The Internet Monk Archives

Redefining “Persecution”

Good words from Rachel Held Evans on the myth that Christians are being persecuted today in the United States:

There are indeed Christians being persecuted around the world. There are Christians who break the law by gathering together for church, Christians whose family members have been executed for their beliefs, Christians who have been imprisoned for following Jesus, Christians who live in poverty and fear as a result of their faithfulness.

That’s persecution.

Being wished “happy holidays” instead of “merry Christmas” is not persecution. Being prohibited from persecuting others (by forcing Jewish kids to pray Christian prayers in a public school, for example) is not persecution. Not getting your way in every area of civic life is not persecution.

And I’m pretty sure that when the apostle Peter wrote his letter to the persecuted Church of Asia Minor, encouraging his fellow Christians to be brave in the face of oppression by the Roman government, he was not referring to Christians getting snubbed at Domitian’s inauguration ceremony.

We dishonor the memory of the millions of Christians who have suffered very real persecution through the centuries when we confuse a lack of privileged status with persecution. As Robert Cargill has noted: “There is a difference between persecution and the loss of privileged status. Just because you didn’t get what you want doesn’t mean that you are persecuted. It means you can’t have everything.”

The Font and the Tiny Casket

Baptism of Our Lord Sunday
January 13, 2013

Recently, in my role as a hospice chaplain, I baptized a beautiful little three-month old baby girl, as she was being held in the arms of her mother in their home. The baby was terminally ill, and few days later she went to heaven.

When I baptized her, she was hooked up to a feeding tube and oxygen and monitors — wires and tubes everywhere. The warm water flowing from my hand over her little head seemed to calm her. It made her dark hair curl, and when I dried it, it stuck out everywhere. When I moved to the sofa behind her and said, “Little girl, your hair looks like Bozo!” the nurse who had taken her in her arms said the baby smiled just then.

I told mom and dad that in our church, after we baptize a baby, the pastor takes the child in his arms and parades her down the aisle, saying, “Welcome your new little sister to God’s family,” and we cheer. But the only audience this day was the baby’s two-year old brother, and he was too busy running around to notice the whole affair. Mom and Dad themselves were preoccupied by the fact that their newborn wasn’t faring too well and that the end might be near. The “sanctuary” lacked a sense of celebration that day.

However, I reminded the parents of their act of faith when I led the funeral service a week later. I shared with them why I believe the little baby lying in front of us in her pink dress in the baby casket is safe with God, and why we can have peace that she is now being cared for in her heavenly home.

First, I said, Jesus always welcomed children, took them into his arms, and blessed them. Always. Even when his friends tried to shoo the little ones away so they wouldn’t interrupt the “important” work Jesus was doing, the Savior would have none of that. He was all about the kids. I don’t know of a single instance when he turned them away. We can trust that Jesus welcomed this little girl, embraced her, and that she is living in his blessing today.

Second, I reminded mom and dad, you can have an even deeper sense of peace because you brought her to Jesus in faith and had her baptized. You committed her into God’s care. And it is the Bible that says, “But when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is sure.” (Titus 3:4-8)

I praised these young parents for loving their baby, for caring for her in difficult circumstances, for giving her a home in which she could live and die surrounded by love and support. I assured them, by the Good News of Jesus, that she is now home with God, safe and sound.

Father, into your hands, we commit her spirit.

Ten Songs that Moved Me in 2012

I did not do a “Best Albums” list for 2012 this year. 2012 was not a banner year for me with regard to listening to music, for several reasons:

Limited funds,
Limited time to explore and listen to new music,
See point #1.

In addition, there was only one record I was eagerly looking forward to in 2012: Mark Knopfler’s Privateering, which, to my dismay, was not made available in the U.S. because of a contract dispute. Fortunately, Amazon has vendors in Canada and other countries who will sell to us here with reasonable shipping costs, so I was able to procure the double CD set a couple of months after it was released.

I did purchase some other music during the year too, and I’ve also been able to catch up a bit by virtue of some of the bargains available after Christmas. But I still don’t have a very broad or deep pool from which to draw a”Best” list. So instead I will give a list of ten songs from 2012 that have moved me as I’ve listened to them.

What “moves” me in a song? There is an element of mystery in the answer to that question, of course, but I can name a few characteristics of the kinds of popular music that attract and enthrall me.

Music and lyrics that “take me somewhere” — on an intellectual, emotional, or imaginative journey into another world, much like good reading does.
Music and lyrics that bring an instinctive, reflexive smile to my face, a rush of emotion to my chest, a tear to my eye, or a deep sense of satisfaction that what is being sung resonates with my humanity.
A song that makes me sigh after I hear it. That usually means I’ve been so caught up in it, I’ve forgotten to breathe.

Here are ten songs that fit the bill from 2012:

Continue reading “Ten Songs that Moved Me in 2012”

Saturday Ramblings 1.12.13

Greetings one and all. It’s that time of year once again. What time? Well, college football season has ended. The NFL season is over for me, as my Bengals once again proved to be, uh, the Bengals. Hockey? Not yet. Basketball? Doesn’t start for me until March. Ah, baseball, right? Not yet. Pitchers and catchers report in four weeks, not that I’m counting the days or anything. Give up? I’ll tell you then. It’s the flu season. And I am participating fully. So, if you will pass me another blanket and fluff up my pillow, it’s time for us to ramble.

Remember all the talk about being “spiritual but not religious“? Seems that those who identify themselves as such are susceptible to mental illness, drug abuse and eating disorders. See? Religion isn’t so bad after all.

Christianity Today has released its list of the most “redeeming” films of 2012. I only saw one of the ten, number ten. I did read the book number five is based on, if that counts. How many have you seen?

Good news. Jesus gets to stay in a middle school in Jackson, Ohio. Or at least his picture. Seems the townspeople have spoken. Jesus stays.

No picture of Jesus’ wife will be hanging next to the picture of Jesus anytime soon. The Harvard Theological Review has postponed publishing a report on the piece of papyrus that purports that Jesus was married. Harvard professor Karen King had prepared the article for the January issue, but “further testing” is being called for to see if the papyrus is authentic. I’m not holding my breath.

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Church Renewal Remix

In the light of Jeff’s passionate post yesterday, let’s take a look at what someone else is saying about the future of the American church (with a focus on Protestant groups).

Over at sowhatfaith.com, the blog of Greg Smith, there is a ten-part series called “The Future Church (v. 2020) – 10 Shifts.” Smith describes the series as: “the top ten ways I hope the American church of 2020 will differ from the church of 2012.”

According to his biographical information, Greg Smith has had most of his experience in mainline communities. He calls himself “a 30-something progressive, postmodern, postdenominational follower of Jesus who believes that the Christian faith is best understood experientially.” He has served in congregations affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Lutheran (ELCA), Presbyterian (PCUSA), and United Church of Christ (UCC) denominations. Currently, Greg serves as Director of Adult Education at Naples United Church of Christ and teaches at Hodges University.

So, here is a perspective on the future of the American church from a younger leader in the mainline Protestant world. I think you will find it not too much different from what many in evangelicalism are saying. Smith suggests ten shifts he would like to see in the church by the year 2010. (You can read more detail at each link.)

Here’s his list:

10. More collaboration and less competition. Citing trends that collaboration between churches is already increasing, Smith hopes for an increase in shared community projects and an increase in interfaith activities of all kinds, including efforts to increase religious literacy, dialogue to promote understanding, shared social justice projects as well as joint worship services and sharing of clergy. There will more of a balance on encouraging people to belong to a congregation rather than to believe in a way that shuts out other congregations.

9. More scalable and fewer fixed costs. Smith suggests several ways that churches will deal with their financial stewardship in the future. Church budgets are heaviest on human resources, so this is the logical place to try and reduce costs. He suggests there may be fewer seminary trained clergy, more shared pastorates or lay pastorates in smaller churches, more staff positions in larger congregations that are open to both lay and clergy participation, more part-time and specialized staff, and more volunteer opportunities with an increased emphasis on training volunteers in churches. As far as property and facility costs, he sees the churches continuing to move away from single-use spaces, owning rather than renting, and moves toward decentralization that make use of virtual technologies.

8. More about following and less about membership. Churches will focus more on encouraging people to follow the way of Jesus rather than being a faithful member of a local church. Rather than membership being the starting point of belonging to a congregation, membership will grow out of belonging and being assimilated into the life of the community. Measuring membership statistics will be less important than determining ways of assessing who have found a vital place in the church’s life. Smith cites Michael Foss’s book, Power Surge: Six Marks of Discipleship for a Changing Church, with its contrasts between a membership model and a discipleship model for specific examples of what this will mean.

7. More about questions and less about answers. In the teaching ministry of the church, there will be more of a focus on on the content and style of Jesus’ teaching, especially the parables, which encourage people to question rather than giving them easy answers. Smith sees more “both/and” rather than “either/or” thinking, and less focus on a teacher up front on a stage lecturing and more on walking beside students in a more give and take fashion.

6. More Jesus-centered and less focused on tradition. Smith offers little detail as to what he means by this, other than to say there will be more a focus on the great commandment and more of an emphasis on deeds, not dogma.

Continue reading “Church Renewal Remix”

Saving Evangelicalism

The founder of InternetMonk, Michael Spencer, once wrote a series of essays on the Coming Collapse of Evangelicalism. I found myself not only agreeing with Michael, but cheering on the collapse of this branch of Christianity that, from my vantage point, had grown heavy with pride, selfishness, greed and fraud. Evangelicalism was imploding, collapsing under the weight of church leaders who were bigger than God. I said good riddance, and waiting for Michael’s prophecies to come true.

Then Chaplain Mike recently asked if 2012 was the year of the collapse, and I found I had a different reaction. What if the collapse were actually occurring? I found myself wanting it to be a needed shaking, not a total destruction. I then thought of an essay Lisa Dye wrote on God’s alien work, with alien meaning destructive. God was clearing moving in a destructive way. Would evangelicalism be no more?

No, evangelicalism will survive. Whether or not it will be in a form recognizable to those in that world today is not really important to me. Will the future evangelical movement be something that glorifies God, or just another brick in the tower of Babel, man’s attempt to show God that God can be reached anytime man wants to do so?

Evangelicalism is worth saving, but only if it can be reshaped. It will be hard, and there will be much weeping and wailing and nashing of teeth. My suggestions for saving it are but the beginning, but we have to start somewhere. In this essay I will share what I think the church as a whole needs to consider. Next week I will look at what individuals can do.

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Genesis for Normal People

Genesis for Normal People: A Guide to the Most Controversial, Misunderstood, and Abused Book of the Bible
by Peter Enns and Jared Byas
Patheos Press (2012)

* * *

According to its authors, Genesis for Normal People is designed for “normal people…who are curious about the Bible and want to get a handle on what Genesis is all about.” In the same foreword, Peter Enns and Jared Byas point out the elephant in the room immediately. This book is not about science and the Bible. The focus of Genesis is not on that. The creation story is one small part of Genesis, which is itself just one small part of the larger work known as the Pentateuch, which itself is a small part of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament).

So what they want us to see, right from the start, is that Genesis tells a story that is an important part of a much bigger story. The goal of this book is to help ordinary readers of the Bible get the big picture of Genesis and its story and how it relates to the whole story.

One important factor in reading this story rightly is remembering that it is an ancient story. We can’t approach it like it is a modern history textbook. Nor is it a book of principles to teach us how to live. “When we stop using Genesis as an argument, a textbook, or a code of conduct, and begin to see it as an ancient story — with memorable characters, twists and turns, ups and downs, accomplishments and mistakes — we find it fresh, deep, and more true and relevant than we might expect.”

Enns and Byars agree with scholars who have concluded that the Pentateuch as we know it came together sometime after 539 B.C., when Cyrus of Persia delivered the Israelites from the Babylonian Captivity. The Exile was a time of national trauma for the Israelites, causing them to look back at their ancient past in order to make sense of what had happened. A big piece of the answer was the Pentateuch and its stories, which reminded them of their identity and helped them make a new start, grounding their present and future in their past.

After giving a succinct overview of Genesis and how it is put together, Enns and Byers take us section by section through the book. Here are a few examples:

Genesis 1 is “a reminder to Israel and a slap in the face to everyone else, especially the Babylonians,” an ancient creed that shows why Israel’s God is alone worthy of worship.

Genesis 2-3 is a very different kind of creation story, shifting the focus from the creation of the cosmos to the creation of Israel. The story of Adam and Eve is about Israel, “a preview of Israel’s long journey in the Old Testament as a whole.”

Genesis 4-5 tells the story of Cain and Abel, an example of how disobedience to God not only leads to personal death, but has lethal consequences for social relationships as well, a point Israel’s prophets made time and time again in their oracles against the nation’s sins.

In their commentary on Genesis 12-22, the authors show how Abraham’s story mirrors that of Israel. A key section in chapter 12, when Abraham goes down to Egypt in a time of famine, is the exodus story in miniature. Abraham’s journey, in which he learns God’s faithfulness and the importance of trusting God fully, challenges the exiles in their season of “barrenness” to trust God for fruitfulness and possession of the Promised Land.

I think the final paragraph summarizes the approach Peter Enns and Jared Byas take and the conclusions they arrive at in this commentary:

The book ends with the death of Jacob and then Joseph. With this, Israel’s infancy comes to an end and a difficult period of growth is about to begin. The movement from a people to a nation is not one that will come easily — it will end with Israel licking its wounds from Babylonian captivity. And as we have seen, that larger story is already in view throughout Genesis. Israel’s ancient story is one of struggle, with God and with others. It is also a story of Israel’s faith in God, that he will come through for them no matter what. Genesis is Israel’s story to show that God can be counted on, from the very beginning.

Genesis for Normal People is an excellent introduction to the big picture of Genesis as it fits in with the big story of the First Testament. It models an approach of reading the Bible as an ancient document that many of us need to learn, without having to get bogged down in theories of interpretation and background studies that don’t deal directly with the text. It is written clearly and the authors are personally engaging and pastoral in their teaching.

It won’t answer all your questions, and it’s not designed to do that. Genesis for Normal People is an overview that whets one’s thirst for more, and any book that leads one more deeply into Scripture gets a big thumbs up from me.

The First Story of Israel (Gen. 2-3)

Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise, Chagall

* * *

Genesis 2 is not another version of the creation of the cosmos. It shifts the focus to the story of Israel.

– Peter Enns, Jared Byas, Genesis for Normal People

Let me tell you a story.

God prepared a good land, a land of abundance and promise. He formed a people and put them there. He provided all their needs and called them to marry and be fruitful, to work, and to worship him. He gave them wise commandments to follow that would lead them to life and warned them against choices that would lead to death. Foolishly, they listened to voices other than his and disobeyed him. As a result, they suffered his punishment. He cast them out of the good land into exile. He did, however, provide for them that they might be protected and have hope for the future.

This is the story of Israel. Listen to Moses’ words in Deuteronomy 30:

See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (vv. 15-20)

This is the story of Adam and Eve. Listen to the account in Genesis 2-3:

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’ (2:15-17)

…So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. (3:6)

…therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life. (3:23-24)

Adam and Eve are Israel.

Genesis 1, which we considered yesterday, is Israel’s statement of faith in God the Creator and King of all the earth. The “gods” of the nations are not God. The One who created the heavens and the earth is.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
he is to be revered above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.

(Psalm 96:4-5)

Genesis 2-3 is the first story of Israel. It tells how God created a people, gave them a good land, instructed them to obey him, and exiled them when they disobeyed.

Continue reading “The First Story of Israel (Gen. 2-3)”

A Few Thoughts from Friends

Browsing around last night, I found several thoughts too good not to share.

* * *

Michael Newnham at Phoenix Preacher — “Things I Think”

America could completely collapse and even cease to exist and Jesus still might not be at the door. The Christian era has seen the collapse of a few empires.

Jesus prayed for unity and Paul pleaded that there be no division among us. You’d think we’d at least nod in their general direction.

Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between “peace that passes understanding” and “whistling in the graveyard.”

Matthew B. Redmond at Echoes and Stars — “10 Quotes from The God of the Mundane”

In other words, we want to end war, hunger and poverty in our lifetime. But we do not posses the will to let someone merge in front of us in traffic, and do so with a smile.

Living quietly is a life so happy with the attention of God, that the attention of the world is not needed, and rarely enjoyed.

John Frye at Jesus Creed — “From the Shepherd’s Nook: Facing a New Year”

A diligent scholar who brings me into a wrestling match with the words, history, culture, etc. of a biblical book causes my heart to catch fire. Some of my family members still shoot me strange expressions when I do a sudden fist pump and shout, “Yeeaaaah!” When they realize I’m reading an exegetical commentary they appear ready to cart me off to a shrink.

Peter Marty at The Lutheran: “Loving Others on Our Knees”

Christian people pray. They love to pray, or at least they work toward feeling that love. Most of us find our spiritual lives gaining their best traction when we think about a world larger than the one we create through dallying over our reputation, latest wardrobe or hefty to-do list. We pray for the needs and circumstances that ripple through other peoples’ lives.

I once heard someone refer to intercessory prayer as “loving your neighbor on your knees.” That’s good. Never mind if your knees don’t bend well, or if your church lacks those fancy fold-down kneelers. You get the idea.

And, finally, this extended passage from Jim Shepard on Flannery O’Connor and her view of “epiphanies” at The Atlantic:

Writers talk a lot about epiphanies—what O’Connor, in her Catholic tradition, called “grace”—in short stories. But I think we’re tyrannized by a misunderstanding of Joyce’s notion of the epiphany. That stories should toodle on their little track toward a moment where the characters understand something they didn’t understand before—and, at that moment, they’re transformed into better people.

You know: Suddenly Billy understood that his grandmother had always gone through a lot of difficult things, and he resolved he would never treat her that way again.

This kind of conversion notion is based on a very comforting idea—that if only we had sufficient information, we wouldn’t act badly. And that’s one of the great things about what The Misfit tells the Grandmother in the line I like so much. He’s not saying that a near-death experience would have turned her into a good woman. He’s saying it would take somebody threatening to shoot her every minute of her life.

In other words, these conversion experiences don’t stick—or they don’t stick for very long. Human beings have to be re-educated over and over and over again as we swim upstream against our own irrationalities.

(There’s a great line in Orson Welles’ film Citizen Kane, where one of the protagonist’s enemies says to him: “You’re going to need more than one lesson, Mr. Kane, and you’re going to get more than one lesson.”)

Now, O’Connor really believes that we can flood, momentarily, with the kind of grace that epiphany is supposed to represent. But I think she also believes that we’re essentially sinners. She’s saying: Don’t think for a moment that because you’ve had a brief instant of illumination, and you suddenly see yourself with clarity, that you’re not going to transgress two days down the road.

Listen Up, People! Our God Reigns! (Gen. 1)

paradise-1961-chagall — Paradise, Chagall

A Reading/Performance of Genesis 1

Listen up, people! Our God reigns!

Let me tell you about our God.
Way back in the beginning, he made everything that is.
That’s right, I said he made everything that is!
It was God, the true and living God.
Not the pretender “gods” of Babylon or any other nation.
God alone is the One who brought order to the chaos.
He made the darkness light and stilled the raging seas.

At one time, this old world of ours was a wasteland,
No place we could call “home.”
It was dark as dark could be and covered with turbulent waters.

Now in Babylon, they’ll tell you stories,
Stories about how their gods were fightin’.
That’s why everything was so crazy chaotic.
Then, out of all that fussin’ and fumin’ and fightin’ one god won,
And that’s how we got our world.
Don’t you believe it!

When the world was dark and the waves were crashin’,
God’s Spirit was there like a mighty wind,
Just like when he parted the Red Sea.
You remember that story, don’t you?
There we were, in the wilderness,
No place we could call “home.”
Waters were threatening us, our enemies comin’ up on us.
That’s when God divided the waters for us, people,
And led us to the good land.

It happened the same way in the beginning, my sisters and brothers!

Continue reading “Listen Up, People! Our God Reigns! (Gen. 1)”