christ.
God has granted me a wide range of experiences that have shaped what I believe about life in general and the church in particular.  I was raised in a Christian home in New York State, but now live in Savannah, Georgia.  I’ve worked in the public school system, at UPS, as a Southern Baptist pastor, and now at JCB.  God even sustained me through an M.Div. at SEBTS.
In 2006, God granted our family four months of living in South Asia.  We were in the midst of culture shock when we received another shock: we would immediately be coming home to the USA because our son had been diagnosed with a form of Lymphoma.  We praise the Lord for healing our son!
In the midst of all of this, God has been the one constant.  He is perfectly faithful.  He is also perfectly sovereign.  He has created a world and has told His followers how to live in it.  This is the part I’m still trying to figure out on a daily basis.  The older I get, the more I realize that there are areas of my own life that do not fall under Christ’s archy.  It is because of this that I’m looking forward to the discussions on this site.
For the past few years I’ve been talking through issues of theology, church, missions, family, and culture on my personal blog A Pilgrim’s Progress.  In the end, God has all the answers.  It is our duty to seek Him out and discover how He desires that we live for the betterment of the church and society.
My hope is that we can all sharpen each other through these discussions and that they will lead to real change in our lives.

Welcome to Christ’s Archy!
My name is Arthur Sido and I am excited to be part of this project. First a little bio for those who don’t know me and perhaps for some who do. I am rapidly charging toward my 40th birthday and I have been a Christian for about the last quarter of my life. Right after I turn 40 I will also celebrate my 20th wedding anniversary with my wife Eva. She has been the perfect helpmeet for me and we have largely grown up into adulthood (an ongoing process!) together over the last twenty years. We also have done our part to be fruitful and multiply, raising eight children who range in age from an 18 year old who just started college to a precocious four year old. A few years ago we elected to educate our children at home and that has been an intensely humbling experience but one that we embrace.
In order to sort of figure me out, it would be beneficial to read my testimony and my document of basic beliefs. My path to this point is far from typical. I did not grow up in a Christian home and came to faith rather late in life around ten years ago. Most of the last ten years have been times of intense spiritual growth. Without a foundational understanding of what we understand as Christianity in America I have been sort of figuring it out as I go. I have found this to be beneficial in many ways to my development as a follower of Christ. Not having certain cultural assumptions deeply ingrained has, I hope, allowed me to examine issues from a “blank slate” approach and as I have done so I have been finding more and more that there are many things that we assume about living as Christians under the rule of Christ as King, especially in the West and particularly in America, that are hard to reconcile with Scripture and the reality of a world-wide faith. While I would consider myself to by quite conservative, both doctrinally and politically, I have also been asking some hard questions regarding what I assumed Christ was calling me to do and be. I hope to share some of that thought process here.
I was pretty pumped about being part of this project. Asking the question of how we are to live as Christians, kind of a “OK I am saved, what now?” puzzle, has preoccupied my thoughts for some time. I love writing and blogging and that is expressed at The Voice of One Crying Out In Suburbia, my “main” blog. At that site I  often think about and write about what it means to live as Christians,  both as the church as an adoptive family and as the church as ambassadors of Christ to the world. I tend to expend a lot of cyber ink and have not mastered the art of brevity but I will try to keep my posts here to a manageable and readable size while also linking to lengthier posts at my main blog that I think you will find profitable.
I look forward to exploring the glorious world of living under Christ’s Archy with you and my fellow contributors to this project!

My name is Geoff Smith.
I accidentally helped start the Under Christ’s Archy project.
I’m currently a teacher of math, rhetoric, and Bible at a small Christian high school.
As you can see in my profile, I am scheduled to be married on October 15, 2011.
I hope to contribute a to this project in a few ways, especially a biblical appropriation of the spiritual disciplines while living under Christ. I also want to encourage those in traditional or non-traditional church services to live as disciples of Jesus outside of the church service. This is incredibly important to me because Jesus spends much more time teaching people how to live than teaching people how to have a church service (a though I’ll expand on in future posts).
 

I’m Henry Neufeld, owner of Energion Publications, and I want to welcome you to Under Christ’s Archy.
To find out more about what will be happening on this site, please read the home page. Writers will be gathering here and introducing themselves over the next few days.
I won’t be writing here except for this introduction, but I’m excited about the folks who have said ‘yes’ to the call to provide practical suggestions and resources for those who want to put the rule of Christ first—above all other archys!