This is a Mess...

John Wesley and Healthcare

2010-03-23T10:57:00.012-04:00

Okay - first a disclaimer:

This post has no current political undertones. If you're attempting to glean a political message from this post - please stop - because there isn't one. I take great care to guard my personal political beliefs because I work for a church, and in no way is it appropriate for me to talk politics in a public forum.

I honestly write this because I think its a fun story that not many people know and it I believe it has an important message for Jesus followers - and of course, I'm banking on opportunity to share this during the current popularity of the subject.

I've never actually met a fellow UMC member or pastor who knows this bit of history about Wesley, which is fascinating to me. That being said, John Wesley (founder of the Methodist movement in 18th century England) cared about people's health.
For Wesley, caring for people's health was a no-brainer. One could argue that Wesley's calling in life was to care for the spiritual well-being of God's people. In accordance with this calling, he firmly believed that a persons physical well-being greatly impacted their spiritual health.
So what did he do when he saw so many poor people unable to afford care from clinics? He started his own, in fact two of them. Wesley was known for prescribing cheap "medications", and even published books with quirky remedies for the ill. One such book, Primitive Physic: an Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases, offered readers such remedies as -
"To cure Baldness Rub the part morning and evening with onions till it is red and rub it afterwards with honey Or wash it with a decoction of box wood"

"Chin Cough or Hooping Cough - Rub the feet thoroughly with hog's lard before the fire at going to bed and keep the child warm therein. Or rub the back at lying down with old rum It seldom fails. Or give a spoonful of juice of penny royal mist with brown sugar candy twice a day. Or half a pint of milk warm from the cow with the quantity of a nutmeg of conserve of roses dissolved in it every morning. Or dissolve a scruple of salt of tartar in a quarter of a pint of clear water add to it ten grains of finely powdered cochineal and sweeten it with loaf sugar."
These are excerpts that I found on a much more updated version of the book (1858) on Google Books which you can find at the bottom of this post.
The book is full of odd remedies for the poor. But its not the strangest stuff Wesley wrote concerning health care.
I mentioned before that Wesley opened two free health clinics in England. I forgot to mention that the reason he opened these was because of his newly bought "electric machines" that he used to administer electric shock to patients to cure ailments such as headaches and bloody noses. Yep - that's right. Wesley, the beloved founder of the Methodist movement pioneered the concept of medical electric shock after Ben Franklin had discovered electricity (albeit, it was more for physical problems and not the mental prescriptions we think of today). He kept a journal, wrote, and published about his success with electric shock in a book called the Desideratum or Electricity Made Plain and Useful (which you can also read below if you're that interested). But here's an excerpt from the 1759 edition:
"John Read Cabinet maker in Warder Street was for six years afflicted with violent Pains in the back of his neck In Spring 1758 he was electrified about twice a Week for a Month and quite cured."

"Joseph Jones was taken about March 12 1757 with a violent Pain in the Stomach He received the same day a few gentle Shocks The Pain went off and returned no more."
So there you have it. Wesley did in the 18th century some stuff we would consider very strange today, and most likely, it was somewhat strange even then. He even rode a mechanical horse in his bedroom as a sort of primitive precursor to the treadmill or stationary bike to keep in shape. But he did this for purely theological purposes -

1) Wesley cared about people souls.
2) He believed that well-being of one's soul was greatly impacted by their physical health.
3) Wesley saw too many people not able to afford health care.
Wesley cared deeply about God's people. This is a calling that every professed Christian shares whether they like or not. I don't honestly know what Wesley would say about the current healthcare debate, and again, spreading a political agenda is not the point of this post. I'm sure he would agree with many points on the right and left. But in the end there's no question or debate for Wesley:

God's people need to be cared for.

And this IS NOT a political statement. Its a Gospel imperative. In the end, no matter what you believe about current healthcare legislation, if you are a Christian, you by definition care about people. While people argue about the logistics of how people should be cared for, where the money comes from, how this works or doesn't work with American law (which are all valid and important conversations that need to take place), if Jesus were here today he wouldn't have much time to debate - because he would be healing people. Jesus calls us to do the same in the Gospels.
And by the way - the rest of the title of the Desideratum is this:
"By a Lover of Mankind and of Common Sense"

This is the Fast that I Desire

2010-03-03T14:13:00.001-05:00

Hey all, here is a guest post by Adam Thada I really think is worth reading...

During the first Sunday of lent, my laptop screen went kaput. This normally wouldn’t have been cause for concern. It’s only a month old and still under warranty, but I just moved to South America, and there doesn’t appear to be a single Dell repair center on the entire continent. My wife and I seem to use our laptop for everything here – work-related writing and excel sheets, e-mailing, blogging, calling supporters in the U.S., personal budgeting, listening to music, watching movies, listening to Mars Hill sermons, and even playing cards. So we were understandably a little frustrated. But during this season of fasting, repentance, and reflection, I was able to see the grace and opportunity in this interruption.
Fasting, in the traditional sense of abstaining from certain food and drink, helps us put our sustenance in its proper place. Our well being, maintained by the bounty of the earth, is a gift from God. Like any good thing, however, it can be abused. Today there is a sad crisis in the world surrounding food; about a billion people are overweight while another billion can’t seem get enough to eat. It’s not hard to see that our food production and consumption patterns are not in harmony with God’s intent.
So to it can be with my computer. Too often, I spend countless hours reading news that I don’t really need to know, I vainly post my latest thoughts for my 356 “friends” on Facebook, or I watch endless hours of footage from the Colbert Report. Being informed, staying in contact with friends, or enjoying a favorite show are healthy habits, but in excess they can displace other very productive and healthy ways of spending my time.
And so a broken laptop gave me some spare hours to reflect on how I could arrange my hours anew. Being raised in the church, my first impulse was to spend more time on my “spiritual life” (as if the rest of my life is secular?) – reading the Bible, praying, doing devotions, and memorizing the Scriptures. Certainly, the world and I would probably be better if that was so. But my mind came back to that famous Old Testament scripture on fasting, in Isaiah 58 (excepts here, but I encourage you to read the whole chapter ):
“…You are living for yourselves even while you are fasting. You keep right on oppressing your workers. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? … You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like a blade of grass in the wind… Do you really think this will please the Lord?
No, the kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned and to stop oppressing those who work for you. Treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
If you do these things, your salvation will come like the dawn… Then, when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.” (NLT)
God’s intent is not personal piety for its own sake. He doesn’t want our hearts for one day a week if our bodies, economies, and social systems are dysfunctional the other six. He doesn’t want a holy enclave isolated from those suffering at the margins. What he wants is reconciliation, between family members, between races and cultures and countries, even reconciliation with the very earth from which we derive our life. I have heard it said that when there was hunger among the early Christian church, the whole community would fast until there was enough food for everyone to eat. The fast served a dual purpose, or perhaps we can say it was multidimensional, reconciling everything at once and not excluding anyone.
So with a broken laptop screen, I had a choice. I knew that there were endless ministry opportunities around the city. There is an orphanage that is overcrowded and understaffed, hundreds of babies with no one to hold them or feed them. The south side of town is run at night by glue-sniffing children who are largely abused, neglected and ignored. Whole neighborhoods are without running water, and the overpriced water they buy is filthy. There was no reason that I couldn’t connect my own spiritual growth and fasting practices with the pain that was so obvious in my own community.
Then something else unexpected happened – my laptop was miraculously fixed by a local technician in 24 hours for a reasonable price, not something I was told to anticipate in Latin America. Perhaps I should have left it in the closet until Easter! So instead of the forced fast that I was initially faced with, I have to choose it now, rearranging my hours so that I can be at service to my God and my neighbors. It has yet to be seen if I will, but God has used this incident to reinvigorate my imagination. After this season of Lent, during the day-to-day grind of life, we will all be faced with the same choice. We can continue with our own vision of spiritual growth and personal piety, or we can join God in the fast that he desires.
After language school, Adam Thada and his wife Becky will work in El Alto, Bolivia with Word Made Flesh, where the community has established a hospitality center for women who prostitute (La Casa de Esperanza). WMF Bolivia is about to launch a new employment and counseling program, where women will be able to make and export quality craft items as a source of alternative employment.

Tall Blue People and Scary Preachers...

2010-03-01T15:30:00.002-05:00

Okay, here's the deal. I didn't particularly like Avatar either. Sure, the graphics were great, and it was cool to see once, but the story was lame and predictable.

But here's what Mark Driscoll thought about it. I really have no words to describe how silly I think this is (okay I actually do, but I'm trying to be Christ-like)

But what do you think?

An Open Letter to Anyone Disgruntled with Christianity... From a Postmodern Jesus Follower

2010-02-24T10:52:00.007-05:00

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I believe that it’s important for me to clear some things up. Even though what’s below represents some of my convictions, know that Christianity represents a broad range of beliefs and ideas that are not shared by all. That being said, here are 10 things that I really want to communicate to you:

1) I also get frustrated when christians say one thing, but do the opposite.

2) I don’t understand either why most christians simply refuse to take what Jesus said seriously.

3) I do want to apologize to you for how bad and poor quality the christian entertainment industry usually has been over the years. I am often times embarrassed.

4) Or, maybe I should apologize that there’s even a christian retail market to begin with. Jesus was against materialism, so I suppose that would include things that bear his name also.

5) Not all christians are like televangelists asking for money or like the people in mass crowds handing out pamphlets and holding signs with hateful messages. I apologize for how they’ve distorted your view of christianity. Just know that your frustrations with these and others are shared by christians as well.

6) I don’t like how christianity has meshed with politics either. No matter what the right or the left says, I am sure that Jesus would not be a democrat or a republican. He really isn’t concerned with with such things.

7) I also get angry when I think about all the times through history and to the present where christians have used the name of Jesus to manipulate, create fear, wage wars, or do anything to amass power over land, wealth, or people. Its disgusting. I think Jesus would be very angry.

8) I am so sorry that our churches have not been willing to listen to you, that we haven’t been as welcoming as we should, and that we haven’t loved all people the way Jesus does. I am ashamed that many churches are more concerned with stains on the carpet than loving the broken and the poor. I promise that many of us are trying to bring change in a positive and constructive way.

9) My hope has never been to “convert” you or anyone, but rather, to get dialogue started, ask for your forgiveness, and remind you through my words and especially my actions that God loves you, and nothing you could ever do could change his unwavering love for you (or even the people mentioned in #5).

10) Don’t expect that because I follow Jesus I am trying to be perfect or that I am trying to convince people that I'm perfect. I have issues, mistakes, and problems in my life too. But, this in no way makes my efforts to be like Jesus less genuine. Without them, I will never grow or learn.

I hope this clears some things up between us. I wanted to let you know that it's difficult for me to understand you when you say that you’re open minded, but think anyone willing to bear the label “christian” is automatically intolerant, ignorant, or gullible. Please be open to the possibility that you don’t have us all figured out.

Even though I've mentioned above the many ways that my religion has failed, and will continue to get it wrong in the future, I am still a Christian and I believe that participation in church is important. We have to start understanding that the church is simply a group of admittedly broken people attempting to do what Jesus asked of his disciples together.

So many people leave the church because they are tired of christians being hypocrites. But, I hope we all can come to the conclusion that the church is supposed to be a group of transparent sinners striving to do better through God. If this could happen, no one would have so much of an issue with us being hypocrites because we wouldn't be hiding that fact. Ever. We should be embracing it. If we were anything more, we would have no need for a savior.

I hope that we can start some really good conversations sometime soon.

God is Love,
~Me

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If you want to share this, feel free to post a link to it on twitter, facebook, or wherever. If you have an issue with anything I've written here, let's get a conversation started.

Fascinating...

2010-02-23T12:33:00.001-05:00

Brian McLaren posted this a while back. I think its fascinating. It seems like Buddhism and Christianity not only have similar problems, but in some cases are trying to use the same remedies. But what do you think?

Paul in the Shadow of Jesus - Part 2

2010-02-23T12:16:00.000-05:00

Continuing my proposal that even though Paul didn't know Jesus personally (you can read Part 1 here), he understood very well the heart of Jesus, I think we should consider Philippians 2.1-5 (NRSV):

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus...

Although admittedly, we're not talking about this passage in its context (which is not the purpose of this particular study), I believe its safe to say that Paul knew that one could not follow the teachings of Jesus without intentional humility and purposeful submission. This is what Jesus taught, and showed by example.

Are You Ready to Fall?...

2010-02-21T09:44:00.004-05:00

As we journey toward the cross together, I thought I'd share some devotional material.

Take a look at Psalm 38. Read it aloud. Read it again. And Again.

"But My will is that you do not try to find a place free from temptations and troubles. Rather, seek a peace that endures even when you are beset by various temptations and tried by much adversity." - Jesus speaking to his disciple in Thomas Kempis' The Imitation of Christ (Penguin Classics, pg 108, December 30, 1952).

Is your faith about managing and avoiding sin, or living in God's grace? Do live your life knowing that Jesus hung on the cross in your place, or do you live out your faith as though Jesus' death doesn't cover your sins?

Are you ready to fall?

Beginning the Journey

2010-02-17T17:05:00.002-05:00

As I'm sure you know, today is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent on the liturgical calendar which spans forty days (not including sundays).

I'm hoping to have several reflections on here throughout Lent on the idea of "genuine discipleship". I hope we'll have some guests posting thoughts for the season here as well.

Something to think about:

1) Why do people need to ask everyone what they're giving up for Lent?

and...

2) Why do people feel the need to tell everyone what they're attempting to go without through Lent?

Its almost like we approach the season with thinking that whoever comes up with the most creative sacrifice is the most spiritual christian or wiser than the losers who can't think of anything better than meat. In fact, asking people what they're giving up or pronouncing what you're giving up is completely contradictory to reason for the Lenten journey.

Lent is about humility. Its about dying to ourselves, so Christ can live in us. Its about remembering that we came from dust and one day we'll return to dust (Genesis 2.7 and 3.19). Its about purging, and cleansing, and transformation. Its about rest. Its about realizing where we're being tempted with power and glory and for this repenting. Its painful. Its joyous. Its about Jesus.

Don't let a season about self-denial be for you a season of self-righteousness. Fast, pray continually, and be open to the whispers of God. Don't let your penitence and supplication be seen and noticed by others unless that's what you're seeking - praise from men. I guarantee that if that's what you seek you can find it. Instead, only let your Father in heaven see, who will reward you in secret and by his means (Matthew 6.16-18).

Book of King James... I mean Eli

2010-02-15T15:30:00.004-05:00

So I finally got out to see a movie this weekend, and it happened to be Book of Eli - not a cheesy valentine's day movie. Anyways, the movie is entertaining and has great character and plot development. I enjoyed it.

***Spoiler Warning***

At first I was trying to make parallels to the biblical Eli (whose name in Hebrew means literally "My God") who trained and mentored the prophet Samuel, but I had trouble making any connection. This was problematic for several reasons, not the least of which being that the movie's Eli died an honorable and idyllic death, whereas the Bible's Eli died in a not so picturesque way. Although they were both blind at their death, the biblical account tells us that Eli died because he fell backwards out of his chair and his overweight body caused his neck to break. You can read the account here.

The one thing that bothered me about the movie was at the end when Eli recited for record the King James Bible while someone wrote down what he remembered - which happened to be everything, word for word. The idea of orally passing along the story of the Bible seemed very cool to me at first. But, while recalling the story, it became static and empty very quickly when Eli also recalled the verse and chapter numbers.

Driving home after the movie, two scenes really stuck with me, the one mentioned above and the finished KJV printed and bound being placed on the bookshelf in between the Tanak, Torah, and Quran (and mentioned was Shakespeare). After wrestling with the importance of these two scenes in relation to the overall message of the movie, I came to a conclusion: The movie really has nothing to do with the "word of God" (sorry Bible nerds and Christian's looking for a "feel good" movie moment). Instead, what I got from the movie was that the story was about preserving the King James Bible (1611), not the Bible per se.

And why not? The literary document has been integral to the art, science, and philosophy of the modern Western world. Wasn't that the point of the movie - to reacquaint the struggling people with the major cultural influences that were backbone of everything people once knew in order to rebuild society in the shadow of what was lost?

Keeping in mind the dichotomy I found this movie placed between the KJV and the Bible as the inspired word of God, the Book of Eli should allow us to ask the serious question:

Hasn't the Bible been misused and abused by enough people in powerful authoritative positions (think Eli's nemesis) that we now more than ever should rethink the cultural value we've placed upon it and, instead, start to focus more on its actual message for humanity and all of creation?

Paul in the Shadow of Jesus - Part 1

2010-02-09T12:04:00.000-05:00

I used to love disregarding what Paul had to say in his letters to different churches. For some reason, I felt that what he had to say was at odds with what Jesus said and did. I still love the idea of being a "Red Letter Christian". But I now am starting to understand that reading Paul can help me to actually better live that out. Even though Paul didn't know Jesus in the flesh, the more I read what he wrote, I am seeing more and more just how much Paul is in synch with the message of Jesus. I understand that Christianity today would look quite differently without Paul's theology, but my appreciation is growing in a healthy direction.

Here's an example of Paul's writing reflecting the message of Jesus from Galatians 5.13-15 (NRSV):

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

Paul is in the midst of explaining to the Galatian church here why they should disregard teachers informing them that they must be circumcised (I have written on this before, which I encourage you to read here for more context).

But I love it when Paul writes, "... through love become slaves to one another" before quoting Jesus saying "You shall love your neighbor as yourself". Paul understands the centrality of love to Jesus' teaching and he clearly encourages all of the churches embrace it. I can't read Paul and not see that he holds Jesus' life and teaching (which by the way, he only learned of secondhand) in the highest regard.

Do you agree or disagree with me here?

What is Our Mission?

2010-02-09T11:14:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about this lately - what is the mission of the church? It seems that this is something christians in America have issues agreeing upon. Or, maybe the disagreement has more to do with how we approach or act out the mission in today's world.

But what are your thoughts? Why do we have issues with this?

Building On Sand

2010-02-04T14:11:00.008-05:00

{Adapted from Matthew 7.21-23 in the NRSV}

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of God.

But Lord, Lord, did we not keep clean and secure the beautiful structures we built so that we could gather in your name? And did we not try our best to replace secular influences with our own sub-culture of media and merchandise in your name? And do we not attempt to spread our religious influence to the world around us through powerful means?

Jesus answered them, "Only those who do the will of my Father in heaven are fit for the Kingdom of God."

Hell of a Discussion...

2010-02-03T12:04:00.005-05:00

Seems like the blogs are buzzing about hell again. I really like what Out of Ur is doing by highlighting teachings on hell from influential people.

Here are the last couple videos they've posted - the first from N.T Wright and the second from John Piper.

I have a lot of my own opinions about what these guys have to say, but I want to know what you think.
What are your thoughts?

Did We Leave This Out? - Reflections on Jesus' Anointing: Part 3

2010-02-02T14:41:00.002-05:00

Mark 14.9 (see also Matthew 26.13) ends the Gospel's story about Jesus being anointed by the woman with very costly perfume with this -

"Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her" (NRSV).

Waiting tables for several years has afforded me the wonderful opportunity of not receiving tips for my work, but gospel tracts instead. Tracts are those brochures you get on college campuses and subway stations that remind you why you cringe at the word "repent". I used to have quite the collection, and to be honest, many were quite creative. All of them however, made me simultaneously giggle and feel ashamed to be part of a religion associated with people who pushed the "good" out of the Good News.

In Matthew and Mark, the stories of Jesus' anointing end with Jesus telling everyone that what the woman has done will be told wherever the gospel is proclaimed. What will be told of her along with the Good News is how she humbled herself before the King in a manner from which her heart lead her, not how well she followed the particular rules of a religion. And - If our attempts to get anyone to embrace the Gospel (good news) comes with any strings attached that are man-made rules, then we're not spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ, we're making our own religions in the name of Jesus while leaving out what he actually taught. This is why the Pharisees always butted heads with Jesus. Their lives were wrapped around a religion with rules that didn't affect their heart in anyway. "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness" - Jesus in Luke 11.39 (NRSV).

Religious rules don't matter to Jesus. There's no such thing as a "good" Christian. Jesus doesn't care what we wear on Sunday mornings (shout out to my friend Ann Lantz), nor does he really mind if we sleep in on Sunday mornings (granted there's some Sabbath in your life). He isn't concerned whether or not we can recite creeds, or if we memorize Bible verses. God doesn't care if we wear Christian clothing or listen to Christian music.

He cares about where our hearts are and what our intentions are. He cares how we make decisions, and why we do anything we do. God cares about how we view and treat ourselves and others. And he cares deeply about our devotion to him over all other potential gods (which includes religion).

An important aspect of the Good News is that God loves us for who we really are. Not who we're told we should pretend to be.

So where are you?

Do you live out the Gospel, individually or communally in a manner that reminds people of what this woman did?

Do you proclaim the Good News of Jesus with her in mind?

Smile like a Saint, Love like a Sinner - Reflections on Jesus' Anointing: Part 2

2010-02-01T15:15:00.003-05:00

My last post had to do with the somewhat similar stories of Jesus' anointing in Matthew, Mark, and John, in particular in reference to the relationship and sometimes difficult conflict between worship and charity. Luke's Gospel has a lot of parallels with the other's regarding Jesus being anointed, but is unique unto its own. Luke gives us a very different story in 7:36-50 that I highly suggest reading here.

(picture of sculptures I took at the Santa Barbara Mission depicting Jesus helping sinful woman)

As we read here, Jesus understood something about the relationship between seeking forgiveness for sin and the ability to love God and his people. I really want to pick apart verse 47 - which reads, "Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love..." (NRSV). On the surface, one could argue that Jesus is implying here that to have "great love" for God and his people, one must have many sins for Jesus to forgive - so sin away! But we know that reading the passage in this way doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Instead, we can infer that Jesus is implying that we all have sinned much, but some of us, like Simon the Pharisee, have issues recognizing or admitting our sin.

Its difficult for us to be a church full of loving people if we're trying to sell ourselves to Jesus and our communities as saints instead of just being transparent as sinners. Simon the Pharisee believed that he was good and had little to be forgiven for because of his religious fervor. Jesus tells us that "... the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little" (47). Its easy for any of us to fall into the trap of thinking we are saints on account of our own merit (i.e. going to church regularly, tithing, serving the poor) instead on account of what Jesus has done on our behalf.

If we're going to follow Jesus' commandments to love God and his people as best we can, we need to start understanding that it starts with us constantly confessing our sinfulness, letting our tears fall on Jesus' feet in passionate worship, and learning the differences between what God and man see as righteous. May we all wrestle intently with this passage.

Reflections on Jesus' Anointing: Part 1 - Feet

2010-01-28T12:49:00.001-05:00

The story of Jesus' anointing can be read in all four of the canonical Gospels. We'll take a look at Mark 14.3-9 (NRSV). [Picture - I took of sculpture at Santa Barbara Mission depicting sinful woman being helped by Jesus]

³While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.⁴But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? ⁵For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. ⁶But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. ⁷For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. ⁸She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. ⁹Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

What's tough for the disciples to understand here is that even though Jesus taught them that care for the poor is a priority, it is not thee priority of a follower of Jesus. When Jesus tells them, "you always have the poor with you" (14.7) he is not telling them that poverty will never cease, so they might as well not worry about it so much. Instead, he is teaching them that as followers of The Way, they should purposefully be surrounding themselves with the poor. Even as we should be creating relationships with and caring for the poor, we should even more so be cherishing our time with Jesus, who sustains us and enables us to care for some one other than ourselves.

This is why we worship. I would argue that the definition of worship is to figuratively and often times literally fall at the feet of someone or something. In our case, I really like the Gospel of John's twist on the story (John 12.3), where the very costly perfume is poured on Jesus' feet (instead of his head). Mary (according to John's Gospel) anoints Jesus' feet as an act of worship!

So the deeper message and reality for disciples is that when we have the opportunity to fall at Jesus' feet, and give to him what is so very costly to us, we do so as we give our lives in worship. It is here where we lay our gifts and our crowns at the feet of the King. And, it is here where we expose our broken selves to the mercy of Jesus where we receive our calls to serve and care for the poor. All attempts to care for the poor without the sustaining patience and guiding wisdom of God, as we see here, have much potential to be in vain, no matter what we perceive our motives to be.

What are your thoughts on the relationship between worship and charity?

This is a New Year

2010-01-01T09:36:00.002-05:00

I apologize, I took a blogging break to focus on work and my personal life during the holiday season. Yes, church work is ridiculously busy during December!

Anyways - here's a devotional for your new year.

Lamentations 3 -

²¹But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: ²²The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; ²³they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ²⁴“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” ²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.

You should read the whole chapter! Heck - read the whole book of Lamentations! Either way, Lord help us to embrace what is new this New Year. G. K. Chesterton wrote - “The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul” (thanks @philosophytweet!). His promise of love and mercy never end, no matter what has happened in the past. Let us be made new by this promise.

Keeping the 'X' in Xmas

2009-12-07T20:06:00.001-05:00

When it comes to Advent, I have never really experienced such a general blanket of misunderstandings concerning something that so many people confidently believe they know. The more years I teach on advent and the birth of Jesus, the more I realize that the majority of Christians not only aren't sure what advent is really about, we also haven't the faintest clue about what the Bible really narrates about the birth of Jesus.

I will begin writing a series of posts concerning the season of Advent and the birth narratives of Jesus according to the Gospels. I am really looking forward to writing these so please keep reading!

But first - here's something I wrote (with a couple revisions) and posted on facebook on December 14, 2006.

Okay, you caught me, and yes, I am guilty. I am one of “those people" who writes X-Mas instead of Christmas. Now, before I am thrown to the dogs of blasphemy and heresy, I feel compelled to make my case. You see when people write X-Mas, they are not “taking Christ out of Christmas". Instead, this is actually a Greek X (Chi) which is the first letter (or initial ) of Christ in Greek; Christos, meaning “anointed". Thus, we both are keeping Christ in Christmas. The Church uses initials as symbols like this quite frequently, like the IHS that can be found sporadically throughout our own sanctuary. These are the first three Roman transliterations of Jesus’ name in Greek; Ἰησοῦς (iota, eta, sigma).

This Advent, I pray we as the body of Christ can focus on what is important to the season, even if this means halting the quarrel between those who sign Merry Christmas versus Merry X-Mas. I fully agree, let us keep Christ in Christmas, but let us do so understanding that this means offering patience and love towards our neighbors, as Christ would have wanted us to. And, in keeping Christ in Christmas, this has nothing to do with giving gifts, trees with glass ornaments, or who has the most lights in the neighborhood. It's time to remember and be changed by the fact that...

God is with us.

"Cheap Grace"

2009-11-12T16:30:00.006-05:00

I love this quote I found from my daily emailed wisdom from Richard Rohr.

"It is finally truthful action that sets us free for God, not true words in our head, which ask very little of us in terms of actual trust or surrender. We can believe all the doctrines of the church perfectly and never trust God or love one human being."

It would definitely be unfair to say that all churches or christians have an issue with this, but we've all met people who, unfortunately, either refuse to recognize this or simply do not understand that there's a problem.

As is noted in Brian McLaren's book, Finding Our Way Again, the problem is created when Christianity is more thought of as a system of beliefs instead of a way of life. When we approach Christianity in this way, is taught to us in this way, and accepted as simply a system of beliefs, we become completely disconnected from the movement Jesus started and Paul brought to the gentiles. It is honestly inconceivable to me that one could read the New Testament and not walk away with the understanding that full participation in the Jesus movement means a new way life.

I believe we can point to numerous reasons to how this became a problem for Christianity, such as the growing want for an agreed upon orthodoxy and the creeds that hence followed in the first centuries after the death of Jesus (these in themselves are not bad). But, I would like to focus on what I believe is a grave problem for modern Christianity: Our doctrines of grace and salvation (which are good!) have overshadowed our understanding of the Kingdom of God. We have focused so much on the fact that grace cannot and is not earned that we have lost sight that there are still responsibilities in regard to the Kingdom of God. I won't be able to quote this verbatim, but I remember Dallas Willard writing in The Great Omission something to the sort of, "Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning." Or, maybe you would rather prefer here Bonhoeffer's cheap vs. costly grace; cheap grace being "grace without discipleship...".

Grace is given unconditionally, but to act on behalf of God's Kingdom and to work for it, there are conditions. Somehow, though, we've taught and believed in "cheap grace" for so long that for so many Christians, following Jesus has become about what we believe instead of how we live.

We need to come to healthy understandings of discipleship where there is not a "this or that" mentality here. Instead, we should allow our beliefs as Christians to drastically change the way we live, and allow grace to work constantly through this process as we fail and try and try again.

Christianity is a way of life and a particular set of beliefs that shape the way we live. My prayer is that Christians can find this healthy balance, and we can lose our tendencies to not let our beliefs affect the way we live. Jesus followers are supposed to be different and, as I like to say, - smell different. There's something different about a person whose life is lived everyday through the cross. They are broken and aware of the pain of God's creation. They are hopeful and are at peace inside because of the promises of God. And it is clear from the way that they live, they are bleeding a raw, and unrefined love for God and all of God's people.

Midweek Mess - Things of Note from the Past Week (11.11.2009)

2009-11-11T09:16:00.002-05:00

Hey all - some links I'd think you'd enjoy checking out. I'd love to get some discussion rolling from any of these! Hope you're all having a great week.

We should be listening to everything Chris Seay has to say. Here's a great article he recently wrote, and a video below that should get us thinking.

You've got to hear this sermon from Efrem Smith. Listen beginning to end - You won't regret it!
Here's the Quicktime Video of the sermon.

Brian McLaren's new book!

A book burning? You've got to read this, you won't know whether to laugh or cry.

Ok - that's all I've got for now!
Peace,
~Andy

A Prayer for Monday.

2009-11-09T15:10:00.000-05:00

It's a bit nostalgic right now, staring out the window of a coffee shop near the neighborhood I spent the majority of my childhood. Its strange to ponder where all the years have gone and how every childhood experience seemed to help shape me into the person I am today. Being here makes me feel small. Feeling small helps me to realize God's greatness and his whispering presence that's been in my life from the beginning.

Anyway, here's a prayer for Monday (NRSV Philippians 2.6-8) ...

Lord God, let us have the same mind as Jesus -

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death -

even death on a cross.

Thank you Jesus. For only through your sacrifice am I able to live fully as a child of God.

~Amen

Issues With Church: 2 - Tithing

2009-11-05T15:52:00.006-05:00

How most Christians view tithing is strange to me. As a kid growing up in church, I always wondered specifically how the 10% number happened to fall out of the sky and out of people’s checkbooks. As it turns out, its from the Bible. The word tithe in Hebrew actually means “the tenth part of”. Here are a couple passages that deal with tithing in the Hebrew Bible (all Bible references are NRSV).

leviticus 27.30-33

³⁰All tithes from the land, whether the seed from the ground or the fruit from the tree, are the Lord’s; they are holy to the Lord. ³¹If persons wish to redeem any of their tithes, they must add one-fifth to them. ³²All tithes of herd and flock, every tenth one that passes under the shepherd’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord. ³³Let no one inquire whether it is good or bad, or make substitution for it; if one makes substitution for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy and cannot be redeemed.

Numbers 18.21-32

²¹To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for a possession in return for the service that they perform, the service in the tent of meeting...

From what I can tell, these and other passages in the Hebrew Bible indicate that a tithe was distributed for the Levites, the poor, or the monarchy.

But maybe you’re asking the same questions as I am. When we give 10% of our income to the church, are we doing what the Bible requires of us? I would argue - not exactly. The church today doesn’t use the services of Levite priests and the services of our clergy today are not even closely related to those of the Levites.

Besides all of this, is there evidence in the New Testament that followers of Jesus gave a tenth of their resources? The simplest and straight forward answer I can give is - no. I may be completely wrong, but I can find nothing in the Bible that suggests that Jesus followers are required to take part in the tithing laws of the Torah.

Here’s what the New Testament says:

Mark 12.41-44

⁴¹He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴²A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. ⁴³Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. ⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

1 Corinthians 16:1-4 speaks about a collection for “the saints” (i.e. believers) and specifically mentions putting aside “whatever extra you earn” for that collection. Notice, here, this is not a specific amount of money such as a tenth.

2 Corinthians 8 and 9 are also about the collection of money. Specifically 9.6-7 reads, “The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

In Acts chapter 5 we can read the story of Ananias and Sapphira. The husband and wife both dramatically die because they held back only “some” of the money they acquired from selling a piece of land from the apostles.

***
From scripture then, we can read that the requirements for Jesus followers to give is not akin to the tithe that the Hebrew Bible requires of Israelites. Surely, collection in the early church was still gathered to help fund the spreading of the Jesus movement and to help the poor. I believe our churches do a fair job of using the resources its received to spread the Jesus movement in the communities where we exist, but I think we all need to take a much deeper look at how much money our churches spend on behalf of the poor.

Matthew 23.23 (also see parallel verse Luke 11.42)

²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.

These strong words from Jesus clearly reflect those from the prophet Amos in Amos 4.4-5. In my own words what these verses tell is- we can give and tithe all we want, but if we neglect the needs of the poor and neglect matters of the heart, our sacrifice is not acceptable to God.

So, I believe that we scriptures tell us at least two basic things about how followers of Jesus should give.

As my wife likes to say - “Give until it hurts”. Followers of Jesus do not give out of their abundance but out of their poverty. The call of a Christ follower is not to give until we reach 10%. In fact, if we are using a percentage marker to gauge where we start and stop giving, then we are not being cheerful givers who give because of the joy it brings to God and in return to us. Instead, percentage based giving can hinder God from moving through our lives and the resources he’s blessed us with directly to those who are in need. Always remember - a sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to God is not monetary, but rather is a broken and contrite heart. If our hearts are fully broken before the God then we’ve handed over the pieces of our lives to God in admittance that we cannot put them back together. The puzzle is too difficult for us to finish and there are too many missing pieces. Only when we enter this place can we realize that we have nothing and we are nothing without the love of God. It is here that we can learn to give freely, joyfully, and out of our poverty.
Remember the poor. If somehow we can learn to give out of our poverty we can learn to meet the needs of other’s poverty. If our giving is not reaching the poor, we participate in injustice. If our giving ignores the poor, we help spread injustice in the Kingdom of God. If our sacrifices do not even take into consideration the needs of the poor, then our giving is in vain and not pleasing to God. We should all reevaluate how our resources reach the poor, even if our giving goes directly to the church. Churches (which are people) have a deep responsibility to meet the needs of the poor. How much of your church's income is distributed in resources for the poor, as opposed to spent on itself?

Never forget that these two ideas must work together at all times. We can give to the poor often, but if our hearts are not broken in humility towards towards the greatness of God, then our giving can and most likely is in vain. But in return, if our hearts are far from God, but we are good at going through the motions of being a Christian, we’d probably want to take a closer look at humbling ourselves by finding out how much we’re using our resources to help the poor.

Issues With Church: 1 - Prayer

2009-11-02T13:30:00.087-05:00

So here are my thoughts on prayer. I don't so much have an issue with prayer, but rather with conceptions (or misconceptions) about prayer. My personal thoughts on prayer are messy, and I'm sure sometimes not reasoned well. Nonetheless, my faith is messy, and the further I go on this journey following Jesus I have more and more questions, and less and less answers. I need grace. I know there are numerous different types of prayer and this post certainly isn't addressing all of them.

At most churches, caring congregation members can easily find a list of the church's prayer requests. If we're going to be honest, there is a problem with most of our lists. Most (granted, not all) prayers submitted for addition to these lists are viewed as the result of something that "happened" to someone, seemingly taking the responsibility off of the person being prayed for or there is no association of wrong doing with what "happened". While we pray for things like John's broken wrist (which I'm not saying is bad), our prayer lists are usually ignoring the issues in people's lives that drastically, immediately, and sometimes eternally effect their soul's well-being.

The reason? In all the churches I have ever been a part of we have a difficult time seeking counsel and help for problems that carry social stigmas with them. I'm not saying there's not a right time and place for confessing sins or asking for prayer for bad situations. I don't even think its necessarily a bad thing that churches have a public and a private list of prayer requests. The issue I have is that a consistent line is drawn between the types of problems put on our lists.

Maybe we have this idea that there is an unspoken rule for public prayer request lists in churches. But as the church should pray for John's blood pressure, shouldn't we also be praying for Susan's anger issues? Or what about Bob's depression and loneliness because of his broken marriage and relationship with his kids? And what about Tony's (I am having trouble making up random generic names here) problems with finances caused by reckless spending and poor credit card use?

Granted, I fully understand, as did Wesley, that one's physical well being directly effects their spiritual well-being. But it would seem, to me at least, that issues such as these that can painstakingly effect our relationships with God, are just as important for the church at large to be fervently praying (James 5.17) for - if not possibly more important - as one's spiritual well-being is, in the end, what God is concerned with. If we only pray for the things in each other's lives that carry no weight of responsibility, we run the serious risk of Jesus labeling us "hypocrite". Our attempts to hide our deepest struggles behind our "Sunday Best" can only result in anxiety, pride, and in the end, shallowness of faith.

To many like myself, when churches approach prayer in this manner, it comes across as inauthentic or not genuine. And the larger problem for churches here is that, personally, I believe a lack of genuineness is one of the main reasons that drives Jesus seekers in my generation out of the church because we crave authentic relationships and community working together for the purposes of God's Kingdom. If we honestly can't find that in the local church, I hope that the Spirit will help us to find it elsewhere.

This is just the beginning of my problems with prayer. I'll post more issues I have later. In the meantime though, I hope we keep praying for people on our church's prayer request lists, and we take more time to thank the people who spend time putting these lists together for our congregations. And, yes, I will keep praying.

Friday Fun: Videos I Think You'll Enjoy...

2009-10-30T09:42:00.001-04:00

Hope you find these as funny as I did...

And I thought this would be as nostalgic for some of you as it was for me...

Also - here's imonk's "Halloween Rant". Hope everyone has a happy Halloween!

Circumcision and the Church

2009-10-29T12:30:00.000-04:00

I had just finished up leading a Bible Study last week on “The Allegory of Hagar and Sarah” in Galatians 4. As soon as the students left that morning I opened up my google reader to submerge myself into the blogosphere. Coincidentally, Peter Rollins had a post about what he called the "Circumcision Question”. If you do not know who Peter Rollins is, I highly recommend reading anything he writes. He is one of the most forward thinking Christians I’ve ever had the opportunity to come across. Anyways, in this post he draws a somewhat forgotten line from the earliest church’s debates over circumcision to what the problem equates to for the community of Jesus followers today.

After Paul had left the Galatian church, new persons arrived claiming to the gentile church that they were welcomed into the covenant of the Israelites through the messiah as Paul had claimed, so long as they followed the Mosaic Law and hence became circumcised. Needless to say, Paul found out about this and not only disagreed, but was also unhappy with the situation. The letter to the churches of Galatia is what followed as Paul’s response to this problem.

What we read specifically in Paul’s allegory of chapter 4 is that gentile Jesus followers have a choice: they can either be slaves to the law or free through “...faith working (or made effective) through love” (5.6 NRSV). At first glance, its tough to find the relevancy for Jesus followers today, especially since we don’t happen to be debating or discussing issues of circumcision often in our gatherings. But in reality, as a church we are still deeply struggling with the concept of what is necessary to fully participate in life as a Jesus follower (and a community of Jesus followers) and what is not necessary. “Not necessary” can be misleading here though, because not only was circumcision not necessary, but it was also, according to Paul, a direct hindrance to fully living for the purposes of the Kingdom of God.

So let’s struggle openly, as the early church did only a couple decades after the death and resurrection of Jesus, with what Rollins so wisely calls the “Circumcision Question”. What are the essential misguidings of the church today that bind Jesus followers to the yoke of slavery (5.1) instead of the freedom for which Christ came?

Midweek Mess - Things of Note from the Past Week

2009-10-28T15:50:00.000-04:00

Hey All,

We'll do this each week, but here are some things I think are worth checking out from the blogs that I enjoy following!

Peter Rollins on the 'Circumcision Question'

A pretty solid argument from the Bible for Women in Ministry. This was a good read.

A great article from the OOZE on mistakes that churches must avoid.

Methodists and the Emerging Church

Hope you enjoy!

Peace,

~Andy

A Not So New Endeavor...

2009-10-26T10:45:00.000-04:00

Although I know that I am a week late, I realized that the yearly Torah reading schedule just started over. So, as I did last year at this time, I plan to attempt to read the Torah in a year's time but this time getting past Exodus. If you're interested, here you can find some info on the weekly readings as well as the reading schedule.

I love disciplined reading schedules. They help to keep me focused on actually reading scripture instead of relying on my "feelings" to not only motivate me to read but to find the "right" passages to read. Sure, there's benefit to allowing the Holy Spirit to teach me and lead me through scripture seemingly randomly. The honest of those of us who choose to read scripture in this manner can admit that the motivation to read is difficult to maintain, and thus this reading plan over long periods of time bears little fruit.

But there's also so much wisdom to allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through a planned out reading schedule as well, not to mention the communal benefits of reading along with the Jewish faith community . Since I'm sure I'm in the same boat as everyone in wanting to read more scripture than I am currently doing, why not add a planned reading schedule to my current random reading? Plus, who doesn't love the stories that the Torah provides. Feel free to join me in reading the Torah for the next year. We're already into Noah (Genesis 6:9-11:32), so now's a great time to start reading along!