Adam & Eve: A Failure of Vocation

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House by Spring Mill Stream (2016)

What the Bible offers is not a “works contract,” but a covenant of vocation. The vocation in question is that of being a genuine human being, with genuinely human tasks to perform as part of the Creator’s purpose for his world. The main task of this vocation is “image-bearing,” reflecting the Creator’s wise stewardship into the world and reflecting the praises of all creation back to its maker. Those who do so are the “royal priesthood,” the “kingdom of priests,” the people who are called to stand at the dangerous but exhilarating point where heaven and earth meet.

• N.T. Wright, The Day the Revolution Began

• • •

In the context of the biblical story, Adam is not so much the first sinner as he is the first failed savior.

What do I mean by that?

Here is my overview on how I have come to read the message about humans and God’s creation purposes for them in the book of Genesis.

  • Despite our common perception, the world we see in Genesis 1-2 is not a perfect world, devoid of sin and death.
  • God created adam to be his image in the world (that is, his priestly representative). This was (and is) the human vocation.
  • As his priestly representatives in the world, adam was to” “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Thus, the vocation involved not only taking care of creation as God’s stewards, but also actively engaging and overcoming evil.
  • To summarize: from the beginning God chose humans, those who carry his “image” in the world, to repair the world (something like the Jewish concept of tikkun olam). The original mandate for humans is that we should represent God in the world and to work with him to rule over an unruly world and overcome evil and its effects on the world.
  • Adam and Eve were not the first humans, but they were the first representative humans to be called into this covenant vocation, that they might bring eternal life to the world (through the Tree of Life).
  • The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden shows humankind’s failure to do that. They failed to exercise dominion over the creatures and subdue evil (as represented in the wiles and lies of the serpent).
  • They were thus exiled from Eden, thereby losing access to the Tree of Life for themselves and all their descendants, subjecting themselves and the world to the domination of sin, evil, and death.
  • This is, in microcosm, what the story of Israel and her leaders is about. Placed in God’s good land, and called to be a kingdom of priests and a light to the nations, Israel failed to keep God’s commandments and was ultimately cast into exile. Israel, like Adam, failed to live up to her vocation of bringing God’s life to the world.
  • What Adam could not do, what Israel and all her patriarchs, prophets, priests, and kings could not do, Jesus did. Through his death, resurrection and ascension, he exercised dominion over the powers holding this world captive and subdued evil, restoring access to the Tree of Life for the whole world. “If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17).
  • Those who are “in Christ” now receive a foretaste of this: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). We read of the ultimate goal in John’s vision of the throne: “you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth” (Revelation 5:10).

Behind all consideration of our “callings” as human beings to live in this world and care for it and each other by means of doing our work well and relating to others with love and regard, there is a “big picture” vocation from the story of creation that only Jesus the Messiah and Lord was able to accomplish and win back for us.

Like the first humans, we are called again to live in God’s blessing and life because Jesus exercised dominion over the powers of this world and subdued evil through his death and resurrection. Our “big picture” vocation has been restored. In Christ we once more enter into God’s creation mandate as we announce its restoration to the world. Jesus has made it possible for humans to live in this world as fully formed human beings and to repair the world. This is the life-giving good news we announce: Jesus’ victory and restoration of our vocation.

It will not be perfectly experienced until the restoration of all things, the new creation. But through Jesus-shaped lives, we begin to taste of the age to come.

Jesus’s followers themselves were to be given a new kind of task. The Great Jailer had been overpowered; now someone had to go and unlock the prison doors. Forgiveness of sins had been accomplished, robbing the idols of their power; someone had to go and announce the amnesty to “sinners” far and wide. And this had to be done by means of the new sort of power: the cross-resurrection-Spirit kind of power. The power of suffering love.

• N.T. Wright

Another Look: What Matters: Baptism and Vocation

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Thus they made men believe that the profession of monasticism was far better than Baptism. . . .

. . . Furthermore, the precepts of God and the true service of God are obscured when men hear that only monks are in a state of perfection. For Christian perfection is to fear God from the heart, and yet to conceive great faith, and to trust that for Christ’s sake we have a God who has been reconciled, to ask of God, and assuredly to expect His aid in all things that, according to our calling, are to be done; and meanwhile, to be diligent in outward good works, and to serve our calling.

• Augsburg Confession, Article XXVII

• • •

One of the contributions that Martin Luther and the other Reformers made was to overturn the idea that there are distinctions between Christians; that some are elite and advanced before God while others are simply ordinary, lesser believers.

It was the influence of the monastic institutions in the Church that led to this kind of thinking. Ordinary Christians were called to keep God’s commandments. However, monks and nuns also made vows to observe special counsels such as poverty, chastity, and obedience to their order’s rule of discipline. Separating themselves from ordinary communities, they established their own cloistered centers of prayer, work, study, and ascetic practices. This led to the common perception that those who chose monastic vocations were engaged in a life that was higher than that of ordinary women and men, and that they were on a special path to “perfection,” which was unavailable outside the cloister.

Many people have the idea that the Reformers simply rejected monasticism whole-hog. On the surface, the subsequent history of Protestantism lends credence to this, for the Protestant churches have not traditionally fostered monastic movements within themselves. However, as Dorothea Wendebourg tells us in her essay, “Luther on Monasticism,” the reality is more complicated than that.

First of all, she reminds us that, without monasticism there would have been no Reformation. As she observes,

. . . to a large extent these men [i.e. the Reformers] owed to monasticism the spiritual impulses that made them reformers. The vision of the Christian life and of the church with which they confronted the church of their time was inspired by the ideals and insights that had been shaped in the course of their monastic lives.

• The Pastoral Luther, p. 328

Second, she reminds us that Luther remained a monk until the age of forty-one. He wore the monk’s habit during the most important years of his life, when the Reformation was taking off and gaining steam. Some of his spiritual heroes, such as St. Francis and St. Bernard of Clairvaux were founders of monastic orders. It was, indeed, Luther’s experience as a monk that led him to feel personal anguish about his inability to find comfort before God. After years of study, he came to see that his spiritual life had been built upon a false foundation. The way to peace with God is not through achieving perfection, but through faith in Christ, which unites us to him who is perfect.

This experience led Luther to view the monastic life differently, for now he came to understand that “spiritual perfection” is not simply for those who have taken special vows, but for all baptized people in all walks of life. Wendebourg writes,

Therefore what the monk Martin Luther had discovered as the prerequisite for undivided love and devotion is valid not only for monks and nuns, but also for every Christian. Undivided love and devotion are the fruit of faith. And since it is through the sacrament of baptism that Christ’s becoming one with humanity (which finds its realization in faith) comes about, undivided love and devotion are the fruit of baptism. Luther had recognized fairly early that the decisive step is not entering the monastic life, but baptism. It is in baptism that we receive holiness; holier we cannot become. Therefore it is baptism from which springs a holy life. When he receives the sacrament of baptism, the Christian pledges to lead such a holy life: he promises “to slay sin and to become holy.” This is true of all Christians. “In baptism we all make one and the same vow: to slay sin and to become holy through the work and grace of God, to whom we yield and offer ourselves, as clay to the potter. In this no one is in a better position than another.” [from Luther’s Works] Hence the monk is not in a “better position” than he who leads a secular life; a Christian wife and mother pleases God no less than a monk, perhaps even more. (p. 334)

For many Protestants, this insight spells the end of monasticism, and they heartily agree. They view monasticism solely through the lens of “the way of perfection” that seeks to win God’s favor, or as an institution designed to promote Christian elitism. Reading some of Luther’s scathing denunciations of monks and the monastic way lends support to this, as do the events of the Reformation itself, which led to the emptying of convents and chapter houses.

However, Dorothea Wendebourg shows that, despite his strong criticisms of the cloistered religious life, Luther continued to believe there was a place for monasticism. His strong criticisms, which culminated in his treatise Judgment on the Monastic Vows (1521), were rooted in the sad state of the institutions of his day, not in their original purposes, which he hoped would be renewed.

26573450664_c05ea42503_kUltimately for Luther, it came down the question of vocation and how it should be defined. In common understanding the monk or nun was called to a vocation that was higher than that of the ordinary Christian — indeed, taking vows was seen as a “second Baptism” and, as the Augsburg Confession charges, this “made men believe that the profession of monasticism was far better than Baptism” and led to the highest life possible.

Luther came to teach that such a vocation was not higher, but simply different than that of others; different and still legitimate if accepted as such. In fact, Luther continued to hold that there were some advantages to the cloistered life. For example, he believed that because it involved more suffering than ordinary callings, it may enable those who pursue it to exercise the baptismal life more fully, since baptism is about dying to the world.

Nevertheless, the contribution Luther and the other Reformers made is to help us understand that all Christians in all walks of life have a vocation, and that vocation involves the fulfilling of our baptism. This is what matters in life: (1) that we are baptized into Christ, united to him by grace through faith, and (2) that we embrace the callings God gives us in life as opportunities to live out our baptism by living with faith toward God and active love toward our neighbors.

This has a twofold effect on the relationship between monasticism and the “ordinary” Christian life.

  • First, it removes the religious life of a monk or nun from any special, elite category. They are not the truly “radical” Christians, the “more perfect” followers of Jesus, engaged in a “higher” calling. They take a different path, but in the end they are simply baptized Christians, seeking to live out their baptisms.
  • Second, it raises the standard for Christians in all walks of life. When Luther made his “ecclesiastical visitations,” inspecting the state of the churches and the beliefs and practices of ordinary Christians, he was appalled at what he found. If the monks and nuns were viewed as the truly religious, the common believer was both negligent and neglected as to growing in faith and works of love. Wendebourg calls this effect of the Reformation “the universalization of monasticism.” A renewed emphasis on faith and love for all believers led to the reform of Christian teaching and practices in families and congregations through such means as the Small Catechism, the use of the Psalter, renewal in preaching and pastoral ministry, the development and use of hymns, and habitual forms of prayer for use by individuals and families.

There is only one kind of Christian: one who is called to live out his or her baptism in daily life. No matter what my vocation, I have been raised to walk with Jesus in newness of life therein.

Sermon Christmas II: Returning to Our Work

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Christmas II (New Year’s Day)
Returning to Our Work

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

21 After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

• Luke 2:15-21

• • •

Happy New Year!

On the Christian calendar, today is the second Sunday in Christmastide, and so our Gospel reading this morning returns to the scene we left on Christmas. The baby is lying in the manger in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph watching over him. They get some unexpected visitors — shepherds from the countryside, who report that angels appeared to them and told them of the birth of Messiah. The shepherds are amazed at the sight, and as they leave to return to their flocks, they spread the news throughout the little town that Jesus the Messiah is born.

I have always been intrigued by one line in this story. It’s in verse 20: “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

The word I find striking is “returned.” The shepherds returned. Returned where? To their flocks. To the fields where their sheep were resting. To their work. To their daily lives. Back to the ordinary workaday world of shepherds. After one of the most heavenly encounters anyone has ever had, the shepherds went back to work.

Isn’t that interesting? You might think that the experience of seeing God in the flesh, the Messiah for whom Israel had been longing, the newborn King, the Savior, the Lord, might have had a different ending.

Perhaps the shepherds could have decided to become religious celebrities. Their story was so powerful that every Christian television and radio station would have wanted them to come and tell it to their audience.

Publishing companies surely would have contacted them to write articles and books about being out there in their fields, watching over their flocks by night, when the angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were sore afraid. They would have readers breathless with awe as they told about the sound of the heavenly chorus singing glory to God. They would recount their exciting journey to Bethlehem and the wonder of seeing the Holy Family.

Perhaps these shepherds could have formed a contemporary Christian music group and made records about their experience. They could have sung dramatic arrangements of what they heard the angels sing, tender ballads of seeing the Christ-child with his mother, and exciting mission songs about spreading the good news far and wide.

Or maybe they might have decided, then and there, to take their lives in a new direction; to give up their ordinary occupations and follow religious callings. It would not have surprised me one bit if this story had ended with them showing up on the door of a monastery and applying to become devoted monks, giving the rest of their lives to contemplate the holy mystery they had seen and praying that the glory they had witnessed would fill the whole world.

Or perhaps, with this powerful message and testimony they now had, they would leave the shepherd’s life behind to become ordained preachers or evangelists. Maybe they felt that they should become missionaries, to leave their homes and travel to distant places to spread the gospel of God’s love in Christ.

This, in fact, happened to me, in fact. When I had a religious awakening as a young person, I felt that the only path that was worth giving my life to was what we called full-time ministry. I was so overwhelmed by what God had done for me that I thought the only way to adequately respond was to devote my life to ordained ministry.

However, they didn’t do that, did they? “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” The shepherds returned. These shepherds kept being shepherds. These shepherds went back to their daily work. They were transformed people because of this experience, that’s for sure, but they apparently realized that the best way for them to show God’s love and good news to the world was by going back and being the best shepherds they could be, by caring for their flocks.

As we face a new year, 2017, I think this is a wonderful message for each and every one of us. One of the reasons I later began to practice my Christian faith in the Lutheran tradition was because of what Luther taught on the subject of vocation. I came to see that all of life’s callings are sacred and that he uses all our work to glorify Christ and bring blessing to the world. Not just pastors. Not just religious professionals.

Back in Luther’s day, there was a great division in the way people thought about work. If you were extraordinarily religious and devout, you became a priest, a monk or a nun. It was seen as a higher calling. Those who pursued religious callings were considered closer to God, more honored by God; they possessed more merit and favor in the eyes of God.

Then Luther came along and blew the whole thing up. He himself was a monk, but he came to understand that all people have callings from God, and that one is not better than another, just different. The farmer, the housewife, the shoemaker, the carpenter, the shopkeeper — all are just as important and acceptable to God as the priest, the monk or the nun. Every person has the opportunity, through living out his/her God-given vocation, to bless the world, to bring God’s love and good news to the world.

God loves this world so much, and he calls all of us to care for it in an endless variety of ways. For this reason, all labor that is done with care and with loving regard for our neighbors is of equal value and, indeed, pleasing to God.

The past couple of years I have come to appreciate a concept that is well known in Judaism. It’s called Tikkun Olam, and it means “to repair the world.” The idea is that this world is broken and torn and dark in many ways, but that God created human beings to repair, mend, and restore his light to the world.

This world runs and functions because of a wondrous web of people who go about their daily work every day. God is mostly hidden, Martin Luther observed, behind all of us and the work we do. We are God’s masks, Luther said, God hides behind us, and in and through us, he accomplishes his will.

God calls all of us — including you! — to fulfill our vocations. As responsible individuals, we are called to maintain personal integrity, love and honor our families, live as good citizens for the common good, and do our daily work with a commitment to craftsmanship and for the purpose of blessing the world. We mask the common grace and goodness of God, who is behind and in and through us keeping this world turning and holding together and functioning with life and strength and skill. He does his work through our hands.

As we go forth into this new year, may we be like these shepherds. Having seen the Christ child, may we return to our daily work glorifying and praising God. May God bless the works of our hands. May he affirm to each of us that our daily work matters, that what we do accomplishes great good in this world, even when we can’t fully understand it. May we do our work well, with integrity and craftsmanship, with honesty and regard for our neighbors, so that we will plant hardy seeds of peace and righteousness that will bring forth a great harvest now and in the new creation.

Amen.

Christmas II: Pic and Cantata of the Week

Vermont Morning Vista (2014)
Vermont Morning Vista (2014)

(Click on picture to see larger image)

• • •

CHRISTMAS II

Bach Cantata 28, “Praise God! Now the Year Comes to an End”

Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende,
Das neue rücket schon heran.
Gedenke, meine Seele, dran,
Wieviel dir deines Gottes Hände
Im alten Jahre Guts getan!
Stimm ihm ein frohes Danklied an;
So wird er ferner dein gedenken
Und mehr zum neuen Jahre schenken.

Praise God! Now the year comes to an end,
the new year already draws near.
Think, my soul, on this,
how much the hands of your God
have done for you in the old year!
Begin to sing a joyful song of thanks to him;
so he will think of you in the future
and bestow more on you in the new year.

Saturday Ramblings: New Year’s Eve Edition

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RAMBLER OF THE WEEK

You, our Internet Monk readers, are our Ramblers of the Week.

Here on the verge of a new year, we prepare to ramble into 2017, and I’d like to hear what you think might be in store for you, or more broadly, what might be in store for life as you know it where you live, work, and play. Some of you may have big plans, while other are just hoping to hang on through another year of wilderness. Whatever it may be, we’d like to hear about it. So here’s a little “Open Mic” for the start of 2017 where you can let us in on your world and what’s happening.

  • What are you looking forward to in 2017?
  • What are you anxious about or dreading?
  • Any major changes in store?
  • Any big decisions to be made?
  • Any new commitments for personal growth you’d like to share so that we can cheer you on?
  • Anything you’d like your IM community to lift up in prayer?

We’re about to ramble into a new year.

And we’re with you and behind you all the way.

• • •

SOME 2016 “BEST” LISTS

10best-square-photo-648992-s-originalNY Times 10 Best Books…

  • The North Water, by Ian McGuire
  • The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
  • The Vegetarian, by Han Kang
  • War and Turpentine, by Stefan Hertmans
  • At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails, by Sarah Bakewell
  • Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, by Jane Mayer
  • Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond
  • In the Darkroom, by Susan Faludi
  • The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between, by Hisham Matar

Rolling Stone’s 10 Best Albums…

  • Lemonade, Beyonce
  • Blackstar, David Bowie
  • Coloring Book, Chance the Rapper
  • Teens of Denial, Car Seat Headrest
  • Blonde, Frank Ocean
  • A Moon Shaped Pool, Radiohead
  • Blue & Lonesome, Rolling Stones
  • The Life of Pablo, Kanye West
  • You Want It Darker, Leonard Cohen
  • Jeffery, Young Thug

The New Yorker’s Ten Best Films of 2016…

  • “Little Sister” (Zach Clark)
  • “Moonlight” (Barry Jenkins)
  • “Sully” (Clint Eastwood)
  • “Viktoria” (Maya Vitkova)
  • “Love & Friendship” (Whit Stillman)
  • “Men Go to Battle” (Zachary Treitz)
  • “Wiener-Dog” (Todd Solondz)
  • “Kate Plays Christine” (Robert Greene)
  • “Happy Hour” (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
  • “Knight of Cups” (Terrence Malick)

Also, check out Biblical Archaeology’s Top 10 Discoveries of 2016

And here’s a list of Christianity Today’s top 20 articles of 2016

• • •

QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK

jero1Did Jesus read “the Bible”?

Can we evangelize late modern culture?

Why did Southern Baptists change their policy on “speaking in tongues”?

Will “liberal” church attendance spike because of Trump?

Is evangelical support for Israel hurting Palestinian Christians?

Did 2016 Expose America’s (And the Church’s) Fame Addiction?

Why Anglicanism?

What solutions might there be for Chicago’s guns, gangs, and poverty?

Can a faux 1950s downtown sharpen the minds of dementia patients?

• • •

bellhome

Handbell Wars

NPR’s Planet Money has a fascinating story about the feud between the two companies that manufacture handbells.

That’s right, there are two companies, Shulmerich and Malmark. And the difference between them is a tang. That small difference has led to conflicts and lawsuits.

I think normally when you read about lawsuits between companies, you think that they’re the result of some business calculation, some strategic decision. And maybe that was true at the beginning, but pretty soon emotions got involved. Once you get in a fight like this, once you spend a lot of money on lawyers, it’s hard to give up. The long wars can be the hardest to end, especially if things get personal.

Who would have thought that such a peaceful, serene instrument could cause such anxiety and bad will?

• • •

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Franklin Graham will speak at inauguration

RNS reports that Graham will not be making remarks, but will be allowed to read Scripture as one of one of six clergy chosen to offer the invocation, benediction and several readings at the swearing-in ceremony.

What does Graham think about Trump’s election win?

“I think maybe God has allowed Donald Trump to win this election to protect this nation for the next few years by giving maybe an opportunity to have some good judges,” he said.

It’s not the first time Graham expressed his belief God had played a role in the results of the November election. He had tweeted earlier this month suggesting it was God, not Russia, that had interfered with the outcome.

In an interview Thursday, he said he doesn’t know if Russia hacked the election, and he doesn’t presume to know how God works. But he knows God answers prayer.

And, Graham said, “All I know is Donald Trump was supposed to lose the election,” according to projections of the results.

“For these states to go the way they did, in my opinion, I think it was the hand of God,” he said. “It wasn’t hacking. It wasn’t Wiki-leaky or whatever. It was God, in my opinion, and I believe his hand was at work, and I think he’s given Christians an opportunity.”

As if that weren’t bad enough, another person invited to be among the clergy is Paula White, the twice-divorced TV preacher who has been investigated by the U.S. Senate for questionable fundraising practices.

• • •

MY FIFTEEN FAVORITE PHOTOS OF 2016

Thanks to all of you who viewed and commented upon my pictures from 2016 the other day. Your input was helpful in my final determination of my 15 favorites. Here they are:

• • •

SONG FOR THE NEW YEAR

Here’s a good song to kick off the new year. It’s one of my favorite songs of 2016, from one of my favorite singer-songwriters and albums of 2016: Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “The Things We Are Made Of.”

Here is “The Blue Distance.” Happy New Year.

Annual Review: Most-Discussed IM Posts of 2016

27244839330_43632c18a1_kAnnual Review
Most-Discussed Internet Monk Posts of 2016

2016 was another good year, in my view, for our blog and the discussion community that reads and comments each day.

Before we go month by month through the posts that you find most discussable, I want to thank all of you for supporting our work. I also want to thank all the readers who never comment, yet who find IM a good place to find material for meditation each day. We couldn’t do it without you.

We also couldn’t do it without your donations. Internet Monk never has been, never will be a money-generating website. Our authors contribute out of a love for writing and prompting good conversations. There are, however, costs associated with keeping the blog going. We receive the vast majority of that money from you, our readers. Thank you so much for your generous support.

If you would like to contribute, the easiest way is to use the Donate button at the top right of the page (this works through PayPal). If you would prefer another method, such as sending a check, send me an email at chaplainmike333@gmail.com and I’ll set that up for you. All money is used to keep the site going and to occasionally purchase materials or provide small tokens of thanks to our regular authors.

Again, thank you.

Now let’s take a look back at what you thought worthy of interaction this past year. I won’t include Saturday Ramblings or Open Mic posts in this list.

• • •

JANUARY 2016

Another Look: A Banal Suggestion as to Why We Might Be “Losing Our Religion”

A discussion of how “progress” inevitably leads to an abundance of personal choices, and that religion is not necessarily one that people will always choose.

“Choices, choices, and more choices. In my opinion, churches in the United States have not adequately reckoned with the fact that we live in a new world, a world dramatically different than it was fifty years ago. Today we live a world of virtually unlimited choices and options.”

As one person said, “My life is full without church; it seems kind of irrelevant.”

FEBRUARY 2016

The Cruelest of Teachings

This was my angry commentary on the false teachings of the prosperity gospels, prompted by reading about a woman named Kate Bowler with stage four cancer who explored the history of the PG and what it teaches and promises.

“The false promise of the prosperity gospel is that we get to escape our humanity. We get to control how it goes. We get to rise above the herd. And, most damning of all, we get these blessings not because God sovereignly and graciously bestowed them upon us, but because we somehow got in on God’s “secret” and said the right things, did the right things, and planted the right “seeds,” guaranteeing a good “harvest” in our lives.”

MARCH 2016

The Cross: Religious Self-Projection or Radical Discontinuity? (Rob Grayson)

Our friend Rob Grayson set out two alternatives for understanding the central meaning of the cross. In the first view, it’s about a God of crime and punishment — but perhaps this is just our own projection of our own human tendencies toward violence. In the second, the cross is about how God submitted himself to human violence and offered mercy and forgiveness in return.

“…where I used to believe that God’s required default response to sin was punishment, avoidable only by entering into the transaction of believing in Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, I’m now passionately convinced that God has only one response to sin: forgiveness, full and free.”

APRIL 2016

Pastoral Care Week: A Funeral Rant

I call what some pastors do at funerals pastoral malpractice.

I am almost sure that when this pastor went home and his wife asked him how the funeral went, he praised God for the opportunity to preach the Gospel.

He may have used some of the right words. But as far as I’m concerned, he blew it. He missed one of the greatest opportunities ministry affords to be a neighbor, a pastor, a comforter, a friend.

A human being, for heaven’s sake!

Love God, love your neighbor. Is this really so hard to understand?

MAY 2016

Dear John Letter to the G.O.P. (Daniel Jepsen)

Pastor Dan wrote a poignant farewell letter to the political party that he used to love.

Most of all, dear, I remember when, though you were never perfect, you actually were animated by ideas. You spoke of limited government, because that would promote freedom. You spoke of upholding personal morality and rewarding virtue. You spoke of a compassionate conservatism, that would seek to honor the greatest principle of true conservative thought: that people are more important than governments, movements or ideologies, and they must be treasured and helped, especially those too weak to help themselves.

Have the optimism and hope really been replaced by fear and loathing? Have you really traded in your ideas and ideals for an upraised middle finger?

I guess I really don’t know you anymore. The hater-mongers have your ear. And your heart, it seems. I don’t want to leave you. Where will I go? But the fact is, you have left me. You are the one who walked out, and I’ve played the fool. But not anymore.

JUNE 2016

If Only I Could Have Seen the Shore

This was another commentary on a funeral sermon I heard, in which the vision of heaven set forth was hopelessly deficient and uninspiring.

But the Bible doesn’t say we’re leaving Kansas to go to some Oz out there where all is colorful and magical. The Bible says Oz is coming to Kansas, and it also says that it is not God’s intention to replace Kansas but to transform it into the best Kansas there could ever be. God will make his home among us, and then we will truly know what it means to be “home.” The end game is for all creation to be reconciled to God, that all things will be “gathered up” in him (Eph. 1:10). God’s plan is not to discard Kansas and replace it with Oz, but to reconcile Oz and Kansas and transform all creation in Christ.

Our Christian hope is terrestrial, material, physical, and fully in line with what we have experienced in this world. There is continuity as well as discontinuity between this age and the age to come.

27462561771_14a7a74b55_kJULY 2016

An Imbalanced and Woefully Incomplete Description of Pastoral Ministry

Here was a commentary on the marks of pastoral ministry as set forth in a so-called “expository sermon” by a supposed expert on the subject, John MacArthur.

This is a topical sermon. It sets forth John MacArthur’s idea of what a pastor should be, and cites biblical material to support it.

So, not only do I disagree with his portrayal of a pastor, I find his method of proclaiming that deceptive and unethical. In essence, he is stating that his own view of what a pastor should be is “biblical” — it’s “what the Bible teaches.” And anyone who disagrees with him disagrees with the Bible.

The problem is, this is so common in evangelical preaching everywhere that I have little hope it will ever change. And people eat it up, thinking their pastor is preaching and teaching the Bible.

Believe me, I know whereof I speak. I’m no innocent here. I have file drawers full of these kinds of sermons — of which I now repent.

But I also have little patience for this kind of preaching and teaching anymore. Especially when the one doing it is so insistent that he is proclaiming the whole counsel of God.

AUGUST 2016

Can This Really Be the Gospel of “Superabundant Grace”?

In a sermon, Pastor Robert Jeffress declared that the majority of people will end up in hell. I don’t think so, and this post is my argument against that position.

That is not good news, and it stupefies me to think it would be to anyone else.

I also don’t think it matches the vision of “superabounding” grace Paul sets forth in Romans 5 (see above). I can’t tell you how it all works out, but the apostle’s unambiguous point is this: whatever sin has wrought, grace accomplishes much more. Whatever terrible consequences Adam brought upon us are overwhelmed by the results of Jesus’ gracious actions.

“Even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness,” Paul exclaims. Or, as the older versions put it, “much more.” That’s what God’s grace in Jesus does — much more.

The scriptures envision that this triumph of grace will culminate in a new creation, populated by vast multitudes no person can count (Rev. 7:9). This has been the anticipation of the faithful ever since God promised Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand upon the seashore.

It greatly diminishes the grace of God and the great victory of our Lord Jesus Christ to argue the opposite: that only a remnant will be with God while the majority of humans are lost to him. How can anyone call this victory? How can that offer any hope worth having? It is not good news.

SEPTEMBER 2016

Exodus from U.S. Religion

In this post, we discuss a study released by PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute), called “Exodus: Why Americans are Leaving Religion—and Why They’re Unlikely to Come Back.”

The reasons Americans leave their childhood religion are varied, but a lack of belief in teaching of religion was the most commonly cited reason for disaffiliation.

OCTOBER 2016

Blame It All on Sex. Uh, No.

Frank Turek claimed that the reason Americans are turning away from God is that they are replacing him with sex. I disagree.

With all due respect, I think it is Christians like Turek who are obsessed with sex, at least the sexual behavior of others, simply because it offends them so much that they must find reason to blame it for all sorts of ills.

I have no doubt that there are plenty of people who don’t want God or a particular moral way of living because they don’t want anyone putting limits on their pursuit of sensual pleasures, but to make the blanket statement that this is “America’s” religious problem is a ridiculous, unsubstantiated assertion.

NOVEMBER 2016

I Won’t Talk about the Election, but I Will Say This

Ryan Patrick McLaughlin summarized it well: “My main point: I think we should stop saying ‘”It’s OK. God is on the throne.’” Me too.

DECEMBER 2016

Dispatches from the Wilderness of Grief

This was a report and my personal testimonial from time at a conference exploring grief and loss and how to help people who are on that journey.

Grieving is the complex inner response to loss.

Mourning is made up of the outward expressions by which we acknowledge our grief and work through it until it becomes more and more integrated into our lives.

We never stop grieving, but our losses can become part of our lives in such a way that we can carry them with us and move forward into a new normal. We can forge a renewed identity, find more peace in the midst of life’s uncertainties, and discover a broader and deeper sense of meaning than we ever thought possible.

8535044129_9126a3e754_o-1OTHER POSTS OF NOTE IN 2016

SERIES OF NOTE IN 2016

Wednesdays with James

Science and the Bible (Mike the Geologist)

On the Grand Canyon and the Flood (Mike the Geologist)

This series continues into 2017.

Civil Religion Series 2016

Introduction

Reflections on Richard Hughes’s Christian America and the Kingdom of God

Reflections on John Fea’s Was America Founded As a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction

Annual Review: A renewed commitment to resistance

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Annual Review 2016
A renewed commitment to resistance

2016 may prove to be either a short blip of craziness in the annals of history or the beginning of a prolonged period of craziness (God help us). Whichever it turns out to be, “crazy” is the operable word, especially when we consider the jaw-dropping political transformations that marked the year, along with the acceleration of entropy in the media.

As we stand at the edge of 2017, I have made a decision, a resolution if you will. I have renewed my commitment to be an agent of resistance against the kinds of jingoism and certainty that I believe will lead us exactly the wrong way in this world.

These are not the qualities that will ever value or promote or bring about the common good. They will divide rather than unify. They will be destructive rather than constructive. They go directly against the kingdom ethic of Jesus, who commended the merciful, the peacemakers, and the pure of heart. (Where were they in 2016?)

• • •

Let me give two examples of my renewed commitment to resistance.

Resisting President Trump and the politics of jingoism

Right after the presidential election this past year, I made a pledge not to engage in discussion or debate about political matters in public (such as on the blog, on social media, and in public discourse) for a long while. Just how long, I  don’t know, but I labeled it a four-year fast. I’m sure I won’t stay quiet the whole time, especially if some of my fears are realized, but let’s just say I won’t be spouting off on every little antic of our soon-to-be Tweeter-in-Chief, the clown show that calls themselves the Republican party, or the tragically impotent Democrats.

However, below is a summary of what I said consistently throughout the past year with regard to politics, particularly the presidential election that dominated public attention. I did not vote for either of the two major party candidates, and was bummed out (to say the least) that these were the only choices with any possibility of winning the election.

But I had much, much stronger and focused opinions about one of the candidates, and I persist in those opinions now that he has won the office. If he had lost, I would happily let him fade away into the pages of history. However, since he won, and we now face the prospect of living with his leadership for the next four years, I will state my settled opinion and let it rest there.

If someone asks me what I think of our incoming President Trump, I now have a standard answer:

During the election I was an adamant “Never-Trump-er.” Nothing I have seen since he won has changed my mind in the least.

This year small percentage of the American people elected the most spectacularly unqualified and unfit person ever put forth seriously as a presidential candidate. He turned our elections into an embarrassing, shameful sideshow and singlehandedly set the state of civic (and civil) discourse in our country back 150 years. He has zero experience in government, has likely never even read the Constitution, and has shown little or no interest in learning about affairs of state. He has a record of being immoral, corrupt, secretive, devious, pompous, narcissistic, cruel, and relentlessly self-promoting in his personal and business career. I see little evidence that he has any actual positions or policies, and there is no reason to believe he will keep any of his promises. The very idea of him as POTUS has always been laughable and inconceivable to me. If he becomes an even passable political leader, somehow not doing profound harm to our country and its future, then I will be one of the most surprised people on earth. Whatever happens, hang on: we are in for a wild ride.

I now consider myself a member of the resistance. I will not rant and rave (most “speaking up” is highly overrated) but I will try to remain steadfast in working for the common good, and against the current regime wherever possible.

I do not want to nor will I discuss Mr. Trump any further unless something so egregious happens that I think comment is required. There has been so much unnecessary and unprofitable talk over this past year, I think maybe we’ve used up our quota for a long time to come. It is time for action, for good works, for building a better civic and political infrastructure by supporting public servants rather than celebrities and ideologues.

• • •

Resisting the True Believers™

It has been a hallmark of Internet Monk to resist and critique these folks, and the rise of tribal groups proclaiming their righteousness and virtue over this past year has led me to commit to being even stronger in my resistance to this approach to life.

There are a lot of True Believers™ out there, or at least they are vocal and persistent in expressing their zero-sum game view of the world.

Whether it is the true believers of a particular political party or policy, theological “certain-tists” like Young Earth Creationists, neo-Puritans, radical complementarians, inerrantists and biblicists who insist upon seeing Scripture as a book miraculously dropped from heaven and who use it as a magic totem, rulebook, and hammer, progressive Christians who read back their pet contemporary social issues back into the words of Jesus and assume his blessing on every modern liberation movement, prosperity Gospel hucksters who demand seed money for blessing, relentless evangelists for outside-the-mainstream “solutions” sold through multi-level marketing businesses, the self-help industry, and religious media, propagandists for every conceivable left or right-wing cause, conspiracy theorists of all types who build complex but tiny worlds of suspicion and intrigue, and those who promote a tribal view of the world and can’t envision “truth” or “justice” beyond the boundaries of their own group and its interests.

I am just not tribal like that. I just don’t think life is as black and white as all that. I don’t think there are “answers” that are as clear as that. I don’t think we can be as “certain” as all that. I don’t think God wants us to be as parochial, narrow, purblind, separatistic, insular, and self-absorbed, self-sure, and self-promoting as that.

The way I see it, God has not spoken or acted like that. Nor has he called us to act that way.

True Believers™ insist upon a world in which the “answers” are clear, but to truly secure them we must sign up for their side without delay. They proclaim that their team can do little or no wrong and that it will inevitably win. After all, The Truth™ is on their side. Or History™ is on their side. Or The Experts™ agree with them. Or, polls suggest that The People™ are really on their side. Or, the ultimate American trump card: It Really Works!™

When questioned and criticized, we must circle the wagons and defend our side at all costs. Doubt and weakness and compromise with “them” (whoever “them” is) must be avoided at all costs. Politically correct language must be learned and spoken at all times lest we offend our own tribe or cause others to stumble. Every tenet must be held tightly and never lightly.

Remove one piece from the Jenga tower, and the whole structure will inevitably collapse — that’s what they fear.

There is no tolerance for the mess, for being in the wilderness, for doubting and having weak faith, for questioning or listening to other voices, for wavering in any way from the party line. Disagreement equals disloyalty. The slightest compromise breeds heresy and disarray. Open the door a crack and the house and everything within will become unclean.

If anything, this past year has helped me appreciate the wilderness as a place of refuge from the unrelenting “should” of certainty and the zero-sum-game perspective. That well-landscaped purported utopian paradise is, in fact, oppressive and deadly.

Jesus Christ is Lord, and the greatest of all virtues is love.

That’s about the extent of my certainty, and it’s the team I want to play for in 2017.

2016 Annual Review: My Favorite Album of the Year

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2016 Annual Review
My Favorite Album of the Year

In addition to my choice for my favorite album of 2016, there are three others that deserve special mention. Let’s talk about these wonderful recordings before I gush all over my top pick.

• • •

William Bell, This Is Where I Live

For years I have longed for someone to bring back the authentic sound of the great soul labels Motown and Stax. Though some have tried, none have captured the magic for me. Until this year. And it took a Stax veteran to revive the sound that defined a good part of my growing up years.

William Bell, whose solo debut for Stax Records was in 1961, wrote the blues classic “Born Under a Bad Sign” with Booker T. Jones, a tune first recorded by Albert King and made legendary by Eric Clapton and Cream in 1969. He had hit records in the late 60’s and 70’s and produced others. Amazingly, his new record still brings the muscular yet tender sound of Stax back to us in full force. One reason for that is that this record was produced by one of my favorite producers, John Leventhal, who adds just the right touches to make this a strong runner-up as my favorite album in 2016.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video about the album. In the clips of music you can hear that great Memphis sound, still alive and kickin’:

• • •

Sturgill Simpson, A Sailor’s Guide To Earth.

This record is on many critics’ best lists, and for good reason. Musically diverse, though generally within the country genre along with a good dash of rock, soul, and blues, Simpson has fashioned a song cycle that is, in turns beautiful, angry, regretful, and passionate.

Here’s a paragraph from the NPR review:

Simpson, however, is not an insurrectionist, a nihilist or a punk. He’s a thinker who likes to challenge himself, and is as interested in how the quest for order impacts life and art as he is in the moments that spin that order into pieces. On A Sailor’s Guide To Earth, he uses a highly disruptive yet also utterly conventional life event — the birth of his first son — to frame a song cycle about order and insubordination, the longing to fit in and the persistent urge to break away.

The New York Times calls Sturgill Simpson, “A Genuine Alternative to Alt Country.”  If this album is any indication, we’re in for a lot of thoughtful, honest music in years to come.

Here’s a performance of “Call to Arms,” which concludes the record with a blast: a relentless, angry and defiant jam that Rolling Stone described as, “an indictment of America’s warmongering, media-stupefied culture.”

• • •

Paul Simon, Stranger To Stranger [Deluxe Edition]At age 75, Paul Simon remains as energetic, creative, and collaborative as ever. His 2016 album, Stranger to Stranger, is a dense, almost avant garde tour taken by a “street angel” through this dangerous, funny, viscerally stimulating world, to the accompaniment of a tapestry of global instruments and sounds. Which is to say, this song set is not as direct and linear as many of Simon’s earlier works. It meanders through a lot of unfamiliar territory — though territory made intriguing because of Simon’s voice, wit, and constant sense of melody. Paying attention is essential when walking through these streets.

From the NPR review:

It’s more opaque than Simon’s recent works, less forthright and declarative, less locked onto linear tracks. Its tales unfold in shards and mumbled asides, oddly unsettling repeated phrases and strange prophecies. These don’t always seem haunting at the start, but they become that way — as the details fill in, or don’t, as Simon’s telegraphic shorthand implies multiple meanings. You can’t read the lyrics to these songs and expect to “get” them; you have to surrender to the slurpy backward vocals, the sharp crack of drumsticks, the whole experience.

Simon had a recent Austin City Limits show that was phenomenal as it traced his prolific career through song. Here is a performance from that show of the song that kicks off the album, “The Werewolf.”

• • •

MY FAVORITE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

More than anything, what I appreciate in the music I listen to and love is good lyric writing along with arrangements and performances that take me into stories that move me, making my heart sigh, smile, or long for some aspect of life that eludes me. I want my music to be human, to reflect true human realities and offer perspectives on those realities that are honest and poetic.

Jason Isbell embodies someone who has stories and knows how to tell them in a way that moves me.

In 2013, his previous album, Southeastern, garnered him Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, and also Song of the Year at the 2014 Americana Music Association Awards. That was a raw and sometimes brutal album in which Isbell described life on the edge with a directness that pulled back the curtain so that the rest of us could see what vulnerability is really like.

Isbell is at a much better place personally now, and Something More than Free, winner of this year’s Grammy for Best Americana Album, is catchier, more melodic and positive, but no less honest, no less sympathetic with the damn pain in this world. This is down-to-earth working man’s music, and Jason Isbell’s workmanship and familiarity with toil is evident.

My favorite track on the album, the title song, reflects that.

When I get my reward my work will all be done
And I will sit back in my chair beside the father and the son
No more holes to fill and no more rocks to break
And no more loading boxes on the trucks for someone else’s sake

‘Cause a hammer needs a nail
And the poor man’s up for sale
Guess I’m doin’ what I’m on this earth to do

And I don’t think on why I’m here orwhere it hurts
I’m just lucky to have the work
And every night I dream I’m drowning in the dirt
But I thank God for the work

The best lines of the album, especially pertinent for Internet Monk readers, come from “24 Frames,” a shout-out to 90’s rock ala R.E.M., which won this year’s Grammy for Best American Roots Song.

You thought God was an architect, now you know
He’s something like a pipe bomb ready to blow
And everything you built that’s all for show goes up in flames
In twenty- four frames

Jason Isbell is a song architect, but when you listen, his songs will blow up your world with the integrity of someone who has looked life in the eye and lived to tell about it.

Here’s a live performance of the award winning “24 Frames.”

Annual Review: Pictures from 2016 + A Chance to Vote!

Annual Review
Pictures from 2016

2016 was a fun year for me taking pictures. After using my Canon in the early part of the year I got a new camera for my birthday — an Olympus Pen-F. That provided renewed motivation, and I found lots of opportunities to take pictures around Indiana — especially through a beautiful blue-sky summer and golden fall. Then there were trips to Florida, Chicago, and Ohio, along with several other delightful outings and events at which I found interesting subjects to shoot.

♥︎ VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITES! ♥︎

Here’s what I’d like from iMonk community with regard to these photos…

I have a gallery here of 50 pictures (click on each one to see a larger image). I would like to to boil this collection down to the 15 best photos of the year, and you have a chance to contribute your opinion.

Pick those that you like best (up to five pictures) and let me know in the comments. Add what you like about them if you wish. Your choices and the comments you make about these pictures will help me narrow down my list to my 15 faves.

Thanks, and enjoy!

• • •

Christmas Eve Homily 2016

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Christmas Eve Homily 2016
Christ and Caesar: The True King is Born!

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

• Luke 2:1-20

✧

We’ve almost come to the end of 2016, and we all know that this has been one of the craziest years we can ever remember as Americans, especially with regard to the political realm and our elections. One thing we often don’t appreciate when we read Scripture is that the story of Jesus is in many ways a political story that was written in a particular political context. The Gospel is not just a story of personal salvation; it is the story about how God has come to set up his Kingdom in this world and to tear down this world’s political systems that rely upon power and violence to achieve their ends. There may be no greater example than the Christmas story.

Notice how this story begins. It speaks about the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar. It mentions a census, and governors, and how people obeyed a law that was sent out from Rome. And then, throughout the remainder of the passage, Luke uses language that was used in the Roman empire about Caesar to describe Jesus’ birth.

About 100 years before Luke wrote these words, Augustus Caesar had brought a century of civil war to an end and had brought about an age of peace. When people praised the emperor, they spoke of him as the one who had brought “peace on earth and favor to the people.” Augustus was also hailed as the “Savior of the world.” His birth was described on public inscriptions as “Good News” (or Gospel) for all the earth. Augustus was revered as Lord of all.

When Luke tells about Jesus’ birth, he uses these same words and phrases. He says:

  • I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people.
  • To you is born this day a Savior.
  • This Savior is the Messiah (the King), and the Lord
  • The angels announced peace on earth, goodwill toward all people

Luke’s story is a direct Christian claim against the claims of the Roman empire. The Romans hailed Caesar as the one who brought good news to the world. He was the world’s savior, king, and lord. He brought peace and goodwill to all the earth.

However, Luke is saying that on that first Christmas Eve, the real good news, God’s good news was pronounced to the world from heaven. On Christmas Eve the true Savior, the true King, the true Lord was born. And this baby would be the One to save us all from sin, the true enemy of our lives, and bring true, lasting peace to the world.

People built an altar to Caesar Augustus. But a heavenly chorus of angels proclaimed the good news of Christ’s birth. And so it has gone throughout history and so it continues today.

Presidents and Prime Ministers, rulers and governments of all kinds arise and rule over their people. One Bible scholar called our world: “a world where the rich get rich at the expense of the poor while telling them they are giving them freedom, justice and peace.” Now let’s not be completely negative. We have many good and just political leaders who believe in public service and the common good do their best to bring lasting peace and justice to our lives in this world.

Nevertheless, injustice persists. Poverty persists. Inequality persists. People still use power and violence to impose their will on others. Folks seem to care more about their rights than their responsibilities. We get caught up in trying to get ahead and we forget about those who can’t keep up. Despite centuries of progress, we still struggle with our human tendencies toward selfishness, suspicion, covering up our own sins and weaknesses, blaming others, playing the victim, and chasing a thousand so-called solutions that only end up enslaving us.

The goal of God sending his Son at Christmas is summarized in the words of the Lord’s Prayer: “May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” There is no Caesar, no President, no Prime Minister, no government, no leader that will be able to guarantee that ultimate goal. Though we must support our earthly leaders and institutions and do our best to make them better, we must realize that it is only through the good news of heaven’s King that ultimate justice and peace will fill this world.

However, there is something else in this text that grows out of observing its other characters: simple, common people who got caught up in the events of that first Christmas.

You see, Jesus came to create a people made up of such ordinary people: folks like Mary and Joseph and the shepherds who will respond to heaven’s good news and proclaim and live out the peace and goodwill that God brings. That means people like you and me. We may not be the powerful people in this world, but every day we have the opportunity to live in the grace and love of Christ. Every day we can plant seeds of righteousness and peace that God will use to repair this broken world and move us ever closer to the day when the new creation will appear.

May God bless us this Christmas season and make us his servants in this world to announce and live out the good news of great joy for all people that Christ’s birth brings:

To us is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. Glory to God in the highest! May God’s peace and goodwill come to all people. May God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven — may it be done in and through our lives as well — through the Holy Child born to make all things new.