Are You a Peacemaker?

“A much neglected aspect of the mission of Jesus according to Luke is that of peace-making, of nonviolent resistance to evil, of the futility and self-destructive nature of hatred and vengeance.”  (Transforming Mission by David J. Bosch - Page 118)

“God blesses those who work for peace for they will be called the children of God”.

 (Matthew 5:9 - New Living Translation)

Those who work for peace are people who accurately reflect the character and nature of God.  Being a peacemaker is restoring “Shalom”.  It is restoring wholeness, completeness, or soundness.

I think there are three possible ways of being: 

1.      I can be a peacekeeper.  Peacekeepers are appeasers.  They just want everyone to get along.  Let’s just keep quiet about anything controversial and let’s just keep everyone happy.  Peacekeepers don’t talk about what they really feel or think.  Peacekeepers protect themselves by not risking. 

(Unfortunately I’ve come to realize that I’ve lived most of my life as a peacekeeper.)

2.      I can be a troublemaker.  Troublemakers demand that things be done their way.  Troublemakers think they are right and everyone else is wrong.  Troublemakers don’t care if people get hurt or what kind of damage they leave behind.  Troublemakers protect themselves and there way by attacking.

3.      I can be a peacemaker.  Peacemakers work to create conditions for peace. 

a.       Peacemakers speak the truth in love.  They “say what is so” for them.  They speak out against injustice and oppression.  (Ephesians 4:15)

b.      Peacemakers forgive and offer grace to others.  Peacekeepers don’t hold grudges, or have deep seated resentments.  (Ephesians 4: 31-320

c.       Peacemakers initiate reconciliation.  Peacemakers don’t wait for someone else or something else.  (Matthew 5:23-24 and 2 Corinthians 5:18-21)

d.      Peacemakers don’t retaliate or seek revenge.  Peacemakers remain calm. (Matthew 5: 38-42)

e.       Peacemakers take action against injustice and oppression.  Sometimes in order to be a peacemaker a person appears to be a troublemaker.  Jesus modeled this when he cleared the temple. (Matthew 10:34)  I think those involved in the civil rights movement modeled this as well.

Peacemakers don’t protect themselves.  They are courageous risk-takers. 

Peacemakers take a stand against “non-peace” and help to restore wholeness.  Some define sin as “shalom” breaking.  Anywhere or anytime wholeness or completeness is broken it is sin.  I think it’s possible to be a really “nice” peacekeeper and to be sinning by allowing brokenness to remain. 

Becoming a peacemaker requires courage, intentionality, & perseverance.  If you decide to become a peacemaker you will have to fight for it in your own life.

“Those how are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of justice/righteousness.”
James 3:18

The Wellspring Community

Wellspring is a safe community for people who are spiritual but not religious. We don’t judge, condemn, or use the Bible as a weapon. We don’t have a long list of rules. Questions are normal and we embrace the mystery of God. We believe that God is beyond our ability to completely grasp or comprehend and so we hold our beliefs both humbly and loosely. We don’t require certainty or that everything resolve. Any person is welcome to belong in our community without having to agree with our beliefs. We don’t tell anyone what to think rather we help people discover for themselves. We value diversity and dialogue. We are a community of spiritual seekers.

The people of the Wellspring community practice following Jesus as a way of life more than as a system of belief. We believe that following the way of Jesus is a better way to live in the here and now not just in the hereafter. We believe that we are called and sent to represent God’s dream for the world. We believe that it’s our task to create foretastes of God’s kingdom here on earth. We seek authenticity and transparency. We seek to love unconditionally and to include the excluded. For us being loving is more important than being right in our beliefs. We work to extend mercy and compassion to those in need without making them our projects. We strive to recognize injustice and oppression and to work to make certain that every person gets treated rightly and fairly.

Wellspring communities are not organized institutions. We work to limit any hierarchy. We don’t have our own building and we don’t offer programs. We don’t struggle for power, control or authority. We avoid using religious jargon or cliché’s as much as possible. We aren’t “churchy”. We are real, we are honest and our gatherings are casual.

At Wellspring we are gaining freedom by closing the gaps between our beliefs & values and our actual behavior. We are seeking to identify and gain healing in our places of habitual brokenness. We are moving toward restored wholeness in six dimensions of life; spiritual, physical, psychological, economic, political, and social.

The community of Wellspring in Tomball gathers every Sunday at 4:00 P.M. at Main
Street Crossing for some music and discussion. Main Street Crossing is located at 111 West Main Street just before the railroad track and just under the Blues Brothers. The dress is very casual and no child care is provided. Our community is small and
informal.

We who make up the community called Wellspring believe that we are called to journey with people who are spiritual but not religious, joining with them in their movement toward faith & God. We hope to be a safe community where individuals can pursue God in a non-judgmental & non-threatening environment. We are seeking to follow the way of Jesus for the common good.

We believe that every person in every group asks the question; “will I be safe here?” Will I be accepted for who I am? Is this community safe enough to share what I really believe? Is it safe enough to express my doubts & fears? Is it safe enough to share my pain & my brokenness? Is it safe enough to disagree? We hope that you find, as we have, that this is a safe community. Our pledge is to keep it safe.

The Wellspring Community

Wellspring is a safe community for people who are spiritual but not religious.  We don’t judge, condemn, or use the Bible as a weapon.  We don’t have a long list of rules.  Questions are normal and we embrace the mystery of God.  We believe that God is beyond our ability to completely grasp or comprehend and so we hold our beliefs both humbly and loosely.  We don’t require certainty or that everything resolve.  Any person is welcome to belong in our community without having to agree with our beliefs.  We don’t tell anyone what to think rather we help people discover for themselves.  We value diversity and dialogue.  We are a community of spiritual seekers.

The people of the Wellspring community practice following Jesus as a way of life more than as a system of belief.  We believe that following the way of Jesus is a better way to live in the here and now not just in the hereafter.  We believe that we are called and sent to represent God’s dream for the world.  We believe that it’s our task to create foretastes of God’s kingdom here on earth.  We seek authenticity and transparency.  We seek to love unconditionally and to include the excluded.  For us being loving is more important than being right in our beliefs. We work to extend mercy and compassion to those in need without making them our projects.  We strive to recognize injustice and oppression and to work to make certain that every person gets treated rightly and fairly. 

Wellspring communities are not organized institutions.  We work to limit any hierarchy. We don’t have our own building and we don’t offer programs.  We don’t struggle for power, control or authority.  We avoid using religious jargon or cliché’s as much as possible.  We aren’t “churchy”.  We are real, we are honest and our gatherings are casual.

At Wellspring we are gaining freedom by closing the gaps between our beliefs & values and our actual behavior.  We are seeking to identify and gain healing in our places of habitual brokenness.  We are moving toward restored wholeness in six dimensions of life; spiritual, physical, psychological, economic, political, and social.

The community of Wellspring in Tomball gathers every Sunday at 4:00 P.M. at Main
Street Crossing for some music and discussion.  Main Street Crossing is located at 111 West Main Street just before the railroad track and just under the Blues Brothers.  The dress is very casual and no child care is provided.  Our community is small and
informal.

We who make up the community called Wellspring believe that we are called to journey with people who are spiritual but not religious, joining with them in their movement toward faith & God.  We hope to be a safe community where individuals can pursue God in a non-judgmental & non-threatening environment.  We are seeking to follow the way of Jesus for the common good.

We believe that every person in every group asks the question; “will I be safe here?”  Will I be accepted for who I am?  Is this community safe enough to share what I really believe?  Is it safe enough to express my doubts & fears?  Is it safe enough to share my pain & my brokenness?  Is it safe enough to disagree?  We hope that you find, as we have, that this is a safe community.  Our pledge is to keep it safe.

Chrisians Need to Repent!

The first message of Jesus was “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” The word repent means to change your thinking and then re-order your life based on the new thinking. It means to stop going in one direction and to turn and head in a new direction. The call of Jesus to “repent” was as much to the religious crowd as it was to the non-religious. I’ve come to believe that if Jesus were here in human form today his message would be the same. I think Jesus would be calling for Christians (especially those in the U.S.) to repent! He would be calling for us to repent of our attitudes and behaviors that are not consistent with his character and nature. He would call for us to re-align our lives according to his kingdom agenda rather than any other agenda.


There are a growing number of people that are giving up on church & Christianity. Most are not giving up on God or Jesus – just the church and the religion of Christianity. Many feel that Christianity (the organized religion) no longer reflects the spirit of the person it claims to follow. (Remember that Jesus didn’t come to start a new religion but a movement and a way of life.) Last week author Anne Rice announced that she’s quitting Christianity. Here’s what Anne said:

"For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian… It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

"My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist – lost in a world I didn’t understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been or might become."

I hear what Anne is saying. I hear her heart and I can identify with her. I “get” why so many others are dropping out. If it weren’t for the wonderful group of authentic followers of Jesus that I journey with – I’m afraid I would be counted among the dropouts. As a result – I want to call Christians to repent! It’s time we reorder our lives and focus just as much attention on our “orthopraxy” (right living) as we do on our “orthodoxy” (right belief).

Here are seven things I believe Christians should repent of:

1. We need to repent of our insistence on keeping people busy, busy, busy, with church activities & services that might make for good church members but are not making good followers of the way of Jesus. We have become so focused on “church growth” or on maintaining our institutions that we’ve forgotten to ask “are we really making disciples.” It seems to me that Jesus was about simplifying people’s lives not making them more complex.

2. We need to repent of our religious legalism. We’ve created long lists of “do’s & don’ts” – all intended to help people get closer to God – but instead we’re keeping people from God. Instead of helping people find life – we’re known as those who suppress life. When Jesus said “my load is easy and my burden is light” I believe he was separating himself from the religious legalism of his day. For Jesus, connecting with God was much simpler than most Christians make it today.

3. We need to repent of our arrogant – know it all attitudes. In our need for certainty we’ve lost our humility and have forgotten the many mysteries of God. Even the great apostle Paul acknowledged that at best his understanding was “foggy.” We’ve convinced ourselves that our understanding of God and the Bible is totally flawless and that being “right” is more important than being “loving.”

4. We need to repent of our angry – often hate-filled, and mean-spirited ways. Jesus said that “blessed are the peacemakers”. Jesus told us to love our neighbors and our enemies. We’ve convinced ourselves that it’s o.k. to have so-called righteous indignation and that its o.k. to treat people unkindly. But that isn’t the way of Jesus.

5. We need to repent of our smug, condescending, judgmental, & critical spirits. Jesus said “don’t judge & you won’t be judged.” “Don’t condemn & you won’t be condemned.” “God is kind to the ungrateful & wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-37) Many seem to think they are better than everyone else – especially those who might have beliefs that are different than theirs. It’s interesting that we love to point out the sins of others but we fail to acknowledge the seriousness of our own sins.

6. We need to repent of tying Christ to one political party’s agenda & making monsters out of anyone who sees things differently than we do. Jesus came declaring that all of the kingdoms of the world are flawed and that people need to align their lives with God’s kingdom and his agenda. We need to spend more time seeking “God’s kingdom & his justice” (Matt. 6:33) and less time seeking a given parties kingdom and its ideas of justice.

7. We need to repent of our narrow view of the gospel. We need to go back to the scriptures and re-learn what the essential gospel message of Jesus was and is. I believe that we should develop our theology of the gospel through the lens of Jesus first – rather than through the lens of the apostle Paul. We should look forward from Jesus rather than back from Paul. “As we have used the tools of biblical scholarship carefully, we have begun to learn that the biblical message is more radical, more inclusive, more transforming than we have allowed it to be.” (Missional Church p. 5)

I’m sure there are many other things we Christians need to repent of – but these are the seven that are most on my mind today. As I think about these seven areas of repentance I acknowledge that I need to repent of all seven. I acknowledge that symptoms of these seven things continue to seep from my being despite my best efforts. I don’t have my act together and I don’t have things all figured out. My hope is that I will follow the way of Jesus more closely than I ever have before. My hope is that I will more accurately reflect the character and nature of God through the way I live. My hope is that I will welcome God’s kingdom agenda into my life more fully and that I will align my life more completely with that agenda.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it. (Matt. 7:13&14)

Why Are People Turned Off By the Christian Sub-Culture?

Many people are rejecting the Christian sub-culture today - but that doesn't necessary mean that they are rejecting Jesus.  What turns you off about the Christian sub-culture?  I'm putting my list together and will post it next week.  I would love to know what you think.

Answers to Tough Questions

A friend forwarded this link today. I really like Dallas Willard and think you will enjoy this dialogue.  http://mppc.org/toughquestions

The Nativity of Rachel Shuman

Rachel Lynne Shuman was born to Ken & Becky Shuman on September 2nd 1979. Rachel was born just a couple of weeks after Ken graduated from college. Ken had taken his first church job in Shreveport Louisiana and the Shuman’s were living in Shreveport. Becky was determined that her daughter would not be born in Louisiana so she continued seeing her doctor in Marshall Texas. Rachel was a little slow in coming so one Saturday evening Becky decided to drink some castor oil in an attempt to speed the process up. Well it worked – because just a short time later Becky went in to labor. Becky’s mom had been staying with the Shuman’s waiting to help with the new baby – so Ken loaded his pregnant wife, his mother-in-law, and himself into the Shuman’s Volkswagen bug for the thirty minute drive to Marshall. Needless to say it was a tight fit.
In the early morning hours of Sunday September second Rachel Lynne was born. When daddy saw his little girl for the first time his heart melted. Ken had tried to prepare himself for being a father but the overwhelming feelings he had when he first saw his daughter were even more powerful than he could have anticipated. Of course Rachel became the queen bee of the church, and she continued as queen bee in every other church the Shuman’s served in.

The Nativity of Becky Shuman

Rebecca Jean Brock was born to Rev. Morris and Evelyn Brock on August 8th in Durant Oklahoma. Rebecca is the fourth child of what eventually became seven children born to the Brock’s. Rev. and Mrs. Brock had seven children in eight and a half years! This was before the invention of television. Rebecca was born in Oklahoma but grew up in Missouri. Rebecca became known as Becky. Becky met Ken Shuman while they were students at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas.

The Nativity of Jessica Stricker

Jessica, your dad and I were living in Sinop, Turkey where your dad was a military MP on a small (then secret) base jutting out into the Black Sea. I was 19 years old and not about to go back to the states when we found out you were coming. I was actually the last to get the official news, because there is no better system of communication than the grapevine on a small military outpost isolated from the world. By the time the test results trickled down to me, everyone on the base knew you were coming. And for the next nine months, they all worked to ease your way. I think you became a symbol of why they were half way around the world from home, missing their own wives and children. They showed us pictures and told us stories and even gave up their own vacation time so that your dad could spend as much time with me as possible before your arrival.

Three weeks before you were due, they put us on a cargo plane (C-130) that was going to Adana in southern Turkey, where there was an Air Force Base with a hospital. I joined a group of military wives from bases all over, and we each waited our turn to deliver. It was during the 1974 uprising on Cyprus, and the US government was angry that Turkey was using NATO weapons to fight. But the Turks saw the weapons as their property given in exchange for their commitment to participate, and were very offended by US demands. I offer that piece of history in case you ever read about it in books—we were very aware of both sides of that reality, and it may have affected my own religious pilgrimage more that any other single factor I can think of.

The day before you were born your dad and I traveled into Syria (your dad informed me recently—I never new we left Turkey) and climbed up to a castle on a hill, which you’ve seen slides of. The exercise must have excited you, and by 5 the next morning you let me know you were on your way out. Unfortunately, you didn’t communicate as well to the hospital people They kept insisting that you wouldn’t be arriving that day as I had previously predicted you would. But at 11:47pm you did make your way into the world, and you couldn’t have chosen any more pleased parents than we two waiting to greet you.

Two days after your birth, we set out on our trip back home to Sinop. The hospital people assumed (I am sure) we would drive to the airport, get on a military plane and be taken back to whatever base we had come from. But your dad was not stationed at a base with facilities for families, therefore you and I had no status. Sinop was the last stop for the plane, so coming from Sinop had not been a problem. Going back, the plane was puddle jumping and dropping people at bases all over, leaving no room for you and me. (Insert appropriate Christmas music at this point.)

It took us three days to make it home by way of public transportation after your birth. Not having planned on so much travel, we ran out of money at one point and had to borrow from some other GI’s in order to have bus fare for the last leg of the trip. You lived in the cardboard box provided by the hospital for your first four months, and you were well protected and cared for by Turks and Americans in equal measure.

Thanks for asking me to write this. It has made me aware of how much of the story isn’t included. I’ll have to work on that.
________________________________________

Directions

We are having a get together at my house on Thursday. For directions just click on point B and select get directions. Now just enter the address of your house and it'll give you directions to my place.

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The Nativity of Kathy Hart

I was raised with my story starting: My parents waited anxiously for the phone call and the news that I had finally arrived. They had a long wait because I was happy where I was and didn't intend on coming out to play. I managed to hang on for an extra three weeks before making my presence known on June 18, 1963 in the city hospital in Harvey, Illinios. My maternal Grandmother was the first to see and hold me. A nurse at the hospital placed her in my arms and she whisked me out of the hospital and to my new life. My parents were overjoyed when Grandma laid me in my mother's arms. They had waited a long time for me, because they couldn't have children of their own.

32 years and 345 days later, I was able to put the rest of the story together as I met my birth Mother for the first time. She told me a story filled with sadness, poverty and perseverance. A young, divorced mother already with one toddler, another on the way and no job and a very poor family. She was forced to make the ultimate sacrifice a Mother can make. Placing my best interests ahead of her own heart's feelings, she reluctantly placed me up for adoption. For almost 33 years she wondered, worried and cried over the only daughter she ever had. However, since she had only ever shared this "secret" with a few very special people, no one understood why in the Middle of June each year she would become sad for a few days.

You would think that was the end of the story, but this one has an ironic twist to it. She had told my birth Father that she had lost me and then she moved away before she started to show. The ironic part is that his oldest Sister had a dear friend who was having difficulty accepting the fact that she couldn't have children and had decided to adopt a child.......

The Nativity of Ken Shuman

In the fourth year of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s first term as President of the United States - Harold & Elenora Shuman of Danbury, Texas were expecting their third child. Harold was born and raised in Danbury and is a WWII veteran. Harold worked in the oil field for Phillips Petroleum Company. Harold and Elenora lived in a simple framed house that Harold had built himself. The couple had two daughters so Harold was really hoping for a son this time. When the time came for Elenora to give birth the couple drove to the Hospital in Freeport, Texas. Freeport had the nearest hospital to Danbury – but was still a thirty minute drive away. Because there was no Hospital close – the child was born in a chemical plant. The hospital in Freeport was owned and operated by Dow Chemical Company for their employees and local residents. When the couple arrived at the hospital – Elenora was taken to the delivery area while Harold filled out the paperwork. While he was signing all the forms – Dr. Steele the family doctor walked up and said “congratulations it’s a boy”. You see, the boy was so ready to come out and play that the couple barely arrived at the hospital before the delivery happened. Harold and Elenora named the boy Kenneth Wayne. Harold liked an actor on a television program who was named Kenneth. Kenneth was born on January 19, 1957. Kenneth is the third child and oldest son of six children born to Harold and Elenora. As a child Kenneth was called Kenny and he grew up healthy and spirited. There were no angels at his birth (that anybody saw anyway). There were no shepherds or even any chemical plant workers who came to celebrate the birth. There were a few wise men that came to see the family but they certainly weren’t Kings. Kenneth enjoyed a normal childhood and grew in wisdom and stature and every once in a while was in favor with God and

Jesus Wants to Save Christians - Epilogue

There’s a pattern here- a pattern we find in the story of the Bible that gives us insight into the deepest truths of how the universe works – Egypt, Sinai, Jerusalem, Babylon. Salvation is what happens when we cry out in Egypt. Because we all have our Egypts, don’t we?

Addiction, suicidal thoughts, anger, rage – we’ve all got darkness and slavery in our hearts somewhere. Prejudice, hate, envy, lust, racism, ego, dishonesty, greed – we each could make our lists. And they would be long. The wrong and injustice we see around us every day right down to the smallest details involving how we think and feel and act. The Bible uses the word sin for this condition of slavery. The technical definition of sin in the Scriptures is “to miss the mark.” We’ve all missed the mark in some way.

At the center of the Christian experience is crying out in our slavery and being heard by God. Trust that through Jesus, God has done for us what we could never do for ourselves – rescue, redemption, grace. This grace takes us to Sinai. Sinai is where we find purpose and identity. God doesn’t just want to save us; God is looking for a body, a people to incarnate the divine.

We’re invited at Sinai to join the God of the oppressed in doing something about our broken world. And that always involves hearing the cry of the oppressed and then acting on their behalf. If we forget them, we lose track of our own story.

Our story then takes us from Sinai to Jerusalem. And Jerusalem raises the question, “what will we do with our blessing?” What will we do with what God has given us? Will we remember Egypt, or will we lose the plot?
And sometimes we lose the plot. We become proud, we start to feel entitled, we allow our abundance to isolate us from who we really are. And we find ourselves in exile, which can be abrupt and shocking, and sometimes exile can be so subtle, we don’t realize what’s happened until later. And in exile we can slip into despair, or we can re-imagine everything – confession, repentance, a fresh start, a clean slate. We cry out in our exile and God hears us and we experience rebirth.

Jesus wants to save churches from the exile of irrelevance. If we have any resources, any power, any voice, any influence, any energy, we must convert them into blessing for those who have no power, no voice, and no influence.

It begins with someone crying out and someone else hearing. And it’s hard to hear the cry when you’re isolated from it. (Luke 16:19-31) Walls isolate. So can gates and freeways. But when we hear the cry, everything changes. Because when we hear the cry, we’re with God. When God gets Moses’ attention and lays out for him what liberation is going to look like for his people, he tells Moses to “go.” (Exodus 3: 10)

“Listen,” and then “Go.” The going will take a multitude of forms. It will be movement, action, life. It will involve risk, it will mean conversations with people who are nothing like us, and it will probably involve questions and criticism and perhaps even rejection from people who haven’t heard what we’ve heard.

It isn’t just about trying to save the world. It’s about saving ourselves – form the kingdom of comfort – from the priority of preservation – from the empire of indifference – from the exile of irrelevance.

Jesus wants to save us from making the good news about another world and not this one. Jesus wants to save us from preaching a gospel that is only about individuals and not about systems that enslave them. Jesus wants to save us from shrinking the gospel down to a transaction about the removal of sin and not about every single particle of creation being reconciled to its maker and restored to wholeness.

Jesus wants to save us from religiously sanctioned despair, the kind that doesn’t believe the world can be made better, the kind that either blatantly or subtly teaches people to just be quiet and behave and wait for something big to happen “someday.”

The Bible begins with Abel’s blood “crying out from the ground.” The Bible ends with God wiping away every tear. (Revelation 21:4) No more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain. Hope – The Christian message is always about this hope.

Jesus chose the path of descent; he comes into Jerusalem on a donkey, not a horse, with children, not soldiers, weeping, humble. And he dies, naked, bleeding, thirsty, alone. Maybe that’s what he means when he says, “Do this in remembrance of me.” The “do this’ part is our lives. Opening ourselves up to the mystery of resurrection, open for the liberation of others, allowing our bodies to be broken and our blood to be poured, discovering our Eucharist – our “good gift.” – listening and then going. Because when we do this in remembrance of him, the world will never be the same; we will never be the same.

Jesus Wants to Save Christians - Chapter Six

In Egypt – there is an endless cycle of despair. This is where Exodus begins, without hope. And God is nowhere to be found. That is what makes the story of Exodus so compelling. A new day is about to dawn. And it will begin tonight. Because God has heard the cry of the people, and God has come to do something about their oppression.
On the night of the exodus, every Jewish man was instructed to take a lamb “for his family, one for each household,” to sacrifice it, and to “eat the meat roasted over the fire… with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.” (Exodus 12:3, 8, & 11) For Israel, the symbol of revolution is a lamb.
Pharaoh is being judged. Plaques have brought the world’s superpower to its knees, but before the journey can begin, there’s a meal - a meal unlike any other. And central to this Passover meal is the command never to forget it. Never forget your despair & hopelessness. Never forget that you were rescued from slavery & oppression. Exodus 12:26-27
John the Baptist declared; “look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) And what does Jesus do on the night he’s betrayed and arrested? He has a Passover meal with his disciples. Jesus takes the ritual remembrance of that night unlike any other and he makes it about himself. For Jesus, his coming death is about the new exodus.
And what is our response to this? In the Scriptures, it’s written again and again that we are to remember and be thankful. The Greek word for thankful is from the verb eucharizomai. It’s from this word that we get the English word Eucharist, the “good gift.” Jesus is God’s good gift to the world.
The church is “the body of Christ”. The church is a living Eucharist, because followers of Christ are living Eucharists. A Christian is a living Eucharist, allowing her body to be broken and her blood to be poured out for the healing of the world.
Writer Anne Lamott says that the most powerful sermon in the world is two words: “Me too.” Me too – When you’re struggling, when you are hurting, wounded, limping, doubting, questioning, barely hanging on, moments away from another relapse, and somebody can identify with you – someone knows the temptations that are at your door, somebody has felt the pain that you are feeling, when someone can look you in the eyes and say, “Me too,” and they actually mean it – it can save you. When you aren’t judged, or lectured, or looked down upon, but somebody demonstrates that they get it, that they know what it’s like, that you aren’t alone, that’s “me too.”
Paul understands that the power of the Eucharist comes from its weakness, not its strength. Paul doesn’t say, “To the strong I became strong.” He only says, “To the weak I am weak.” At the heart of the church, in the soul of the Eucharist, is identification with the suffering of another human being. The church says to the world, “Me too.”
Jesus’ death, the breaking of his body and the pouring of his blood, is for Paul an end to a whole system of “commands and regulations.” And among those commands and regulations is the wall in the temple the divided the one group of people, the Jews, from the other group of people, the Gentiles. Jesus has made peace. “His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:14-16) Peace has been made. A church is where peace has been made.
In the new humanity our world gets bigger, our perspective goes from black-and- white to color, our sensitivities are heightened, we’re rescued from sameness and uniformity, because the wall has come down and peace has been made. A church is the new humanity on display. All of these people – who are divided, who never sit down and listen to each other – in the new humanity, in the church, they meet, they engage, they interact, they begin to feel what the other feels, and the dividing wall of hostility crumbles.
This is why it is very dangerous when a church becomes known for being hip, cool, and trendy. The new humanity is not a trend. When everybody shares the same story, when there is no listening to other perspectives, no stretching and expanding and opening up – that’s when the new humanity is in trouble.
The way of Jesus is the path of descent. It’s about our death. It’s our willingness to join the world in its suffering, it’s our participation in the new humanity, it’s our weakness calling out to others in their weakness. What does it look like for us to break ourselves open and pour ourselves out for the healing of these people in this time in this place?
It’s written in the letter to the Hebrews that they shouldn’t give up meeting together because they should “consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” (Hebrews 10:24) The phrase “good deeds” comes from the Hebrew word mitzvot, which refers to actions taken to heal and repair the world. The Eucharist is ultimately about what we do out there, in the flow of everyday life. Church is people – people who live a certain way in the world.
How are people taught to keep the exodus, the grace of God, alive in their lives? By remembering the poor. When you give unconditionally, you will be reminded of the God who gives unconditionally. When you extend grace to others in their oppression, you are reminded of the grace extended to you in yours. Every time we take part in the Eucharist, we’re reminded that we were each slaves and God rescued us. The church must cling to her memory of exodus, because if that memory is forgotten, the church may forget the poor, and if the poor are forgotten, the church may forget what it was like to be enslaved, and that would be forgetting the grace of God. And that would be forgetting who we are.
Our standing in solidarity with the single parent, the unemployed, the refugee, our joining the God of the oppressed to work for justice in the world, doesn’t just make a difference for those who are suffering – it rescues us. The church, the Eucharist, says no to religiously sanctioned despair. The Eucharist is an invitation to be the new humanity. To suffer, to bleed, to open the heart, to roll up the sleeves, to have hope that God has a plan to put the world back together, and it’s called the church. In the Eucharist, there is always hope. Hope for the poor, and hope for the rich.
The Eucharist is about people with the power empowering the powerless to make a better life for themselves.
The Eucharist is not fair. Giving to those who can’t give in return, that’s not fair. Breaking yourself open and pouring yourself out for people who may never say thank you, that’s not fair. Because God is not fair. This is a God who is defined by action on behalf of the oppressed. God is about giving the good gift. Jesus is God’s good gift for the healing of the world. The church is Jesus’ body, a good gift for the healing of the world.
The Eucharist is about the church setting the table for the whole world. The Eucharist is about the new humanity. The Eucharist is about God’s dream for the world.
The Eucharist is saying yes to human community. It’s about the freeing of human conscience to experience the total acceptance of God, and it is about human community and its right and longing to be free. It is the way to a universal religion adequate to the challenge of saving human community and the ultimate renewal of all things. The church is the living, breathing, life-giving, system-confronting, empire- subverting picture of the new humanity.
Jesus has rescued us. His blood equals our redemption. He’s the good gift. The church says yes to the good gift. The church is the good gift, for the world.

Jesus Wants to Save Christians - Chapter Five - Part Two

O.K. group here is part two of chapter five. I wanted to break this part out because I think it will stir plenty of thinking and conversation from us. The views expressed by the authors aren't the views that most of us were taught growing up in church about the book of Revelation. Let me remind us all - you don't have to agree with the authors take. I do hope you will think about what they say and do some personal study, however. I also want you to know that the authors interpretation of Revelation is not a new one. Many Christians have understood Revelation this way for a long time.

Enjoy - and I look forward to our conversation on Thursday night!

A tragic example of what happens when Christians miss the central message of the Scriptures is the way in which the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, is taught and understood in American culture. Revelation is a letter from a pastor named John to his congregation. To understand how significant the letter is, it helps to understand its first-century historical backdrop.

First, the emperor: The Caesars, who ruled the Roman Empire, sow themselves as gods on earth, sent to bring about peace and prosperity. Throughout the first century, the Caesars had taken their divinity more and more seriously, demanding more and more overt displays of worship and acknowledgment from their subjects. Many of them demanded that their subjects worship them as the Son of God, the divine one ruling the earth with the favor of the god. One Caesar had a choir that followed him wherever he went, singing, “You are worthy, our Lord and our God, to receive honor and glory and power.”

Second, economics: The Caesars understood that at the heart of the empire is economics. If you want to truly control people, you need to control their money. So if you went to the market to buy or sell goods, you first needed to give an offering acknowledging Caesar as Lord and that you were an obedient subject of his kingdom. If you didn’t, you couldn’t take part in the economy, which meant you wouldn’t make any money and you’d eventually starve. It is believed that a system was developed to identify who had made the offering to Caesar and who hadn’t and this system involved some sort of mark you received to acknowledge your confession of Caesar as Lord and your ability to take part in the market.

Third peace: The Roman army would march into a new land or region, one they had not conquered and announce they were taking over. They would demand that the citizens of that land confess Caesar as Lord. If they refused, they could be killed, often crucified, as a public demonstration of what happens when you defy Caesar. This had a way of bringing people in line with the Roman way.

Fourth exile: The Caesar in power at the time of John’s writing understood just what a challenge the church of Jesus was to his rule. These Christians believed that someone else, someone not him, was the true Son of God and that he alone deserved their worship and acknowledgment of divine status. Caesar believed that the way to get rid of this threat was to send the pastor into exile so that he couldn’t lead his people.

Revelation is a letter written from John, the pastor, to his church during his time of exile. He writes in a subversive literary style called apocalyptic. It uses a vast array of symbols and images and stylized language to convey profound truths about how the world works. John refers to a beast, which is his word for the corrupt, destructive system of violence and evil that is pervasive in our world. He writes of a dragon, the one who does the work of the beast on earth. And then he talks about a mark of the beast.

We can assume John’s audience knew what the mark was – how you bought and sold in the market. The mark was a symbol of your participation in the military-economic complex of the Roman Empire. The mark represented an all-encompassing system aligned against people doing the right thing. The mark spoke to all of the ways humans misuse power to accumulate and stockpile while others suffer and starve.

The mark was anti-kingdom, and John says don’t do it. Don’t take the mark. Don’t take part in the animating spirit of empire: Resist – Rebel – Protest. Revelation is a bold, courageous, politically subversive attack on corrosive empire and its power to oppress people. The people who read this letter would have been confronted with a fundamental question: Who is Lord – Jesus or Caesar? Whose way is the way – the way of violence or the way of peace – the way of domination or the way of compassion – the way of building towers to the heavens or the way of sharing our bread with our neighbor - the way of greed and economic exploitation or the way of generosity and solidarity?

Who is your Lord?

Imagine how dangerous it would be if there were Christians who skipped over the first-century meaning of John’s letter and focused only on whatever it might be saying about future events, years and years away. There is always the chance that in missing the point, they may in the process be participating in and supporting and funding the various kinds of systems that the letter warns against participating in, supporting, and funding.

That would be tragic.

That wouldn’t be what Jesus had in mind.

That would be anti-Jesus.

That would be anti-Christ.

Were the people in John’s church reading his letter for the first time, with Roman soldiers right outside their door, thinking, “This is going to be really helpful for people two thousand years from now who don’t want to get left behind”?

It’s a letter written to a real group of people, in a real place, at a real time, enduring excruciatingly difficult times. Christians were being killed by the empire because they would not participate.

John comforts them, challenges them, warns them, teaches them, inspires them – don’t’ take the mark of the beast.

Jesus Wants to Save Christians - Chapter Five - Part One

Early in the morning of March 19, 2003, several planes took off on a bombing mission to inaugurate a US military effort called Iraqi Freedom. The target was a palace compound called Dora Farms. It was believed that the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, was staying there, that the bombs would kill him, and that American military objectives would be met.

The missiles missed their target. They landed in homes nearby filled with Iraqi civilians. A camera crew filming the removal of the bodies from the remains of the houses came across a man whose son and two nephews were in one of the houses. Sitting among the rubble, the man said, “Due to this behavior, America will fail. She will fail completely among the countries. And another country will rise and take America’s place. America will lose because her behavior is not the behavior of a great nation.

America is an empire – and the Bible has a lot to say about empires. Most of the Bible is a history told by people living in lands occupied by conquering superpowers. It’s a book written from the underside of power. It’s an oppression narrative. The majority of the Bible was written by a minority people living under the rule and reign of massive, mighty empires, from the Egyptian Empire to the Babylonian Empire to the Persian Empire to the Assyrian Empire to the Roman Empire.

This can make the Bible a very difficult book to understand if you are reading it as a citizen of the most powerful empire the world as ever seen. Without careful study and reflection, and humility, it may even be possible to miss central themes of Scriptures. Because what’s true of empires then is true of empires now. What we see in the Bible is that empires naturally accumulate wealth and resources.
(Stats on page 122)

Now, when many people get a glimpse of how the world really is, whether it’s through travel or study or reading statistics like the ones just cited, it can quickly lead to guilt. We have so much, while others have so little. Guilt is not helpful. Honesty is helpful. Awareness is helpful. Knowledge is helpful. Guilt isn’t.

God bless America? God has. And we should be very, very grateful.

Empires accumulate. And that accumulation has consequences. Blessing and abundance can turn into burdens and curses.

Moses spoke of the need to constantly tell the exodus story, the one about rescue from slavery, “otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 8:12-14

How does a person forget God? The answer we’ve seen again and again in the Scriptures is that you forget God when you forget the people God cares about. Over and over God speaks of the widow, the orphan, and the refugee. This is how you remember God: you bless those who need it the most in the same way that God blessed you when you needed it most.

Entitlement leads to immunity to the suffering of others, because “I got what I deserve” and so, apparently did they. Moses warned about his as well in Deuteronomy 8:17-18, when he said, “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord you God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” In an empire of entitlement, when the fundamental awareness is lost that this is all a gift, luxuries can begin to seem like necessities. Excess can become normal. And it can be very easy to lose perspective on just how much we have.

In the same way that entitlement can cause us to lose perspective, it can also cause us to resist checks on consumption.

What we saw with Solomon is that his wealth and abundance naturally led to the priority of preservation. He had to allocate a growing portion of his resources to protecting and securing what he had accumulated. And so he built military bases and bought chariots and horses. This is where the propriety of preservation leads: to larger and larger standing armies, stockpiles of weapons, and shows of force. Which cost more and more money. Which have to be maintained with more and more resources.

The US accounts for 48 percent of global military spending.

When it’s written in the Psalms that some trust in chariots and some trust in God, this is a statement about empire and power. It’s a contrast between two different ways of being in the world. Empires accumulate. Accumulation gives birth to entitlement, entitlement demands preservation, preservation has consequences, consequences are a burden – and that burden takes faith to carry. This is the religion, the animating spirit, of empire.

The temptation in an ever-expanding empire is to fail to hear the cries of those who haven’t directly benefited from the abundance that the empire has been blessed with. If the system works for you, it can be quite hard to understand the perspective of people who have the boot of the system on their neck. If you have the power, it can be hard to understand the voice of those who have no power. If you have choice, options, and luxuries, it can be hard to fathom the anger of those who don’t.

Which takes us back to the road to Emmaus. Whatever Jesus taught these disciples from Moses and the Prophets, it changed their belief about what had just happened in Jerusalem. They had been walking home as followers of Jesus possessing an understanding of the Scriptures diametrically opposed to the work of Jesus in the world.

Followers of Christ missing the central message of the Bible? It happened then, and it happens now. And sometimes the reason is, of course, empire.

Last Night's Discussion:

Saw this article today, reminds me of our discussion last night.

http://blog.sojo.net/2009/10/22/i-am-perfectly-happy-not-liking-evangelicals/

Group meeting is at the Shuman's tonight!

Jesus Wants to Save Christians - Chapter Four

Egypt, Sinai, Jerusalem, Babylon, and on to another man on the road leaving Jerusalem, a man named Phillip. Phillip, one of the first followers of Jesus, was from a small Jewish village on the north side of the Sea of Galilee called Bethsaida. Bethsaida was part of a region called the Orthodox Triangle, one of the most religiously devout regions outside Jerusalem at the time. In places like Bethsaida, there were strict rules about what you could and couldn’t eat; serious observance of the Sabbath; faithful attendance at the religious feasts in Jerusalem; and prayers every day. Philip came from a very small world of very committed Jewish worshipers of God, doing everything they could to be true to their religion. And then Phillip met Jesus, and everything changed. Philip left his village to follow Jesus, deserted him at the cross, reconnected with him after the resurrection, and now he’s on a road leading out Jerusalem, where he meets a eunuch – a eunuch who’s leaving Jerusalem.

Jesus tells his disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Luke tells us that the eunuch wants to know more about Jesus. Luke also tells us that the eunuch is headed home, to Ethiopia, in Africa. Africa is, for a small-town conservative Jewish man like Phillip, “the ends of the earth.” Someone from the ends of the earth is asking questions about the new exodus in Isaiah as he heads home.

The disciples are amazed at and overwhelmed by this new reality in which everybody everywhere can understand the new thing that God is doing through Jesus. People from all over the world understand each other. And on a road leaving Jerusalem, we have an African asking questions about Jesus, hearing the significance of Isaiah’s words explained in a language he can understand.

It makes so much sense to the eunuch that as he and Philip pass a body of water, the eunuch asks if he can be baptized. This question about baptism takes us back to Egypt, to Moses’ leading the Israelites through a body of water, which is referred to as the baptism of Moses. (1 Corinthians 10:2) The water symbolized their death to the old and their birth in the new, the movement from bondage to freedom. Baptism is a picture of exodus.

According to the law, a eunuch is excluded from the assembly. (Duet. 23:1) As a good conservative Jew, Philip should have viewed the eunuch as “damaged goods” and refuses to baptize him on that basis. If Philip baptizes the eunuch, he will be breaking a serious rule that he was raised to respect and follow – a rule that determined your standing with God.

This is the tension throughout the early church. What do you do when your religion isn’t big enough for God? What do you do when your system falls apart because the new thing God is doing is better, beyond, superior, more compelling? This isn’t just a tension for Philip; it’s one of the central struggles of the early church. For many of the first followers of the Way, Jesus was wrapped in layer upon layer of Jewish culture, custom, and lifestyle.

For Paul there are two fundamental modes of existence, two pervasive and ultimate realities in which humanity exists: the old condition of darkness and sin and slavery, and the new reality of light and forgiveness and freedom. Paul uses the phrase “body of sin” in a very communal Jewish sense to refer to the reality of the sinful mode of existence of all humanity. It’s the realm and reality of the powerful’s fearful coercion of the weak, whether they’re using tanks and bombs or “the customs of Moses.” It’s anywhere that power is misused. What he’s against is religious rituals that replace the freedom, the liberation, brought by Christ. When people are manipulated with quilt and fear, when they are told that if they don’t do certain things they’ll be illegitimate, judged, condemned, set to hell forever – that’s violence.

The gospel is leaving its former confines, Luke wants us to know, and it’s heading to the ends of the earth. And that means nothing looks like it used to.

The eunuch was traveling by chariot. Pharaoh, an African had chariots, Solomon bought and sold chariots. In the Scriptures, the chariot is a symbol. It’s symbol of empire. It’s a symbol of oppression and violence. It’s a symbol of wealth used in the priority of preservation.

In the Psalms, it’s written that “some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalm 20:7)

Jesus has been telling the disciples about the kingdom of God – the realm, the reality, the way in which the weak are put first and the widow and the orphan and refugee are remembered and “justice and righteousness” are upheld, as the queen of Sheba would say. But the disciples aren’t asking about that kind of kingdom. Their question is about another kind of kingdom. They want to know if the old kind of kingdom is going to return, the one with horses and military bases and palaces. Their question is essentially, “Are you now going to pick up the sword and start swinging, purging our land of the Roman Empire so that we can have our privileged stat as God’s people back?”

They still don’t get it. They want to take back their nation for God. Jesus urges them to consider “something for everybody” but their question is about what the future will look like for them. Their question about kingdom shows that they have confused blessing with favoritism.

Luke gives another detail about the eunuch: he is in charge of the treasury of the queen of Ethiopia. He’s in charge of the wealth of one of the empires of the nations. And he’s just been baptized, he’s said yes to the new exodus, and he’s joined the Jesus movement. The wealth of the nations is entrusted to a Jesus follower.

Instead of building towers and forcing others to make storehouses out of bricks so that some are stockpiling while others are slaves, this new movement is ruled by generosity, and compassion, and sharing. The gospel for these first Christians is an economic reality. It’s holistic and affects all areas of their lives. It’s an alternative to the greed and coercion of empire.

Luke writes that the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing.” (Acts 8:39) Acts is a story of movement, motion, and progress. It’s people being caught up in something that simply must expand, and stretch, and go. Because no one city, no one religion, no one perspective, no one worldview can contain it.

Luke wraps up the story of Acts with Paul in Rome, miles from Jerusalem, at the center of a thoroughly non-Jewish world, sharing the message with whoever is interested. He “welcomed all who came to see him.” All – that’s who this Jesus is for.

Jesus Wants to Save Christians - Chapter Three

After years in exile, a significant number of Israelites eventually do come home to Israel. They return to Jerusalem, rebuild its walls, and construct another temple. But when those who had seen Solomon’s temple see the new one, they’re heartbroken, because it’s nothing like its former glory. Things just aren’t what they were.

They’re not in Babylon anymore. They’re now home, but it isn’t what it used to be. The Roman Empire, the superpower of their day, conquers Israel and begins a long, oppressive occupation of their nation. Instead of being hauled away to a foreign land by a conquering army like before, this time a foreign army has come to them. Roman soldiers march through their villages, ordering people to carry their packs while taxes are collected so the Romans can build an even bigger army to conquer more nations.

Imagine going to Jerusalem for the festivals and gathering with thousands of other Jews and singing together the great songs of David about the days when things were better. Songs about victory, songs about the power of God, songs about all of the nations bowing down to your God. Imagine growing up with that history, that heritage, that story, and then trying to explain to your children just what these Roman soldiers, who don’t even believe in your God, are doing in the streets of your village.

This is Israel at the beginning of the first century. Occupation, oppression, shame, and humiliation. A nation of people wondering where their God is, asking, Why is this happening to us again? Home, and yet still in a sort of exile. Clinging to the suspended promises of the prophets, looking forward to the day, the day of hope, the day when another son of David would come and lead then in a new exodus.

430 of slavery in Egypt – 430 years in exile – 430 back in Jerusalem, but still in some form of exile – and then Jesus is born.

Here is the new son of David, one who can hear the cry of the oppressed, and he’s inaugurating a new marriage covenant as he leads them in a new exodus. At one point Jesus even says, “I am the way”, which is a new exodus term.

Jesus keeps insisting that a new kind of kingdom is “coming” and he’s forever explaining to his hearers what this kingdom is “like,” that it is “upon you”, and that it is “near”. Power is flowing through Jesus to the broken, blind, and lame – those who need it the most, who have no power. Jesus is a servant who uses his power in the service of compassion and love – that’s what a servant does.

Isaiah (42) had said this would happen. A son of Davis, who uses power purely, leading a new exodus, showing the way to a new city and a new temple, displaying a new humanity.

Jesus insists that his work will lead to a renewal of all things. Anticipation grows as Jesus travels from town to town, village to village, teaching and healing and comforting and explaining and announcing that God is doing something new, something big, and that God is doing it through him. Massive crowds listen to him, people give up everything to follow him, children line the streets and sing about him as the new son of David.

And then it’s over. Jesus is arrested – and tried like a criminal – and then killed.

Luke tells the story of two of his disciples heading home after his death. (Luke 24:13-35) They’re walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, the village they left to follow him. How embarrassing. Can you imagine returning to your hometown after having made an error in judgment this large? Dropping everything to follow a man because you thought he was something that apparently he wasn’t?

For these disciples, Jesus’ death is the end of hope. For their fellow traveler, Jesus’ death isn’t the end of hope; it’s actually the beginning of hope. It’s as if Jesus says, “If I do it like everybody has done it since the beginning of time, how would that change anything?” If evil always takes some form of violence, then more violence isn’t going to solve anything.

The only way to break that cycle is for someone to absorb it. A true leader of a new exodus would have to resist ever using power in the form of violence against another human being. Isaiah called the one to come a suffering servant. (Isaiah 52:13-15) Someone would have to have the courage to put away the sword, forever, regardless of the consequences for his own security. No matter how tempting it is to pick it up and start swinging, someone would have to say, “Forgive them, Father, because they just don’t’ get it.”

So all of creation is in sort of exile, east of Eden, estranged from its maker, far from home, what’s the penalty for that? What would be the payment to end that exile?

The prophets had declared that someone would come who would be willing to pay that price, the price for all of creation breaking covenant with God. And if that price was paid, that would change everything. Everything and everybody could then come home.

In a couple of hours, using nothing but the Hebrew Scriptures, this man converted all of their despair to hope and a vision of a new future.

In Jesus’ day, people could read, study, and discuss the Scriptures their entire lives and still miss its central message. In Jesus’ day, people could follow him, learn from him, drop everything to be his disciples, and yet find themselves returning home, thinking Jesus had failed.

Which is a bit like walking with someone for hours, only to discover that you had missed who they really are the whole time. Because the stranger is, of course, Jesus.