New Beginnings

I've finally figured out how to make all my posts visible.  The posts are listed under Archives and may be accessed one at a time according to date.  I'm surprised to see that my first posts were over six years ago.  In reading some of my earlier posts I think they are more relevant than ever, considering the current political movement in which the political right and conservative Christianity try to coalesce for the furtherance of their political/religious ideals.  The dangers of uniting political power to religious fervor are apparent as far back in history as one chooses to go and it's no different today.  Christians make the mistake of thinking that politically they may achieve what they have not been able to achieve through moral persuasion, not realizing that power granted to the state may one day be turned against them.  God furthered his own agenda by having his Son submit to the power of the state rather than utilizing the state, as was the desire of all those Jews who visualized Jesus as their political Messiah, waving their palms in the excitement of a hoped-for earthly kingdom.  Easter was God's work done God's way, through suffering and death, not political power.  More later. 

PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR

Holy Father and Lord:

For thy faithfulness through the year past we give thee thanks. Thou hast sustained us by the very Breath of thy being. Truly, "in thee we live and move and have our being." Thou hast kept us enclosed, surrounded and engulfed in thy holy presence. We are infused and enlivened by thy Holy Spirit. There was not one moment in this past year when we were not saved through your loving mercy and grace.

For the promise of the new year we give thee thanks. Thou wilt sustain us through all that might come our way. Thy loving presence will go before us. Wherever we might find ourselves we will never be apart from thee. We do not fear what lies before because "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." We are already "more than conquerors" and so shall we continue to be in the year before us.

For the coming of thy kingdom we give thee thanks. We know that through the resurrection of Christ thy coming kingdom has dawned and swept us up into its promise. Even now does thy kingdom grow towards the glorious emerging of the New Jerusalem. "He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love."

For the new year may we submit ourselves to the moving power and freedom of thy Holy Spirit that we might be the continual instruments of thy grace to all those to whom you might send us. May we as the people of God shine forth as the light of God that, unhindered, thou mayest complete the kingdom work for which thy Son did give his life.

Finally, "come quickly, Lord Jesus." May "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Fill us in the coming year with thy Spirit so that the heavenly vision will become our earthly vision and the earthly one our heavenly one, "until every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that thou art Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Amen.

LESSON 12

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Linda and I just returned from a Christmas Eve service. I couldn't help wondering as we sang beautiful Christmas carols, many derived from the story found in Luke 2, how none of these songs would have been written had God simply given us 2000 years ago a doctrinal treatise on his love for man. I was reminded that our faith rests in a story, and stories lend themselves to repeated telling. And beautiful stories like the one found in Luke 2 inspire beautiful music.

But how much of the story is historical truth? Recently I read a book by Marcus Borg in which he concluded that many of the stories about Jesus are true only metaphorically, much like the way poems contain truth couched in metaphorical language. On the other hand, we have those who proudly proclaim their belief that all stories of the Bible are historically factual.

In questions like this I return to that about which I wrote in an earlier blog: let us rejoice and fellowship with those who claim that Christ is Lord by virtue of the fact that he died and rose again for our sins. I refuse to believe that early Christians were moved to the point of death by belief in the resurrection as metaphor. And for two thousand years the church has survived and thrived because of its belief that the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus was not just a metaphor but the great act of God for our salvation.

However, when it comes to the historical events surrounding Jesus birth I can fellowship with those who see many of these stories as metaphorical truth. While this may not sit well with some, which I understand, I am convinced that ultimately we will be held accountable more for what we did in our lives beacuse of the stories than exactly how we believed about them. Belief in the Bible can be a source of pride which Jesus faced in many of the Pharisees of his day, who had a strongly conservative view of the Old Testament scriptures. To them he said: "You search the scriptures and in them you think you have life, but they testify of me and you will not come to me."

In the sovereignty of God we have been given the beautiful accounts of Jesus' birth. And those accounts have inspired the most beautiful music the world has ever witnessed. Our faith centers on the story of a person whom God sent to reconcile the world unto himself. Doctrine alone would not have saved; great words would not have saved. Only the person of Jesus, Son of God, could save. And because he came in history the story of his coming is one which continues to be told and which continues to inspire song and belief. The ultimate response to the songs of Christmas is that we worship "Jesus, Lord at Thy birth."

May the joy and beauty of Christmas fill your hearts and lives this Christmas season. "O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord."

LESSON 11

CHRISTMAS CONTINUED

To say, as I did in my previous blog, that "God identifies with the powerless" does not negate the primary mission of Jesus to "seek and to save that which was lost." Liberation theologies of the past generation wholly identified Jesus' mission as one of social and economic deliverance. On the other hand, evangelical theologies tended to identify Jesus' ministry solely in terms of spiritual salvation, with an emphasis on the next world. One cannot escape in scripture the presence and emphasis of both themes. Reconciling both themes seems to bring the most difficulty, with various groups leaning to one extreme or the other.

The incarnation not only reveals but enforces the value God places on human life. The concept was not new. From the beginning we are told that humankind was made in the image of God. It is shortsighted and disrespectful to much of scripture to believe that God cares only to take us to heaven. The life Jesus lived underscores the desire of God for righteousness on earth. Christianity is an ethical faith. The tension we feel, however, was also felt in New Testament times. "Faith without works is dead." "For by grace are you saved, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."

If the term "identifying" is too strong or too imprecise then another term is needed, which escapes me for the moment. But whatever term we use it must be faithful to portray adequately the extent to which God goes to bring salvation. And it must be faithful to what is revealed in scripture, that God "became poor that we might become rich." I have not thought enough along these lines to be as precise as one needs to be in theological discussion but I cannot escape what seems apparent--that God brought salvation through the surprising means of human weakness. He allowed himself to suffer utter humiliation without objection--"like a lamb before her shearers is dumb."

Jesus' example and teaching do not lead us to champion the cause of every disenfranchised group. But we also must not presuppose that God is not speaking to us through those groups. There is much room here for careful thought and reflection. We must never assume we know precisely where it is that God is or is not working. The incarnation is a great mystery and also a wonderful surprise. And what could be more surprising that to find God at work in a lowly manger?

LESSON 10

CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS CONTINUED

Of all the miraculous events surrounding the birth of Christ one which should not be overlooked is the self-emptying of Christ. While not a miracle in the normal sense in which we use the word this attitude of Christ prefigures and permeates all that Jesus did while on earth. The phrase is found in Philippians 2, where Paul admonishes Christians to "have this mind in you which was in Jesus who, although he existed in the form of God, did not think equality with God something to be held onto but emptied himself." The King James Version here says that Christ "made himself of no reputation." The Greek word used by Paul to denote the self-emptying of Christ parallels the Hebrew word used in Isaiah 53, which speaks of the Suffering Servant, who "poured out his soul unto death.

Focusing on this aspect of the incarnation brings us to the heart of God's work in Christ: the decision by Jesus in obedience to the divine imperative was a moral one. In other words, it was a conscious choice by Jesus to follow the Father's will completely, even to "death on a cross," as stated by Paul in the same passage. The wonder of the virgin birth pales in comparison to this humbling of Jesus' self. And, for Paul, it is the humbling of Jesus which is to be our example as Christians. While the New Testament clearly affirms the virgin birth Christians miss the mark when they focus on the physical miracle as an example of God's power to the neglect of the moral self-emptying of the Son of God which made all else possible.

"God's power is made perfect in weakness." This statement by God to Paul when he was seeking deliverance from his thorn in the flesh illustrates further the majesty of God in contradistinction to our normal thoughts of God. I believe it was Luther who reminded us that anyone can say that God is great--it goes with the definition of God. But only Christians can say that God is small--referring to the baby in a manger. The God of human thought emphasizes those aspects which humans find desirable--power and might. But the God of Christian thought is one who makes himself weak, who becomes poor, who humbles himself, who allows himself to be subjugated, abused, scorned and crucified.

It is the God revealed to us in Jesus whom we are to worship and emulate. This God does not identify himself with worldly power, possession, authority or position. Rather, he identifies with the weak, the poor, the disenfranchised, the powerless. And Christmas reminds us of this most poignantly. We may not be comfortable with a God who becomes the most helpless of all creatures, that of a human baby. But this is the God we are called to serve. "Late in time behold him come, offspring of a virgin's womb." "Jesus, Lord at Thy birth."

LESSON 9

MORE CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS

In my last post I wrote of the secular/sacred contrast as especially seen at Christmas. I realize that one must be careful to not draw too clear a distinction between the secular and holy when speaking of God's creation and work. All of creation is the realm of God and is in a very real sense sacred. And God manifests his glory throughout the creation and may even speak to us in a multiplicity of ways. Romans 1 indicates the revelation of God through creation.

But Christians affirm that God has spoken to us uniquely through his Son. And although all creation has a sacred quality to it not everything that mankind does is sacred. In fact, the only completely holy thing ever done in history was the life and death of Jesus. For that reason, the church is to reflect, give witness to and proclaim that holy life, death and resurrection. It is our unique mission.

The Christmas and Easter seasons provide special opportunities for the church to declare its unique message. The message must be one which can be preached to all nations and all cultures. For that reason the church must always be about examining itself to insure that its message is not captured by any particular cultural or national ethos. The message we proclaim must be the same message we might proclaim in any corner of the world. Although churches must involve themselves in the particular cultures which they serve, the message of the churches must always rise above those particular cultures.

In attempting to make the Christmas season joyous to everyone the church must not forget that the joy Jesus sought was that which "lay before him" following his faithful "endurance" of the cross. In our joy at Christmas let us not neglect nor forget the wound which lies deep within the message. For the Apostle Paul, the birth of Jesus revealed the self-emptying of Jesus, culminating in his "obedience to the point of death, even death on a cross."

LESSON 8

CHRISTMAS

Christmas can be a magical time, especially for children. I am still able to remember the wonder on Christmas morning, of seeing toys that had magically appeared over night brought by Santa Clause. At that early age I was too young to be consciously Christian. I just believed, like all children, in what I was told, whether it be in Jesus or in Santa Clause. I do not believe it was harmful to my later Christian profession to have once believed in Santa Clause. Children believe in all sorts of fantasies, whether it be Santa Clause or Cinderella. I really do not think it unChristian or harmful to allow children to believe in Santa Clause; neither do I fault those parents who have decided, out of their Christian beliefs, not to impose the Santa myth on their children.

However, what we do in church is another thing altogether. What an absolutely wonderful message Christians have to hold and to share at Christmas. The church should be ever mindful of the holy night of Jesus' birth. I find it ironic this Christmas season to see on the internet choirs breaking forth in singing the Hallelujah Chorus in public places. And then I read in a church bulletin where a church is going to have Santa Clause at its Christmas festivities. The irony is that the choirs, some secular, have taken the message of Christ into the market place while the churches have taken the market place (Santa) into worship.

I believe the commandment, "Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain," applies here. Whatever the church does, whether in worship or in activity, it attaches the Lord's name to that particular activity or worship. It is God's house. And Jesus said, "My house shall be a house of prayer." With such a wonderful and holy message as that of Christ's birth to proclaim, why would the church opt to cloud and confuse the message with one of Santa Clause? I remember over thirty years ago when my wife and I belonged to Bellview Baptist Church while attending seminary in Memphis that Bellview (one of the largest and most prominent churches in the Southern Baptist Convention, pastored by Adrian Rogers) had one of the first singing Christmas trees. It was absolutely huge. And as we gathered for worship the first song the singing Christmas tree sang was "Winter Wonderland." Later the worship morphed into the more traditional religious songs of Christmas. But the message had been given: the church has two messages to bring--one secular and one holy.

The huge singing Christmas tree was a beautiful sight, impressive and awe-inspiring. But I can't help remember the admonition of a wonderfully dear professor of mine who reminded us young preacher boys that the Psalmist admonished us to worship in the "beauty of holiness," not the "holiness of beauty."

I'm not a Christmas Grinch. As I said before, Christmas can be a magical time for children and young children do not yet have the discernment to choose between the secular and the sacred. They believe it all. But when those children are brought into the house of God let them see the beauty, majesty and holiness of Christ's birth. As they grow older, they, like us, will understand that the message of Christmas as proclaimed by the church is a message that eclipses all others. And even though their days of belief in Santa Clause will have passed their days of believing and trusting in the Jesus in the manger will have emerged and grown. "Silent night; holy night . . . . Jesus, Lord at Thy birth."

LESSON 7

CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE CROSS

While it can be a valuable and worthwhile endeavor to seek to explain more fully the cross and its meaning it must not be forgotten that our salvation comes by faith and not by understanding. Many Christians live their lives with integrity and faithfulness who do not have the time or inclination to ponder what some might call the "deeper" things of God. They simply go about their lives in assured belief that Christ died for them. That is enough. These persons are not to be criticized or accused of having a faith too simplistic. As it is for each of us our lives reflect the manner and depth of our faith. Not everyone is called by God to be a theologian, pastor or Bible teacher.

But God does call some for the task of leading others in professional ministerial callings or lay ministry. Unfortunately, further study and contemplation of biblical doctrine often leads to division rather than unity. I refer back to my post of November 19, 2010, and insist again that we must be careful that our theological inquiries do not lead us to lose fellowship over peripheral matters. I have found it remarkable in times past to see that it is possible to preach in such a way as to define Christian faith so narrowly that few could ever become Christians. And yet, these same preachers outside the confines of their churches would readily fellowship with pastors of other denominations, persons who would otherwise be condemned according to messages these pastors just preached.

Let us as Christians rejoice in the cross of Christ. Let those who are so led of the Lord to extricate more fully the nuances and theological underpinnings of Christ's death on the cross do so faithfully with adherence to the biblical texts and for the purpose of edifying the body of Christ. But let none of us suppose for a moment that we have the corner on all of God's truth. If we look to the cross in true faith we will be humbled, not magnified in our supposed learning and erudition. "In the cross of Christ I glory."

LESSON 6

THE CROSS (CONT.)

Theories of the atonement have abounded for centuries and include such descriptive names as the moral view, the representative view, blood atonement, etc. My object in writing is not to critique the various views but present briefly what I consider to be of chief importance. In my two previous blogs I discussed ethical dimensions arising from Jesus' life and death. On this blog I hope to present the salvific aspect of the cross: how does the cross bring salvation?

Very simply, Jesus "died for us" and it is through our looking to the cross in faith that we are saved. We trust that in his death our sins are forgiven. We cannot hope to understand fully the mind of God but can trust with the earliest Christians that through the death and resurrection of Jesus we are able to experience the forgiveness of God. Theories of the atonement that seek to emphasize the moral influence of the cross on our lives to the exclusion of any satisfaction or substitutionary aspects ignore scripture to the contrary. He died "as a ransom for many." "He, who knew no sin, was made to be sin for us." Opponents of satisfaction and substitution aspects of the cross attempt to deliver Christianity from what they consider to be unthinkable characterizations of God as "blood thirsty," relying, they say, too much on Old Testament rituals of blood sacrifice.

However, to be true to scripture one must not sever the life and death of Christ from his Jewish roots. And, modern sensibilities aside, the relationship of his death to that of the sacrificial worship found in the Old Testament cannot be authentically denied. Old Testament sacrifice may be seen as a type of Christ's death, foretelling it and preparing us for it. That said, the whole of the meaning in Christ's death could not be contained in the type. Christ's death completes and fulfils the message found in the type. Old Testament sacrifice tells us many things about God, among these things is that God is holy, that no human instrument or goodness can rise to the level of God's perfection, that God desires righteousness or goodness, and that God himself must provide the means whereby he may receive us without compromise to his holy nature. Blood sacrifices were a means whereby God demonstrated to his people, and ultimately to us, that his forgiveness came at great cost, ultimately to himself.

Jesus entered into our history to live a life a obedience to God, to establish historically the righteousness of God and to suffer the consequences of that righteous life. God did not deliver his own Son from the consequences of his obedient life, hence Jesus' refusal to Satan to employ any supernatural means to avoid historical reality. Otherwise, he would not have truly been our brother. Jesus lived his obedient life through faith, the same as we are called to do but at which we fail. The result of Jesus' life was that humankind crucified him, the certain indictment of humanity: in our sinfulness we slew the only righteous life that ever lived.

The murder of Jesus is the ultimate indictment against humanity. When we look to the cross we see our sins, we see our own solidarity with those who slew Jesus. In faith we repent. We begin to see that Jesus included us before God in the righteousness of his life and included us in his death and resurrection. This is what might be called a representative view of the atonement. Humans slew Jesus and in so doing brought judgment on themselves. God accepted the judgment as complete and demonstrated his acceptance through the resurrection of Jesus.

This is an incomplete and wholly unsatisfactory treatment of something which we can never fully understand until we see Jesus. However, the responsibility we have is to believe in what God has done and seek our entire lives to understand it more fully. Fides quaerens intellectum: Faith seeking understanding.

If then you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

[Thanks to Laura for showing me how to space between paragraphs!]

LESSON 5

THE CROSS (CONT.)

Continuing on the ethical dimensions of the cross event I find three scripture passages to be compelling. First, Jesus' prayer at Gethsemane indicates the conscious decision he made to follow the Father's will--"not my will but Thine be done." The subject of ethics always relates to decision making and the reasons decisions are made. In this instance it is apparent that Jesus was confronted with a choice to either save himself from the suffering that lay ahead or to commit himself fully to the Father's purpose for his life and death. But this final choice for obedience was enabled by a much earlier choice made by Jesus before his earthly appearance. The second passage makes this clear. Paul informs us that Jesus, "though existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, or grasped, but emptied himself and became obedient to the point of death." (Philippians 2) The Greek word for self-emptying is similar to the Hebrew word found in Isaiah 53 in which the Suffering Servant is said to have "poured out his soul unto death." Jesus' emptying of self is his total disregard for anything other than the Father's will. Hence, his final decision to remain obedient to the Father at the point of death flowed from his prior willingness to subjugate his own will to that of the Father. "I and the Father are one." "I always do those things that please the Father." For us, one imprtant lesson is that life's choices flow from a priori commitments, that it is too late to make proper decisions if we have not first emptied ourselves of self will and self rule, something we have surely done at the moment of conversion and must continue to do at every course of life. Remember Paul's "I die daily."

The third passage further reveals the motive behind Jesus' willingness to commit himself to the Father's perfect will for his life and death. And it is also found in a passage exhorting us to ethical purity. The writer of Hebrews admonishes us to "lay aside every weight of sin that clings so closely to us" by keeping our eyes on Jesus, who "for the joy set before him endured the cross." The self-emptied Jesus also looks forward to the day of joy ahead when he is seated at the Father's right hand, a position indicating the Father's pleasure and acceptance of his obedience in life and death. For Jesus, the anticipated joy of having finished the work he was sent to do empowered him through the suffering that followed as the result of his life of obedience. A practical question for us constantly to ask ourselves is: will the choice I am about to make result in a joyful memory or one of regret? We all know the difference in going to bed at might with joy or regret. Jesus never experienced regret. For the Christian all experences are not joyful in themselves--Jesus did not enjoy the cross; he "endured" it. We sin when we try to find ultimate joy in things or in experiences themselves. The joy Jesus anticipated came not from the experience itself but from his obedience. Making the experience of joy itself our chief goal leads to idolatry and religions that attempt to foster experience as the end-all of worship and life lead us inadvertently into idolatry and the constant quest for further heightened experience. Churches become creative in their attempts to foster greater and greater experiences and people become more and more enamored with the experience itself and more needful of repeat experiences. The impact of worship becomes crucial and the creation of feeling becomes the goal. Worship services become grand displays of glitter, sound, emotion and visual stimulation. The result is an experience oriented congregation in need of grander and grander experiences. Jesus was not driven by experience but the joy which followed; whether the experience itself was joyful in itself (as when, perhaps, he brought healing) or painful (the cross). The cross teaches us to seek for the joy which is set before us, finding it, rather than life's experiences, to be our ultimate goal.

LESSON 4

THE CROSS: Part I

"But God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." There are so many aspects to this event that I will address certain categories one day at a time, not necessarily in any order of importance. First, there is the ethical consideration, not usually given the important place it deserves in our theology. Jesus went to the cross because of the life he lived. Although ordained of God, the cross came a result of the historical life of Jesus. The cross did not occur in a vacuum--it came as the result of a life given completely to the will of God. "I always do those things which please the Father." We do injustice to the meaning of the cross if we, in our desire to focus on it being the theological basis for our forgiveness, which it is, neglect to see that the cross represented the culmination of a life lived in complete harmony with God. I cannot claim the benefits of the cross, nor can I claim solidarity with its meaning, if I am not willing to share in the lifestyle of Jesus that occasioned it. In other words, for me to claim the cross as significant in my life also means for me to be willing to live the cross-centered life. "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him take up his cross daily and follow me." It is helpful for us to remember that the cross would have been of no effect if Jesus had gone there unwillingly, stubbornly, or stoically. God's acceptance of Jesus' sacrifice implies his acceptance also of the life that went before. The event of the cross cannot be separated from the life that went before. For me it means that I cannot rejoice in my forgiveness if I am not willing to share in the sacrificial and obedient life that Jesus lived. This is the difficult part for us. We gladly accept the forgiveness but less willingly desire to live the cross-centered life. And although we will never live it in the full obedience that Jesus did, for us to claim Christianity as our faith is to accept the responsibility of living the life of sacrifice and obedience that Jesus lived. And, contrary to what we often hear preached, a life lived today in obedience to God will produce much the same result that it did in Jesus" day: a cross. Paul said, "I die daily." The abundant life of which Jesus spoke is not a life consisting of the abundance of possessions and comfort but rather the abundance of Christ's life within us in the midst of life's challenges, difficulties and sufferings. Let us aspire to be true followers of Christ as we lift high the cross he bore for us. "Jesus, I my cross have taken."