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The Paradox of Contentment

by Drew Smith

In my last column on this discussion network, I wrote about how we can discover contentment through the experience of God’s continual presence, the present that God gives us to live today, and the relationships God brings into each of our lives.
However, as I thought more about discovering my own contentment through what God has given me, I could not help but be reminded that for followers of Christ there is a paradox inherent in our discovery of contentment. Yes, in opposition to the temporal and material things of life, we can find contentment in our relationship to God and to others, as Jesus modeled for us. Yet, through my reflection, I also discovered that my own contentment must never eclipse my discontent about the world’s predicament apart from God’s fully realized redemption.
There is a degree of discontent we must embrace that keeps us from becoming too complacent and comfortable about ourselves, the world, and the delay of God’s justice and redemption. I see three particularly important and interrelated areas in which we should discover and express our discontent as those who seek to follow Christ.
[ene_ptp]First, we ought to be discontent about our failure to be who Christ calls us to be. While we find contentment in the enabling grace of God that extends God’s forgiveness and restoration to us, we still struggle to be faithful in our discipleship. We are very much like the person Paul speaks of in Romans 7, doing what we are forbidden and failing to do what we know we are commanded. We live with the tension of God’s redemptive grace and our struggle to rebuff our sinful natures,
I am not speaking here of guilt. Guilt is only a trap that holds us prisoners to our sin nature. The gospel never calls us to bear feelings of guilt. Rather, our discontent is expressed in our mourning over our sin to the extent that we are led to repentance through which we find contentment in God’s forgiving grace. The continuous practice of confession and repentance verbalizes our discontent and opens us to the forgiveness of God.
Second, we must always be discontent with the evil and injustice that remains in our world. Often, we ignore the larger world in which we live and we disregard those who suffer under the weight of poverty, oppression and injustice. We follow the popular preachers of self-fulfillment, who treat the revelation of God in Jesus Christ as primarily the power that feeds our own insular spirituality. As long as our spiritual hunger is fed, and our needs are met, we find comfort. But in doing so, we fail to accept the fullness of the gospel of discipleship that calls us to embrace the pain of our world and identify with those who hurt.
Though Jesus found contentment in his relationship with God and the mission to which God had called him, he was discontent with the hurting people experienced in an unjust society. His mission and message brought healing to those under the weight of oppression, and judgment against those who oppressed. He was never content that evil and injustice were ravaging God’s good creation, and his miracles of healing and restoration were works that sought to release those captive to injustice and oppression.
The third area in which we ought to be discontent is directly connected to the first two mentioned above. We must remain discontent about the delay of Christ’s return and the full redemption of all of creation. Although Jesus’ message was that the rule of God had come, the fullness of that rule has yet to be realized.
We live in the “already, but not yet” interval in which we look in the past to God’s work on the cross and to the future to the emergence of God’s full redemption. We must long for and pray for the time of Christ’s return when the new creation of God will be made real. Indeed, as Paul states in Romans, the whole of creation groans with the pains of birth for the day of redemption. We join creation in that groaning, discontent with the delay of God and calling on God to bring the fullness of God’s rule and justice to bear on the world.
In this vein, we pray the words of Jesus, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and we work to create a more just and loving world in which signs of the coming kingdom become recognizable as the work of Christ through the incarcational actions of God’s people.
In the second Beatitude of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declared, “Happy are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Jesus was not speaking of a general sadness or mourning. He was speaking of our mourning over the state of humanity and all of creation apart from God’s full redemption. He was speaking of our discontent over our struggle with sin, the prevalence of injustice, and the delay in the full realization of God’s redemption.
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May 11, 2016
Are Our Sermons Hitting Home?
by Rev. Dr. Robert R. LaRochelle

It has long been a well-established ‘given’ that the sermon plays a crucial role in any worship service. The importance of the preached word was a valuable insight of and priority established in the Reformation and in the years since the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church has committed itself to in depth homiletic training of its clergy ( priests and deacons) for whom preaching is part of their ministry. Yet, in spite of the expectations of good preaching, it is important to raise questions about its effectiveness in local churches and to explore some ways in which messages delivered by a preacher might be even more effective.
As someone who over a lengthy career preaching in both Catholic and Protestant contexts, I often wonder if the sermon is ever remembered even later on in the service, much less four or five days later. Consequently, one of the most important factors in sermon preparation is my own focus on one particular question: Does this message connect to the real life of the people who hear it? In other words, is there something in it that leads people to think that these words of the Bible were not just written for another time and place but instead have incredible relevance to the way they live their lives?
Likewise, I believe that the sermon has to be presented as a message respectful of peoples’ ability to question and to doubt. So often, I have heard sermons that have presented some pretty incredible pieces of information as ‘givens’. I mean, really, what intelligent person might have some doubt that this Biblical character REALLY lived to be 900?? So, what I am saying is that the preacher must be realistic in her or his assumption that the listeners are capable of intelligent and critical thought.[ene_ptp] In addition, I would like to suggest two approaches I have used which can help complement the overall approach to preaching in a local congregation:
1. I really like to provide specific opportunities to DISCUSS the sermon. Oftentimes, I have done adult education programs after worship in which the topic was the sermon itself. This is a wonderful way to engage the ‘listeners’ and really help make them participants in a shared breaking open of God’s Word. I was first exposed to this approach as a college student who attended a local church quite frequently where the pastor offered us this opportunity. I loved it then and I find it helpful now!
2. On occasion, I like to preach a CONVERSATIONALSERMON in which I will say a few things, for sure, but will also open up the conversation to the insights and questions of members of the congregation. When it is prepared and responded to well, it makes possible a preaching dynamic that draws upon the lived real life experience of the participants at worship. At times, I have even done this for several consecutive Sundays using a specific thematic approach to that block of time. Examples of these sermons and a more developed commentary can be found in my book SO MUCH OLDER THEN, published by Energion.
It is my view that now, as much as ever, the sermon remains an integral part of Christian worship. It is so important that great emphasis should always be placed on preaching well. Good preaching, as I see it, involves a willingness on the part of the preacher to approach this task creatively and expansively, with due respect given to peoples’ intelligence and lived experience grappling with the issues raised in the Scripture we proclaim!
I look forward to your comments!
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May 10, 2016
Does the Church Confuse Mission with Charity?

by Allan R. Bevere

One November many years ago, I was attending a conference in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. It was late in the afternoon on Sunday. I had bowed out of a couple of sessions to finish some paperwork in my hotel room. Time slipped away from me and when I finally took to the streets to find a place to eat, I found that the only thing open late on a Sunday was a MacDonald’s. Fast food is not at the top of my list in reference to bill of fare, but it was going to have to do.
As I approached the entrance to the restaurant, a young man, who was obviously homeless, approached me asking if I would give him money for something to eat. A police officer stepped in to keep him from bothering me. I told the officer that I very much appreciated him doing his job, but that it was OK; I would talk to the young man.
Instead of giving him the money, I offered to buy him dinner. So we took our place in line and when we reached the counter we both ordered our meals. As we left the counter with our respective trays in hand, he looked somewhat watchful, seeing where I was going to sit, and then he started to walk away to sit somewhere else. I invited him to join me and with a look of surprise on his face, he accepted.[ene_ptp] I must say, that in one sense, it was very difficult to enjoy my meal. As a homeless man, he had not bathed in quite a while and the taste of my food was laced with the smell of foul body odor. But in another sense, it was one of the most profound moments of my life that completely changed my perspective on the nature of Christian mission.
As we talked, he told me that he was from south Florida, and he came not just from a broken family, but a dysfunctional one. His father was nowhere in the picture, his mother was constantly strung-out on drugs and alcohol, and his mother’s live-in boyfriend had been verbally and physically abusive. He did, however, have a sister, still in Florida, of whom he spoke fondly. In such an unlivable situation, he decided to strike out on his own ending up in Atlanta, where he had a job for a little while; but since he had no place of residence, he was let go. It was very clear to me as we talked, that he was very intelligent and articulate; and while all persons are ultimately responsible for what they make of their lives, I could not help but think how this young man’s life would be different had his home-life been different.
As we continued to talk, I offered to drive him to the bus station and pay for a ticket back to south Florida. It had been unseasonably cold in Atlanta; at least he could go to Florida and be in a warmer climate. Sleeping on the streets is not an attractive prospect, no matter where it is, but if that was going to be his situation, at least he could go somewhere with a milder climate. Perhaps, I suggested, his sister would help him get on his feet. He declined my offer and said something that made my heart sink—”Nobody back home wants me.”
We talked for a little while longer, and as we prepared to leave he thanked me for dinner, and then he said something that completely rearranged my thinking and approach to the church’s mission. I paraphrase his comments, but in quotations marks: “You know, everyone who buys me dinner takes their food and sits somewhere else leaving me to sit by myself; but you sat with me and talked to me and spent time with me. I often feel very lonely and I have gotten used to rejection and to being ignored. Thanks for your time.”
The most important thing to this young man was not that I filled his stomach for a few hours, but that I was able to fill a few moments of his time in relationship.
Too often the church replaces mission with charity. Charity is what we do for the poor and marginalized to make us feel good about ourselves. We put aside funds in our budget for homeless shelters and soup kitchens; we even volunteer to feed the homeless once a week, and at the holidays we prepare food baskets for the “underprivileged,” as we like to call them. Please do not misunderstand me. All of this is important and necessary and part of what it means to be a faithful church. But is this sufficient? Is this enough? Can such giving become a replacement for the mission and service that is so necessary?
Instead of only providing a space in our churches to feed the homeless, what if we made it a point to join them for lunch and not only offer to them a cup of water and more in Jesus’ name, but offer Jesus himself to them in our presence? What if we invited those persons to worship, and not only invited them, but brought them to worship and sat with them?
The homeless, the poor, the marginalized will indeed take what we offer them. If we offer them a hot meal, they will take it. The question we must ask as followers of Jesus, who actually spent time with those on the fringes of society, is will they take more? Will they accept our time and our presence? Are we willing to sacrifice some time in order to offer our presence in Jesus’ name?
The truth of the matter is charity is what we do for ourselves in order to make ourselves feel good; true mission is what we do for others because we the church exist for others. Above all things, Jesus Christ desires to be in relationship with all persons. He cannot be in relationship with others unless we are in relationship with them. Evangelism is not about only conveying information about salvation; it is not about leaving tracts on park benches. Evangelism is about being in relationship with those whom Jesus wants to be in relationship.
Such mission and service is indeed risky. It forces us to be vulnerable, to step outside of our comfort zones; but our lives, as well as the lives of others, depend upon it. When the church is willing to step out and take the risk of such mission and service, it will discover a kind of joy and satisfaction that far surpasses the momentary thrill of charitable giving, because it will have discovered the adventure that is the gospel!
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May 9, 2016
Remembering the poor and remembering the powerless

This post is excerpted from Dr. David Alan Black’s blog, “daveblackonline“

What a powerful statement by Dr. Russ Moore, head of our own SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Watch The Gospel vs Sunday Morning Gospel Darwinism. I love this touchstone. As I shared with my Greek students this week, my life verse is usually translated “distributing to the needs of the saints” (Rom. 12:13), but I prefer to render it as “Share what you have with God’s people who are in need.” As Dr. Moore insists, we must learn how to read the “other” charitably, including the illegal immigrants in our midst and the Muslims within our land. As I write in the preface of my forthcoming book Running My Race:

I can say with some confidence: If you find God’s will for your life, you will be happy and content. Then you can begin to work with other happy and contented people to accomplish something great for Jesus. Church, we are all on the same team. That includes you house churchers and you traditional churchers. That includes evangelical Baptists and evangelical Methodists. We are cross-cultural and cross-denominational. We are intentional about overcoming the effects of consumerism (nothing turns off a millennial as much as a preoccupation with our church). The church organization is not central because it was not meant to be. We resist partisan identification as Democrats or Republicans because discipleship requires an abstinence from ego, greed, and selfishness. In Christ’s upside-down kingdom, believers stop being caricatures of their real selves and become real and transparent. We may even begin to change the way we think and act (instead of “Halloween is evil” we start alternative observances in order to leverage the holiday for the Gospel). We lead with love, not with doctrine (yes, I love doctrine, but love comes first according to 1 Cor. 13:13). A Christian gets a tattoo or nose ring and we compliment them and let it go. Enough of church-speak and condescending stares. A missional approach to life puts other people first.

Notice how Dr. Moore slows his words for emphasis (quoting the apostle Paul): “‘We remember the poor and we remember the powerless, the very thing that we should be eager to do,’ because we are conserving the Gospel for the future.”
I’ve taken to calling the next year of my life the “Jesus Year.” As much I believe in attending a church, I believe in being the church. Dear Millennial, you are not a “none.” Yes, I realize that small acts of kindness to others seem so inconsequential. A cup of cold water is such a little thing. Yet these simple things are the very things that matter to God. Your little trails of kindness and love and remembering the poor lead straight to God through the Gospel.
In the coming year, let’s experiment with what Dr. Moore is trying to tell us and take a Christian stand apart from the crowd. Sharing your room with someone who is homeless, giving your coat to someone who needs it more than you do, feeding someone who is hungry, visiting the widow and widower in their grief — Jesus said that such acts reap great rewards (Matt. 25:34-40). Sometimes kindness means refraining from saying something negative that otherwise you have the right to say. Kindness is a bouquet of flowers or babysitting for free or a whispered compliment or a warm smile or a squeeze of the hand. The teaching of the book of 1 John (which we are studying in Greek class) is that Christianity is not a religion but a relationship with a God who is both light and love, and our love for Him can be measured by the amount of time we spend with Him and by how much we allow Him to do for others through us. The Bible declares that Jesus is not some nebulous power but a person as real as your best friend. That’s why I’d like to call the next generation of Christians “Jesus People” (sorry Alvin!) because, like Jesus, their lives are marked first by their love for God, then by their love for others.
Russ’s video is the kind of video I’d like see every millennial and church leader watch. As Dr. Moore shares his vision for a church that loves the powerless, he is charitable as well as courageous, full of conviction of how we are all to be the church. His words are wise, tender, and beautiful.
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May 8, 2016
Affected lives or continued misery?

by Iris Davis

Hello Readers,
I’m sure that I am not the only person who has been through a traumatic event and used it to reach out to others who are experiencing similar circumstances. It is why some say that a “test” is part of having a “test-imony.” What do you do with that, after you realize that you indeed have a testimony? I would like to briefly discuss that in this entry, as it was something that I went through as well.
This past month, my husband and I began attending a new church. We have become very involved in a short amount of time and lost track of time over the last couple of weeks. I think that happens sometimes when you go from being in a dry place to one that waters you from the roots up. Hmm..that’s sounds like a good blog topic![ene_ptp] We met up with this local church while we were doing a Reimagine event in Thomaston, GA, which is about an hour south of me. Amazing how the Lord connected us to a LOCAL church OUT OF TOWN!! For more information about Reimagine, a project of Doers of the Word, please click here: http://www.reimagineworldwide.org/
These events, and another one like it, are where my heart came alive for outreach. Missions in your own backyard for hurting people who need healing and help. I was one of those hurting people when I began working with Maximum Impact Love, Inc. in 2007, only I didn’t know it at the time. I only knew that, for some reason, I had a burning place for the addicted and abused people who lived in the “armpit” of the city of Atlanta. As the years have gone by, I have moved from one geographical area of ministry to another, but the needs are the same. Hurting people need love and acceptance to move out of the jails of their minds.
This coming up week, my new church is hosting a small event similar to the ones mentioned above. The similarities are striking even though the geographical area is limited to a 5 block area while the others are whole towns and communities. In one day of preparation, we met a handful of people who desperately need healing, inside and out. Of course, the common thread, as always, is that only Jesus can meet those needs.
One man that my husband and I listened to this past weekend shared his story of losing his mother. He kept saying that she was right there with him, and I learned that she is literally buried 150 yards from where he lives. He visits her grave daily and draws strength from those visits. It was hard to accept that he thought he was getting life from a death. But then I realized that, even though he was in error because his mom is still dead, that we as Christians draw strength from the death of Jesus—because He ROSE again!!!!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!!!! This young man shared that his mother was a Christian, so I believe that the Lord will reveal to him, in time, Who he really needs to be focusing on. And, I hope that we have another chance to minister to him this coming Saturday. Things happen in stages when the hurts run deep.
As we have been approaching this event, several ministers in our church have fallen physically ill. Myself included, as of Sunday night. We have all been praying for each other and encouraging each other via texts and email. It is part of the battle sometimes. But, my Lord will have His way as He always does. And, as Paul says, we count it all joy—we must be doing something right to be attacked. Only the Lord knows the outcome of Saturday’s event, but I believe with all my heart that many people will see Him in a different light. And, I believe that, for some, it might be their last chance.
Regardless of when you read this, please lift this event–and so many others like it–up in prayer. These events are a last day strategy to reach all those who need Him but are too broken to pass through the doors of any church.
The next entry will be a picture of the day!
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May 7, 2016
The Command to Compassion
by Chris Surber

Jesus is compassionate. While walking the roads of Galilee, Jesus was above all things compassionate. It is God’s immeasurable compassion that saves us. Were it not for compassion borne of genuine love for His creation surely God would have left us alone in our sin or simply eradicated humanity as an imperfect sinful blight on creation. But He didn’t because God is compassionate and Jesus is that very compassion for man incarnate.
In the King James Version of the Bible, in the Gospels, the word compassion is found fourteen times. In nearly every instance it speaks directly of the character of Jesus as He shows concern and kindness to individuals, crowds, and multitudes. Here are three examples from Matthew’s gospel. They give us specific insight into how we can mimic the compassion of Christ in our lives as we shine the light of the Gospel through our lives into this dark world:
- “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36) They had no leadership.
- “And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.” (Matthew 14:14) They were sick and in need of healing.[ene_ptp]
- “Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. (Matthew 15:32) They were hungry and Jesus fed them.
Jesus showed compassion because they had no leader. God is calling us to provide godly leadership those who are lost. At the very least this means that we should be active in sharing the Good News. In a richer sense it means that we should be leading the way to wholeness in people’s lives. We should be shining the light of salvation in terms of eternity and in the saving power of God to transform lives today. Get in somebody’s broken life and help them pick up the pieces.
Jesus showed compassion because they were sick. Jesus showed compassion because they were hungry. It isn’t enough to pray for someone who is in need or to count on somebody else, some agency, or some government office to help those in need. “But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:18 ESV) Do you believe God can change lives? Then make your faith real by being the hand of Christ in the broken life of another human in need of grace.
My friend, too often we measure our orthodoxy as Christians solely in terms of right belief. We hoard sound doctrine instead of using is as a platform for resounding Gospel living. A recommendation for a new person in our town to a “good church” often means a church with a biblical preacher. There isn’t anything wrong with that but its only part of the story. A bible preaching church should be a compassionate-reaching church.
Right belief is the foundation for right action, and right action for Christians entails a lot more than writing a check to a missionary to preach the Gospel, or to volunteer once a year for Vacation Bible School at your church. I’ll say it again. These are good things but the life of a follower of Christ also has a lot to do with how we simply interact with the world around us in compassion to the brokenness of this world.
You’ve got right belief? You own the right study Bible? You prayed the right prayer? You read the right books? Fantastic! Now, what about being the living breathing incarnation of the compassion of God to the people you encounter in your life? “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:23-24 ESV)
Right belief and right doctrine are good things but they aren’t the only things! When was the last time you gave a cup of cold water to someone who was thirsty? (Matthew 10:42) Have you visited a widow or an orphan in their affliction lately? (James 1:27) Take note, I didn’t ask if somebody on behalf of your church did it or if some missionary you know did it. What is currently happening in your life that fulfills those commands?
In Acts 1:8 Jesus spoke to His disciples. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 ESV) If we are called to pick up our cross and follow Him that means that we too are the disciples that are called to be His witnesses. If we are His witness then we must reflect the truth and compassion of Christ. It isn’t enough to know or even teach the truth if we don’t live it.
To preach Christ is to be Christ to those who need Christ.
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May 6, 2016
The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached

by David Moffett-Moore

Much has been written about the chaotic changes we are living through in the church. In The Great Emergence Phyllis Tickle writes about the massive rummage sale the church has every five hundred years. In The Next Christendom Phil Jenkins writes about changes on a millennial level. Bishop Spong writes Why the Church Must Change or Die. There is no question we live in changing times.
One point all these books make is that we have lived through changing times before. In fact, the church was born in chaos. The gospels were written in the late first century CE. Jerusalem was laid siege and destroyed in 73 CE, ending Judaism as it had been practiced for a thousand years with the destruction of the temple and therefore the collapse of the priestly class. Judaism had to reinvent itself and one of the outcomes became Christianity. In the midst of this tumult, the gospels were written. Recalling and celebrating the life of Christ, they were also faith documents written by and for that early church. In remembering who Jesus is they also described what it means to be Christian. This is perhaps nowhere more apparent than in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5-7 has been called The Sermon on the Mount since St. Augustine. It is the longest monologue ascribed to Jesus in the New Testament, and has long been held as the essential core of his teaching. Leo Tolstoy based his massive The Kingdom of God is Within You on it, John Adams declared “The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount are my entire religion.” Harry Truman proposed, “There is not a problem in this country or the world that could not be solved by the principles of the Sermon on the Mount.” Mahatma Gandhi confessed “The Sermon on the Mount went straight to my heart.” Martin Luther King Jr. found it a source for many of his great sermons. Dorothy Day declared “Our entire manifesto is the Sermon on the Mount.”
“Manifesto” is the right word. A manifesto is a public declaration of motive or intention, policy or goals. We think of a manifesto as a bold statement of purpose or vision, “this is what we are about,” a defining statement. This is exactly what the Sermon on the Mount is, a decisive directive from our commander in chief on what we are about and how we are to live. It is not “‘pie in the sky by and by” hopes or dreams; it is very much in the here and now. It is exactly the focus we need for the changing times within which we live.
This is why I was pleased to write The Jesus Manifesto, a participatory study guide to the Sermon on the Mount. I hope it may have a practical impact on our life today. Dr. Chris Suber describes it, “in changing tumultuous times, Dr. Moffett-Moore reminds us that we need a reflective return to the basic manifesto of a 1^st century rebel to find a renewed vision for following Jesus today.” Rev. Shauna Hyde describes her response, “David crawled into my soul and put on paper the truth I claim as my faith.”
I invite you to consider The Jesus Manifesto for your next Bible study.
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May 5, 2016
Our Challenge to Overcome Prejudice

by Bill Tuck
www.friarsfragment.com

Prejudice is deep-seated. It has a long history in our world. The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites, and Moses stood before Pharaoh and challenged him: “Let my people go.” Later when Israel became a nation, it showed great prejudice toward other nations. In fact, they declared that everybody else was a Gentile, not as worthy as they were in the sight of God. The Greeks proclaimed that they were the superior people of the human race. The Romans saw others as inferior, especially the Syrians, whom they looked upon as dogs. The Chinese erected a wall to separate all of the heathen devils from them. People on our nation’s west coast often show prejudice toward Orientals. Those in the southern borders of our country often are prejudiced toward Mexicans. Many in the Southern states are still prejudiced toward blacks. Northerners are often prejudiced toward Southerners, and Southerners are prejudiced toward Northerners. Prejudice is an awful reality in our world, but it is real.
Albert Schweitzer often mentioned the impression that stuck in his memory as a young child on seeing in the town’s square on many occasions the statue of a black man burdened down with heavy chains. Later Schweitzer went to Africa to minister as a medical doctor to the black man. He knew that he did not put that black man in chains, but nevertheless he felt a sense of responsibility to help ease the burden placed on him by the white man.
Oh, I know you can say: “Well, I have never burned a cross in anybody’s yard. “I have never thrown a rock at a person of another race.” “I haven’t expressed hatred toward a person of another race.” But that does not mean that you and I are free of prejudice. Too often we prejudge another person by his or her education, background, social status, appearance, or skin color. [ene_ptp] The Church declares boldly that God is the Creator of all persons. God created man and woman in God’s image. Paul daringly asserted that we are all one in Jesus Christ. He declared that “there was neither Greek nor Roman, slave or free, Jew nor Gentile, male or female in Christ.” We can also confidently say that there is no black or white in Jesus Christ. In him we are all one. At the foot of the cross the ground is level. God’s love reaches through the crucified Christ to all persons. Jesus reminded his disciples: “The one receiving you receives me, and the one receiving me receives the one having sent me” (Matt. 10:40). Even a cup of cold water given to someone in need is to minister in Jesus’ name. When we reject our fellow man or woman, we are rejecting our Lord. The writer of 1 John reminds us: “If anyone says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).
As Christians, let’s acknowledge that we are all one in Jesus Christ. Our Lord clearly taught that we are one in God’s sight. When you read the gospels, it is clear that Jesus Christ began to break down all the barriers which society had erected. He called Simon the Zealot to be one of his disciples and broke the political barrier. He reached out to minister to a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery and ignored the reputation barrier. His conversation with a Samaritan woman at the city well transcended the sexual barrier. His nighttime talk with the aristocrat, Nicodemus, whom he told must be born again, and his eating a meal with Zacchaeus broke the class barrier. He told a parable which praised the prayer of a publican over a Pharisee and disregarded the religious barrier. He reached out to the poor and outcast of society and broke the poverty barrier. He made a Samaritan a hero of one of his parables and challenged the racial barrier. He praised the faith of a Roman centurion and transcended national barriers. Again and again Jesus broke the barriers which had been set up to separate persons from each other.
Remember, Jesus was not crucified because he said: “Behold the lilies of the field, how beautiful they are.” He was crucified because he attempted to break down these barriers. He taught that man and woman, whatever their status in life, were loved and welcomed by God. Like its Lord, the Church is challenged to go into the world with a gospel that breaks down all barriers as it calls all men and women to become the sons and daughters of God, saved by his grace. As members of the Church, you and I are to be the salt and light in the world as we reach out to all persons to lead them to redemption in Jesus Christ.
What can we do as Christian people to combat the problem of racism? First, we can acknowledge that we are prejudiced. Every single one of us can acknowledge that he or she has some kind of prejudices. I have them. You have them. None of us is free of them. They are still a part of our life, heritage, sectional background, training, community mores, and regional values. Let’s acknowledge our prejudices. They are, unfortunately, a part of us. Then, let’s seek by God’s grace to overcome them.
Secondly, we need to acknowledge that God is the creator and redeemer of all persons. Let us celebrate our diversity. Let us rejoice in the wide variety of gifts and heritages that are in the world. Let us remind one another that we are one family under God, and in Jesus Christ we are one in his Church. We are created in God’s image. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). Let us love and respect all persons regardless of their race or color.
In an address before the joint session of Congress, former president John F. Kennedy said: “I ask you to look into your hearts, not in search of charity, for the Negro neither wants nor needs condescension. But for the one plain, proud, and priceless quality that unites us all as Americans: A sense of justice. In this year, the Emancipation Centennial, justice requires us to ensure the blessings of liberty for all Americans and their posterity, not merely for reasons of economic efficiency, world diplomacy, and domestic tranquility, but above all because it is right!” It is right! All persons are God’s children. God is creator and redeemer of all. So let us begin by acknowledging that we are prejudiced, that diversity is a part of our created world, and learn to glory in that diversity as we see the variety of gifts in all persons.
Thirdly, we acknowledge that the Church is called to be the transforming element in society. It should be the showcase for the world of brotherhood, justice, and righteousness. There can be no “Check Point Charlie”, no Berlin Wall, and no barred doors at the church’s entrance where persons are not allowed. Anyone to whom Jesus Christ extends his hand is my brother and sister.
I wish we could say that because a person has committed his or her life to Christ, he or she is free of prejudice. But we know that is not always true. Peter is a good example of this. Even after Jesus had commissioned him to preach the gospel to all nations, he was still prejudiced against the Gentiles. In a vision on the rooftop of Cornelius, Peter was made to see that he was to call nothing common or unclean which God had created. He saw the barrier of his racial prejudice crumble. Then, he was able to preach the gospel to all persons.
Fourthly, we need to be bridge builders. We are called by Jesus Christ to be his servants in building bridges to men and women. We are to tear down fences of hatred, injustice, oppression, and hostility. It has seldom been easy to be a bridge builder. We rarely recognize the great prophets as they walk among us. Today you and I can look back and talk about how great Amos, Micah, Hosea, and Jeremiah were, but the people of their day despised or misunderstood them. History will show that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was one of the great prophets of our age. He worked and died to bring justice and righteousness for minority races in our country. The struggle for racial justice still continues.
The denial of any person his or her God-given rights is an affront to God and a denial of the creation and redemption of God. In Christ there is no north or south, east or west, slave or free, male or female, black or white, Jew or Gentile, all are one. After Cain slew his brother Abel, God asked him, “Where is your brother?” Cain responded by asking: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” No, Cain. You and I are not our brother’s keeper, but we are our brother’s brother. We are our brother’s sister. We are sisters and brothers to each other in Jesus Christ.
Let all barriers be broken. We are to be bridge builders, not fence contractors or wall builders. Let us lift up those who are in need and not hold them down. Let us encourage and not discourage. Let us remove the “Keep 0ut” signs and erect signs that say, “Welcome.” What we need is less bullying and more brotherhood. We need less platitudes and more performance. We need less arguments and more action. We need less rhetoric and more righteousness. Let our walk match our talk. Let there be an end to discrimination and the beginning of a greater practice of brotherhood. Let there be an end to bigotry and a greater practice of harmony in the world. Let there be and end to provincialism and a greater practice of freedom. Let there be an end to isolationism and a greater practice of communion. I hoped and prayed that the inauguration of President Obama would usher in a new day of racial harmony and good will among all persons of all races. Unfortunately, that has not happened.
There is a legend that will not die from postwar Germany. During the Nazi regime in Germany, Hitler gave an infamous edict that had to be read from all church pulpits. The edict declared that no Jew was welcome in any church and had to leave. One day a Nazi officer entered a Christian church and announced that anyone who had Jewish blood on his father’s side must get up and leave. Several on the main floor got up, one in a side balcony, and one from the choir loft rose and left. Then the Nazi soldier instructed those who had Jewish blood on their mother’s side to leave. This time about half a dozen more left. The legend then says that the figure of Jesus Christ the Jew, who was hanging on the cross over the altar, came down and walked out of the church.
Whenever we attempt to bring bigotry, prejudice, and racism into his church, he walks out of it and goes into the world. He came to destroy such barriers not erect them.
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May 4, 2016
Minimum Wage

by Elgin Hushbeck, Jr.

There is a growing movement on the left to increase the minimum wage, or as it been relabeled, a living or in even some cases a just wage. As the relabeling makes clear, this is often seen, not just as an economic issue, but as a moral issues in which greedy business owners are pitted against the oppressed and exploited workers (On the labels, see my previous post).
As Christians we are after all exhorted to “stop expressing love merely by our words and manner of speech; we must love also in action and in truth” (1 John 3:18 ISV). So our duty would seem clear, to take action and stand with the oppressed.
But John’s exhortation is not merely to love through our actions, but also in truth, and herein is the rub. Simply relabeling something does not change its nature. Calling something a just wage, does not make it just. The wages for any particular job are part of a complex web of economic relationships. Employers have work that needs to be done and are willing to hire employees to do that work. Employers are not completely free to set wages at whatever they want. If they pay too low, they will not find people willing to do the work, if they pay too much, workers will be easy to find, but customers are likely to find the prices charged too high. Thus like so many things in the economy, wages are a balancing act between completing forces.[ene_ptp] Often the charge is made that employers are hoarding huge piles of money while they exploit workers. This is belied by the simple fact that most business fail. It is also belied by the fact that workers must be paid first, and many a business owner has had the “privilege” of going without because after paying wages and bills, there was nothing left for them.
Thus it should not be a surprise to anyone that when cities like Seattle raised the minimum wage, many small businesses closed. When San Francisco raised its minimum wage likewise many business closed, including a historic bookstore that was beloved by the community.
Why? It is simple, government can demand that employers pay more, but aside from Obamacare, they cannot demand that customers pay increased costs. In Seattle the average restaurant spent 36% on labor, and made about 4% in profit, the difference going to food and other costs. Without a price increase or labor cuts the increase in the minimum wage would drive labor cost up to 42% – 47%.
It is just math; something has to give. Increase prices too much and customers stop coming. Let employees go and service declines and again customers stop coming. Even before the increase owning a restaurant was not an easy business to be in, so it should not be a surprise that many owners just gave up and closed.
Nor is this restricted to just restaurants. Twenty Two top Retailers have profits of $34 billion dollars, which sounds like a lot. But they also employ 5.8 million people for an average profit per employee of about $6000. Not a lot but a good return on investment that allows these companies to remain in business. Not all of these are minimum wage positions, but increasing the minimum wage tends to shift all wages up so increasing the minimum wage to just $12/hour and this changes the profit into a loss of over $1000 per employee. Increasing this to proposed $15/hour and instead of making $34 billion, these retailers would be losing $34 billion.
To stay in business, they would have to increase their prices, though given customers resistance to price increases that can be difficult. The only other option is to reduce the workforce, which raises the question, what good is a $15 minimum wage if it costs you your job?
In recent years, an additional result of increasing the minimum wage is to accelerate the push to automation. Fast food restaurants are already experimenting with automation both at the counter and back in the kitchen. The higher the minimum wage the more cost effective such automated machines will become.
Thus increasing the minimum wage will have some short term benefit for a few workers, those lucky enough to still be employed when the wage kicks in, but the benefit will be offset by some increase in prices, and this benefit will decrease over time as the economy works itself out to the new higher price level. Others will see their wage drop to $0/hour as they lose their job.
The worst off however will be those trying to enter the job market for the first time. This is the real insidious damage done by the whole concept of a “living wage.” Minimum wage jobs are not supposed to be jobs one can live on. These are entry level positions, positions many if not most people start at, only to move on to better paying positions once they develop job skills and experience. According to government figures in 2014 of the 131.5 million people in the workforce, only about 1% or 1.3 million, earned the federal minimum wage, which demonstrates that virtually all do move on, that is if they can get into the workplace to begin with.
The truly tragic part of such increases, is that it makes these entry level positions even harder to get. Without the entry level positions it can be very difficult for people to learn the job skills needed to get and hold a job. These are skill most of us take for granted, such as showing up on time, acting professional, working hard, etc., but for those who have hired first time employees, sadly for many these are skills that do need to be learned. With chronic unemployment at levels not seen since the Great Depression, now is hardly the time to be further restricting the job market making it even harder for people to get their first job and learn the skills that will allow them to succeed in life.
So while at first blush raising the minimum wage may seem like a compassionate thing to do, it is hardly loving in truth as it causes far more harm than good. Perhaps that is why the new bill passed in California only raises the minimum wage $0.50 per year until the end of Jerry Brown’s term, but $1.00 per year after that until the new minimum is reached, leaving the next Governor to deal with the consequences.
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May 3, 2016
Esther, Synchronicity, and Process Theology

by Bruce Epperly

For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jewish people from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this. (Esther 4:14)

The biblical book of Esther is a theological goldmine. Although the Hebraic Masoretic version, adopted by Protestants and Jews, does not explicitly mention God’s name, God’s gentle providence is present in Esther’s discovery and embodiment of her vocation as her people’s savior. God does not have to be named to influence our lives. Divine activity is often subtle and goes unnoticed, acting through insights, inspirations, encounters, and persons.
In the case of Esther (Hadassah), God’s gentle providence seems to be quietly working at turning points in her life. With no intentionality on her part, Esther becomes the king’s favorite and leading lady, queen of the land. Attempting to keep her ethnicity a secret, Esther is challenged by her mentor who reminds her that her position in the realm quite possibly reflects a hidden providence that has brought her to power “for just such a time as this.”
Synchronously, Esther is the right person, at the right time, and receives the right encounter. Within the events of our lives, God is [ene_ptp]quietly creating possibilities for personal and community transformation. Every moment is filled with possibilities aiming at the highest good. Though seldom we witness divinity in these possibilities, they constantly shape our lives, most particularly when we say “yes” to them. Mordecai presents Esther with a provocative possibility that her current royal position is far from accidental, but reflects the interplay of divine providence, chance, and human decision-making. Esther carefully weighs Mordecai’s counsel, and when she acts on it, she moves from hiddenness to agency, and sets in motion a series of events that save her people and undermine their nemesis, Haman.
Although the author of Esther did not have today’s process theology in mind, the tenor of the book is processive and providential. God is dynamically working in every situation, inviting us to move from passivity to agency. God’s work is never unilateral or coercive but is embodied in a dynamic call and response in which God calls, we respond, and our response leads to further instances of God’s call in our lives. God can’t save the Jewish people apart from human partnership. In the interdependence of life, events lead to Esther becoming the primary partner in God’s quest to save the Jewish people.
Esther has freedom and, like the majority of characters in scripture such as Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph, Abraham and Sarah, and the widowed Ruth, she can assent or turn away from God’s call. Ruth becomes the great-grandparent of David as a result of her cooperation with God’s call to reach out to Boaz. Esther is an agent of freedom and liberation as a result of her claiming her own power to change the world.
Esther models for us – and inspires us – to open to daily synchronicities, often masquerading as secular events. Most of the time, we are like Jacob, who, after dreaming of a ladder of angels, confesses “God was in this place and I did not know it.” When we realize that God is “in this place,” the place where we are, remarkable energies are released and we become God’s partners in bringing health and beauty to the world. We discover that we are here in this moment “for just such a time as this.”
(For on the themes discussed in this essay, I recommend my Energion books, Ruth and Esther: Women of Agency and Adventure and Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God.)
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May 2, 2016

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