This Little Light Of Mine

I have been a Christian now for more than 37 years. As soon as I came into the family, I was told I needed to do two things on a regular basis: go to church and read my Bible. And I have done these two things on a regular basis for all these years. Now, I am (like many of you) on a journey through the post-evangelical wilderness. It is an exciting journey, but one fraught with dimly-lit paths, twisty paths, or at times no discernible path at all. My faith community, while at times frustrating in their cliche’-driven approach to this journey, has been of great help to me in the form of encouragement, even when the way is dark for us all. Churchianity sucks, but a group of believers who encourage one another is priceless. I cannot give up on the church, even with all of its numerous faults.

And I have not given up on the Bible either, even when I see it so horribly misused by those claiming to personally know its author. There are times I wonder if the Lord would like a do-over and not leave a paper-trail as it were. For we have taken what was meant for good and turned it into a brutish club to use for our evil purposes. Or, at the very least, we use it foolishly. I want to talk about a few of these wrong ways we use the Bible.

Continue reading “This Little Light Of Mine”

Mourning and Grieving in Community

Lamentations of Jeremiah, Chagall

By Chaplain Mike

Note: The following is a transcript of a talk I gave to our hospice team a few years ago. As I promised earlier this week, we will be having several posts on the subject of grief and caring for the bereaved in the next short while.

This particular piece shows one of the reasons why American evangelicals (broadly speaking) don’t often deal well with helping those who lose loved ones—we are an a-traditional people. We have not developed community traditions that we practice in disciplined ways that obligate us to be with the bereft and minister to them over the long haul. We have a short-term fix mentality instead. For us, it is about getting on with our lives. Anything less is not “productive.”

Furthermore, we have an individualistic mindset. If a grieving person needs help, he or she should seek out personal counseling, or perhaps a support group of other individuals who can meet for a period of time and “deal with” their issues. It’s about getting “fixed.”

Other communities of faith are wiser than this. Allow me to introduce you to one today.

I’ve been involved in a lot of funerals lately. It’s got me thinking about how we in our culture deal with death, funeral rites and the grieving process, especially as interpreted in the Protestant Christian community.Continue reading “Mourning and Grieving in Community”

The Safest Place To Be

It’s a dangerous world out there. Lots of things to be aware of. So I think it best to identify a safe place, somewhere you can be assured of not being bothered by all of the bad in this world. And I have found just the place.

It’s your nearby local Christian bookstore.

Yes, you can find safety in your Christian bookstore. Nothing bad ever happens in the pages of Christian books. Life is nothing but an endless supply of cupcakes and roses. The sun always shines in Christian books. Every ending is a happy ending. No one ever sins, and if they do, well, they are really, really sorry about it.

You are always safe around Christian books. Every prayer is answered. Every person is blessed beyond measure. We all learn how to live to our fullest, experiencing life at its best. God is explained down to the smallest detail. Every Bible verse is understood in the one and only way it can be understood. And of course there is only one true understanding of each verse. Science is exposed in the light of faith. No more questions, for in a Christian bookstore all we have are answers. The right answers.

Continue reading “The Safest Place To Be”

Brueggemann on the Genre of Gen 1-11

Earth Code Genesis 1:11-13, Janice Schoultz Mudd

Here is another thought-provoking quote, giving the reader of Genesis 1-11 something to consider when approaching the text. This comes from Walter Brueggemann’s fine commentary on Genesis in the Interpretation series (Genesis: Interpretation: a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching).

Comment needs to be made on the matter of creation, world-beginnings and attempts to correlate creation narratives with modern scientific hypotheses. . . . The expositor must move between two temptations. On the one hand, there is the temptation to treat this material as historical, as a report of what happened. This will be pursued by those who regard science as a threat and want to protect the peculiar claims of the text. If these materials are regarded as historical, then a collision with scientific theories is predictable. On the other hand, there is the temptation to treat these materials as myth, as statements which announce what has always been and will always be true of the world. This will be pursued by those who want to harmonize the text with scientific perceptions and who seek to make the texts rationally acceptable.

Our exposition will insist that these texts be taken neither as history nor as myth. Rather, we insist that the text is a proclamation of God’s decisive dealings with his creation. . . .

. . . The text, then, is a proclamation of covenanting, as the shape of reality. The claim of this tradition is opposed both to a materialism which regards the world (nature, cosmos) as autonomous and to a transcendentalism which regards the world as the same stuff as God. The term “create” asserts distance and belonging to. It is affirmed that the world has distance from God and a life of its own. At the same time, it is confessed that the world belongs to God and has no life without reference to God. This idiom of covenant applies not only to the creation stories of Gen. 1-2, but to all of the materials of Gen. 1-11. The whole is a narrative about God’s insistence that the creation should be nothing other than his creation. Such a view leaves ample room for every responsible scientific investigation. But it yields not at all on the issue of the fundamental character of reality as derived from and belonging to this sovereign, gracious God who will seek to have his own way. (p. 16f)

It Don’t Mean a Thing without that Historical Ring?

Adam & Eve in the Garden, Cranach

By Chaplain Mike

In addition to issues of interpretation with regard to Genesis 1 and the portrayal of creation it gives, (which have been covered in detail here in previous posts—check the archives), Young Earth Creationists insist that only their literal view of the Adam and Eve story in Genesis 2-3 is consistent with an orthodox position on humankind’s fall and the entrance of sin and death into the world.

Many folks are talking about this at the moment. You can go to BioLogos and find a number of posts on the matter. Jesus Creed has regular discussions about the matter, including one already this week. In fact, reading that post earlier today encouraged me to come home and pull my Romans commentary by Jimmy Dunn (Word Biblical Commentary: Volume 38A, Romans 1-8) off the shelf so that I could read his perspective on the question. I hadn’t looked at it for some time, but now that I have, I think it will provide a good discussion starter with regard to this issue.Continue reading “It Don’t Mean a Thing without that Historical Ring?”

Guest Post: John Armstrong asks, “How Otherworldly Should I Be?”

Note from Chaplain Mike:
Recently, we had a series of posts on the subject of Spiritual Formation. One point I made in those articles is that “the Christian life” (so-called) is not some life that is lived on a different plane, but it is this life, this ordinary, human life that every person born into this world must live. It is this life, lived Christianly—that is, in, with, and by Jesus Christ.

My friend John H. Armstrong wrote a fine piece on his blog the other day that reinforces this message and says what I was trying to communicate very well. He graciously agreed to share it with our Internet Monk community. John is the author/editor of twelve books, of which his newest is: Your Church Is Too Small: Why Unity in Christ’s Mission Is Vital to the Future of the Church, which we reviewed earlier this year.

How Otherworldly Should I Be?
• By John H. Armstrong

It seems to me that much of the emphasis of evangelicals on piety and Christian living is rooted in a false dichotomy, or dualism. Spirituality, at least the way I learned about it, meant to withdraw from the world. And devotional life, or quiet time as we call it, means to get my battery charged so I can function in the world without being overwhelmed by it. The image is much like that of a modern battery-powered car. You plug it in overnight and then it runs for so many miles during the day. If you want to go the distance you need to charge the batteries all the more, thus spend more time away from the world. There is almost an equation here: the more time you spend alone the further your car runs in the real world. I can’t remember how many times I’ve heard the quote from Luther that he had a busy day before him so he would spend “three hours in prayer” that morning. Honestly, that has created more than a fair share of guilt for me for a long time.Continue reading “Guest Post: John Armstrong asks, “How Otherworldly Should I Be?””

Voices of Friends around the Web

By Chaplain Mike

On the sidebar of Internet Monk, we have an extensive and ever-growing list of friends’ blogs and good websites. We encourage you to check them out. We think you’ll agree that they are worth your while.

In this post, I will survey a few interesting items I’ve read on some of them in recent days.

• From the Lausanne 2010 Congress in Capetown, Skye Jethani wrote:

After the video all 5,000 delegates stood to sing “Crown Him with Many Crowns”–the same hymn that opened the Edinburgh conference a century ago. And the amazing diversity at Cape Town 2010 was a moving testimony to how effective the 20th century missions movement was. Standing beside me was an African woman, an Australian man, an Asian couple, and a student from Latin America. I have never been in a more international gathering in my life. As I scanned the room I didn’t see groups of white, black, or brown. The room was integrated, for lack of a better term–God’s people from around the globe worshipping together. It was incredibly moving.

An Unprecedented Opportunity: “God in America”

By Chaplain Mike

I have not been able to watch much of Frontline’s “God in America” series on PBS in recent days. But I definitely plan to do so. The little that I have seen was remarkable television, even more so because of the pervasive drought of thoughtful religious discussion on the airwaves.

I hope to be commenting on this series in days to come.

Stephen Prothero, professor of religion at Boston University, rightly observes, “Americans are awash in a sea of faith, but their knowledge about religious faiths and religious history often runs as shallow as their commitment to religion runs deep.”

This is an unprecedented opportunity for Christians to begin to address that ignorance.

Of course, we are all aware that those of us with evangelical beliefs will not agree on every interpretation offered in a series like this. So what? What a great opportunity to take the place of learners and enter a discussion with our neighbors about the faith and how it works out in our cultural context. You can even download a “Viewing Party Kit” to help you set up gatherings for watching the shows with others.

In addition, there is a wealth of resources that accompany and complement this series, including an extensive series of lectures sponsored by the Forum Network curated around the “God in America” programs.

“God in America” consists of six episodes that explore American faith from the first European settlement to the 2008 elections. You can watch them online if that’s more convenient for you.

“The American story cannot be fully understood without understanding the country’s religious history,” says series executive producer Michael Sullivan. “By examining that history, God in America will offer viewers a fresh, revealing and challenging portrait of the country.”

I hope those in our IM community will take full advantage of this unprecedented opportunity.

Glimpse at a Grief Support Group

"Angel of Grief" statue, W. Story

By Chaplain Mike

One of the responsibilities of a hospice chaplain in our agency is to lead grief support groups. Hospices organize these groups as a part of their bereavement programs, to provide continuing care to those who have lost loved ones. Other organizations also provide these kinds of support services—churches, hospitals, funeral homes, etc.

This is not the time to go into this extensively, but in my experience evangelical churches have been quite weak in understanding bereavement and providing extended care for those who lose loved ones. We generally mirror our culture: a few days of intense interest, then it’s back to normal life. The bereft one is forgotten. We expect him or her to “get over it” and “move on.” We may claim to be Christians, but we can be thoroughly secular when it comes to practicing our faith in the context of matters like grief. Thankfully, some churches are beginning to offer more, but there is still a long, long way to go.

Those who have studied the grieving process recognize that the entire first year after a loss can be a roller coaster ride that deeply affects one’s daily living. And we need to get this straight—people never “get over it.” That phrase ought to be banned from our vocabulary. It makes no sense when talking about losing a loved one. Grieving people learn to adjust to a new way of living, they don’t “get over” their loss. Who would want that anyway?

I plan on writing about this more soon. For now, I know that many of you have kept Denise Spencer in your thoughts and prayers since she lost Michael in April. A number have asked how she is getting along. With her permission, I am linking to an article she just wrote on her blog about a recent “good ninety minutes” she and others shared in her grief support group.

I hope this will remind us all to keep her in mind, and that we will ask God to continue to be to her and to all who grieve, “the God of all comfort.”

Read “A Good Ninety Minutes”

And give Denise a warm greeting from the IM community.

An Army of SLJW’s

Intercessory Prayer, Ruth Palmer

By Chaplain Mike

Sunday’s Gospel
• Luke 18:1-8

Many of the chapter divisions in our Bible were unfortunately placed. We come upon a good example of this in our Gospel reading today.

In Luke 17:20-37, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and his disciples about “the coming of the days of the Son of Man.” He is speaking about a future that his followers and the world around them will face. It is likely that Jesus is referring to the difficult days around 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and leveled the temple. However, as many commentators point out, when the Bible speaks of historical events like this, the images often look beyond those specific occasions to the eschaton, the end of history, when God’s judgment and salvation will be made fully known throughout the heavens and earth. The near event points to the far-off event.

In that context—the anticipation of the days of God’s promised, surprising intervention in history, turning everything inside out and upside down—we come to chapter 18, where Jesus tells his disciples a parable “about how they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1).Continue reading “An Army of SLJW’s”