Determining how we work out the reality of our own giftedness and the relationships we have with those with whom we serve God may be among the more difficult realities of “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12) This is especially true if one’s gift set places him or her in a position where the role of managing others is the daily experience.
How quickly the “managers” of our world seem to forget Paul’s rejoinder to the managers in Ephesus when he said, “you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.” (Ephesians 6:9) Of course that was said in a culture where a form of slavery seems to have been pandemic and he is directly speaking to men whose “giftedness” in life made them slave owners. Even in that horrific way of life, managers are warned about treating one another, slaves included, justly.
What would appear to be rather foundational for all who have been “baptized into Christ” is that “all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:27-29) In other words, our value to God has to do with whose we are and not what we do. Even a slave owner, who certainly has a management status superior to a slave, should realize that “master and slave” are both “heirs according to the promise.”
In that rather exaggerated example – though never-the-less real example – it seems utterly plain that whatever “management” looks like, it must be rooted in the brutal reality that manager and the one managed are, in fact, “one in Christ.”
Having been around the block enough times to understand that progress is seldom made without good management, and goals are seldom reached without good leadership, it still amazes me that it is so easy for managers to assume a status that pays little or no attention to the unchanging principle that in Christ, we are one. “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45) is the practical application that seems to reflect how Jesus viewed management.
Maybe you remember that little story, it seems to be almost a postscript to the narrative, found in Mark 12. Jesus has just warned those listening of the danger of “managers” whose self-esteem is out of control and who, in the end, “devour widows’ houses” while “saying long prayers.” Then He sits in the Court of Women in the temple, watching people bring their gifts to the temple treasury. The rich people are putting in large sums of money, and a poor widow dropped in two copper coins – all that she had.
The contribution of the rich was “out of their abundance,” but the poor widow “out of her poverty put in everything she had.” There should be no surprise as to which person is the hero of this little story!
So what does this have to do with Management 101? While I understand that the direct issue in the story is a commentary on how we give to God, we give to God in ways that are beyond how many coins we place in the treasury.
I may be the “manager” because I get to do that “out of my abundance.” And the people I manage, at least in the realm of possibility, are doing what they do with far less “abundance” (aka skill, giftedness, etc.) than I. It can become very easy for the “manager” to focus on what great contribution he or she is making; while denigrating the more meager contribution of the “one managed.”
It probably doesn’t happen so much in terms of walking around in the flowing garments of pride and arrogance, but more in the simple disregard and lack of appreciation managers some time show to those they manage. It can happen in all sorts of ways – from the preacher who treats the youth minister like a gofer to the corporate CEO who views everyone under her like these big-gift-giving Jews would have viewed the poor widow. It can show up in how elders treat staff members; parents treat children; teachers treat students; and just about every other scenario you can imagine.
Management 101 is not a plea for “no managers.” Rather a simple observation that in Christ, we are “all one” and in that “oneness” we are called to value the contributions of all – from simple copper coins to the year end checks that balance our corporate budgets.
Oddly – or maybe not so oddly – from this story Jesus moves to his prophecy about the destruction of the very Temple where such abuse was tolerated.
19 May 2011
18 May 2011
Seeing God as He Is
In the book, Simply Christian, N.T. Wright’s chapter on worship begins this way: “When we begin to glimpse the reality of God, the natural reaction is to worship him. Not to have that reaction is a fairly sure sign that we haven’t yet really understood who he is or what he’s done.” (page 143)
That’s a mouthful and provides the kind of stimulation that can keep our brains working overtime! Think about it – if we don’t naturally desire to worship God, Wright would say that we really haven’t understood who He is or what He has done!
I remember a sermon I preached years ago where the central theme of the sermon was that “worship is a lifestyle, not a weekly appointment.” I thought I had carefully pointed out that such an idea did not mean that the “weekly appointment” wasn’t important, just that it wasn’t the whole story. I remember with equal (probably greater) clarity that the worship leader of the congregation where I preached that sermon missed that point – and let me know!
So, to be clear, I’m not suggesting that what happens when believers meet together on the Lord’s Day is somehow unimportant. I’ve read the warning in Hebrews 10:25 about “not neglecting to meet together” which most likely includes the idea of what we would describe as “worship on the Lord’s Day.” And I know about the implications of texts like Acts 20:7 where we are told the early church “met on the first day of the week to break bread.” I’ve actually got a pretty good track record of worshiping the Lord on the Lord’s Day consistently my whole life.
But is Sunday morning (the time most of us meet to worship) the only time in life we “glimpse the reality of God?” Surely not. And if Wright is reflecting what the Bible has to say about God, then it would seem to me that worship is this lifestyle reality that is constantly appearing in our daily living.
One of our challenges in finding a way to make Sunday worship appealing is that so little worship as lifestyle goes on, that real worship is hard – if not impossible – to manufacture in an hour or so on Sunday mornings. What if, through this whole week, I kept letting the world about me remind me of the greatness of God, praised him for the beauty of creation, the goodness of His people, and for the willingness on His part to let me be a kingdom person. Would I really be all that concerned about whether they sang my preferred songs or not?
Psalm 19 begins with “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims His handiwork.” Psalm 19 ends with “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Between those two verses are words that speak to noticing the glory of God in the world in which we live and our engagement with His law – His perfect law that revives the soul. Sounds as though a “lifestyle of worshiping” God is going on in the psalmist’s heart.
These days, I am trying to notice creation. To notice the goodness of God’s people. To notice the opportunities around me. To notice everything. And it all speaks to the glory of a God who invites me to worship Him. I’ll keep doing that on Sunday mornings – and at other “gathering times” that come in life. But I also want to make my life the kind that sees reason to praise God at every turn.
When I get that figured out, I am guessing I will not be so dependent upon a style of worship or a selection of songs or any other thing to have determinative influence on my Sunday morning experience of worship.
Right now on Sunday mornings, Vicki and I have about 45 minutes of driving time heading to church. Typically, we listen to a satellite station that plays Christian music. Over the past few months, we’ve been able to watch the cold months of winter give way to spring; the barren hardwoods come back to life; brown grass turn green; and in general, the amazing cycle of nature express itself in ways that seem to me to be much like “the firmament proclaims his handiwork.” That has proven to be a pretty good way to “drive to church.”
I encourage you to read Psalm 19. Let it do its work on you as all week long you worship the glory of God and as you prepare to join with fellow believers next Sunday morning!
That’s a mouthful and provides the kind of stimulation that can keep our brains working overtime! Think about it – if we don’t naturally desire to worship God, Wright would say that we really haven’t understood who He is or what He has done!
I remember a sermon I preached years ago where the central theme of the sermon was that “worship is a lifestyle, not a weekly appointment.” I thought I had carefully pointed out that such an idea did not mean that the “weekly appointment” wasn’t important, just that it wasn’t the whole story. I remember with equal (probably greater) clarity that the worship leader of the congregation where I preached that sermon missed that point – and let me know!
So, to be clear, I’m not suggesting that what happens when believers meet together on the Lord’s Day is somehow unimportant. I’ve read the warning in Hebrews 10:25 about “not neglecting to meet together” which most likely includes the idea of what we would describe as “worship on the Lord’s Day.” And I know about the implications of texts like Acts 20:7 where we are told the early church “met on the first day of the week to break bread.” I’ve actually got a pretty good track record of worshiping the Lord on the Lord’s Day consistently my whole life.
But is Sunday morning (the time most of us meet to worship) the only time in life we “glimpse the reality of God?” Surely not. And if Wright is reflecting what the Bible has to say about God, then it would seem to me that worship is this lifestyle reality that is constantly appearing in our daily living.
One of our challenges in finding a way to make Sunday worship appealing is that so little worship as lifestyle goes on, that real worship is hard – if not impossible – to manufacture in an hour or so on Sunday mornings. What if, through this whole week, I kept letting the world about me remind me of the greatness of God, praised him for the beauty of creation, the goodness of His people, and for the willingness on His part to let me be a kingdom person. Would I really be all that concerned about whether they sang my preferred songs or not?
Psalm 19 begins with “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims His handiwork.” Psalm 19 ends with “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Between those two verses are words that speak to noticing the glory of God in the world in which we live and our engagement with His law – His perfect law that revives the soul. Sounds as though a “lifestyle of worshiping” God is going on in the psalmist’s heart.
These days, I am trying to notice creation. To notice the goodness of God’s people. To notice the opportunities around me. To notice everything. And it all speaks to the glory of a God who invites me to worship Him. I’ll keep doing that on Sunday mornings – and at other “gathering times” that come in life. But I also want to make my life the kind that sees reason to praise God at every turn.
When I get that figured out, I am guessing I will not be so dependent upon a style of worship or a selection of songs or any other thing to have determinative influence on my Sunday morning experience of worship.
Right now on Sunday mornings, Vicki and I have about 45 minutes of driving time heading to church. Typically, we listen to a satellite station that plays Christian music. Over the past few months, we’ve been able to watch the cold months of winter give way to spring; the barren hardwoods come back to life; brown grass turn green; and in general, the amazing cycle of nature express itself in ways that seem to me to be much like “the firmament proclaims his handiwork.” That has proven to be a pretty good way to “drive to church.”
I encourage you to read Psalm 19. Let it do its work on you as all week long you worship the glory of God and as you prepare to join with fellow believers next Sunday morning!
16 May 2011
Appearance and Value
The second half of Colossians 2 is an extraordinary application of the Christian Gospel – an application that can be seen in place throughout Paul’s writings. Near the end of the chapter, beginning in verse 20, Paul “puts all the cards on the table.”
Having died with Christ to the world, he finds it hard to understand why the Colossians live as though they are still a part of the world. The way he sees that they are still so worldly is their tendency to think that creating manmade regulations is the path to true spirituality. That doesn’t work and he wants them (and us!) to know it.
They have created a list of rules that not only will not work, but are actually physically impossible to follow. Look at verse 21: “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch.” Who is in the world could possibly live without handling, tasting and touching? Yet at least some of the Colossian Christians apparently thought their adaptation of Jewish purity laws would somehow pave the road to spiritual maturity.
Paul grants that such approaches have the “appearance” of wisdom – but they are “of no value in checking self-indulgence.” So the contrast he wants them to think about is the difference in “appearance” on the one hand and “value” on the other. This is a vital, absolutely-essential equation to consider when thinking honestly about spiritual maturity.
The difference in “appearance and value” is the difference between remaining a failed law keeper as compared to a committed follower of Jesus. The challenge for us is that in order to find the kind of “value” that truly promotes spiritual formation, a believer has to be willing to live “above the law” not “beneath the law.”
At some level, this ultimately involves understanding grace and what it means to be called a child of God. Grace does not reduce the demands God has made on our lives, rather it raises those demands to a new, and now achievable, goal. Grace achieves what the law never could!
It is amazing, at one level, that the Colossians would have such a hard time getting that. But, on the other hand, don’t we have similar struggles? How do we manage to develop a kind of maturity in the lives of those with whom we share fellowship in the body of Christ – a maturity that discovers “value” over “appearance?”
I understand that the less mature we are, the more in need we are of the kind of direction that might sometimes sound like “do this” or “don’t do that.” Yet, even at that level, we can ill afford to let people think that the key to true spirituality is found in list keeping! It is about a relationship with Christ that is transforming in nature. Grace is about growth in that relationship – a growth that has as its aim to be the body of Christ around us. There are no rules for how that happens!
Having died with Christ to the world, he finds it hard to understand why the Colossians live as though they are still a part of the world. The way he sees that they are still so worldly is their tendency to think that creating manmade regulations is the path to true spirituality. That doesn’t work and he wants them (and us!) to know it.
They have created a list of rules that not only will not work, but are actually physically impossible to follow. Look at verse 21: “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch.” Who is in the world could possibly live without handling, tasting and touching? Yet at least some of the Colossian Christians apparently thought their adaptation of Jewish purity laws would somehow pave the road to spiritual maturity.
Paul grants that such approaches have the “appearance” of wisdom – but they are “of no value in checking self-indulgence.” So the contrast he wants them to think about is the difference in “appearance” on the one hand and “value” on the other. This is a vital, absolutely-essential equation to consider when thinking honestly about spiritual maturity.
The difference in “appearance and value” is the difference between remaining a failed law keeper as compared to a committed follower of Jesus. The challenge for us is that in order to find the kind of “value” that truly promotes spiritual formation, a believer has to be willing to live “above the law” not “beneath the law.”
At some level, this ultimately involves understanding grace and what it means to be called a child of God. Grace does not reduce the demands God has made on our lives, rather it raises those demands to a new, and now achievable, goal. Grace achieves what the law never could!
It is amazing, at one level, that the Colossians would have such a hard time getting that. But, on the other hand, don’t we have similar struggles? How do we manage to develop a kind of maturity in the lives of those with whom we share fellowship in the body of Christ – a maturity that discovers “value” over “appearance?”
I understand that the less mature we are, the more in need we are of the kind of direction that might sometimes sound like “do this” or “don’t do that.” Yet, even at that level, we can ill afford to let people think that the key to true spirituality is found in list keeping! It is about a relationship with Christ that is transforming in nature. Grace is about growth in that relationship – a growth that has as its aim to be the body of Christ around us. There are no rules for how that happens!
10 May 2011
Red Hot What?
So this little fundamentalist church I drove past not long ago has one of those “let’s put a clever reductionist version of the Christian gospel out front” kind of signs. Their most recent foray into the world of church-sign evangelism is: Red Hot Bible Sermons – Sundays at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. I have a picture to prove it, in case you doubt that such a sign exists.
No wonder Rob Bell felt compelled to write a book titled Love Wins. While I’m not willing to endorse all that Bell has to say in that little venture into the world of theological speculation, I at least understand why he thought such a book needed to be written. It seems to me like he has been reading a little N.T. Wright, which can’t be a bad thing!
I’m not sure I understand this kind of “God in your face” mentality that seems to permeate more than a small minority of the more conservative Christian thinking. The one verse nearly everyone knows, if they haven’t even memorized it as many have, speaks in contradiction to that idea. “For God so loved the world . . .” Why would a God who loves the world enough to send His one and only Son want us to advertise the gospel He came to established with “red hot Bible sermons?”
The one word that seems to get overlooked in John 3:16 by so many is the word world – kosmos in Greek. That particular word occurs some 185 times in the New Testament – but by far John is the author most fond of it. It is found 78 times in the Fourth Gospel, 24 times in the Johannine Epistles, and 3 times in Revelation. If my math is correct, that is about 57% of the uses of kosmos are in John’s literature. That’s a pretty fair indication that the word is a favorite for John.
For John, the world was made through Christ (1:3), Jesus calls Himself the Light of the world (8:12, 9:5), and multiple texts suggest that Jesus was sent “into the world.” (3:17, 11:27). Jesus, during His final conversation with the disciples, reminds them “you will have trouble in this world” (16:33). The enemies of Jesus, the Pharisees, once said “the whole world has gone after Him!” (12:19). Having been sent to the world, “his own world did not recognize Him” (1:10) That same world doesn’t know the Father (17:25) and cannot receive the Spirit. Yet it is that world that God loved enough to send His Son.
God loves the kosmos! If He does, shouldn’t we? If He were willing to come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and offer His life on the cross, isn’t that sort of what Jesus means for us when He encouraged His own disciples to “take up your cross?”
I’m just not sure there are too many people in heaven because they have had the hell scared out of them by “red hot Bible sermons!” Having lived a relatively decent life – never been in jail, never had my picture displayed in the post office as one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted, never had a DUI, DWI, or any of the other such designations, and unlike many modern politicians, I haven’t ever smoked weed, inhaling or not – I can’t think too highly of myself and my life and think “red hot sermons” are for others. Honesty would compel me to declare that the person I saw early this morning in the mirror is not deserving of what Christ and done in his life. Not to insult anyone, but the person you saw isn’t deserving either.
Where do we get this idea that somehow we are deserving? I know we wouldn’t say we are, but sometimes it seems that we act as though we think we are. That is especially obvious in those “red hot moments” when we think that a person is so awful that God delights in condemnation. Do we really think that there are “degrees of awfulness” when it comes to the fact that we don’t measure up to God’s perfect holiness?
I know there is a place for instructing the world, for rebuking the world, and even a reminder that the way of the world does not lead to life. I just don’t think we are in tune with the life and ministry of Jesus when it sounds as though we are deserving of heaven and the world is deserving of hell.
At some level I guess it boils down to how important the biblical idea of grace is to us. Grace makes some folks nervous – people won’t behave without rules. But I’ve noticed in my own life that even in my relationship with other humans, I’m much more prone to be responsive to those who call me to a relationship of grace in the context of love than I am to those who think they can make up rules to regulate my life. If that can be true in our relationship with other humans, how much more so should it characterize our relationship with God.
Grace takes me much closer to the heart of God and His holiness than “red hot sermons” could ever do. If God loves the world enough to send Jesus to redeem it – the whole kosmos – then I’m guessing I should as well.
No wonder Rob Bell felt compelled to write a book titled Love Wins. While I’m not willing to endorse all that Bell has to say in that little venture into the world of theological speculation, I at least understand why he thought such a book needed to be written. It seems to me like he has been reading a little N.T. Wright, which can’t be a bad thing!
I’m not sure I understand this kind of “God in your face” mentality that seems to permeate more than a small minority of the more conservative Christian thinking. The one verse nearly everyone knows, if they haven’t even memorized it as many have, speaks in contradiction to that idea. “For God so loved the world . . .” Why would a God who loves the world enough to send His one and only Son want us to advertise the gospel He came to established with “red hot Bible sermons?”
The one word that seems to get overlooked in John 3:16 by so many is the word world – kosmos in Greek. That particular word occurs some 185 times in the New Testament – but by far John is the author most fond of it. It is found 78 times in the Fourth Gospel, 24 times in the Johannine Epistles, and 3 times in Revelation. If my math is correct, that is about 57% of the uses of kosmos are in John’s literature. That’s a pretty fair indication that the word is a favorite for John.
For John, the world was made through Christ (1:3), Jesus calls Himself the Light of the world (8:12, 9:5), and multiple texts suggest that Jesus was sent “into the world.” (3:17, 11:27). Jesus, during His final conversation with the disciples, reminds them “you will have trouble in this world” (16:33). The enemies of Jesus, the Pharisees, once said “the whole world has gone after Him!” (12:19). Having been sent to the world, “his own world did not recognize Him” (1:10) That same world doesn’t know the Father (17:25) and cannot receive the Spirit. Yet it is that world that God loved enough to send His Son.
God loves the kosmos! If He does, shouldn’t we? If He were willing to come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and offer His life on the cross, isn’t that sort of what Jesus means for us when He encouraged His own disciples to “take up your cross?”
I’m just not sure there are too many people in heaven because they have had the hell scared out of them by “red hot Bible sermons!” Having lived a relatively decent life – never been in jail, never had my picture displayed in the post office as one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted, never had a DUI, DWI, or any of the other such designations, and unlike many modern politicians, I haven’t ever smoked weed, inhaling or not – I can’t think too highly of myself and my life and think “red hot sermons” are for others. Honesty would compel me to declare that the person I saw early this morning in the mirror is not deserving of what Christ and done in his life. Not to insult anyone, but the person you saw isn’t deserving either.
Where do we get this idea that somehow we are deserving? I know we wouldn’t say we are, but sometimes it seems that we act as though we think we are. That is especially obvious in those “red hot moments” when we think that a person is so awful that God delights in condemnation. Do we really think that there are “degrees of awfulness” when it comes to the fact that we don’t measure up to God’s perfect holiness?
I know there is a place for instructing the world, for rebuking the world, and even a reminder that the way of the world does not lead to life. I just don’t think we are in tune with the life and ministry of Jesus when it sounds as though we are deserving of heaven and the world is deserving of hell.
At some level I guess it boils down to how important the biblical idea of grace is to us. Grace makes some folks nervous – people won’t behave without rules. But I’ve noticed in my own life that even in my relationship with other humans, I’m much more prone to be responsive to those who call me to a relationship of grace in the context of love than I am to those who think they can make up rules to regulate my life. If that can be true in our relationship with other humans, how much more so should it characterize our relationship with God.
Grace takes me much closer to the heart of God and His holiness than “red hot sermons” could ever do. If God loves the world enough to send Jesus to redeem it – the whole kosmos – then I’m guessing I should as well.
06 May 2011
Remembering Sarah
Isaiah 51:1-8 is, among other things, a glorious announcement of God’s future salvation. It doesn’t get much better than the words of verse three: “For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.” (NRSV)
In a bold reminder to remember where they have come from, which is how the chapter begins, Isaiah includes the only reference to Sarah outside the Genesis narrative. In the NRSV verse two begins like this, “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you.” The NASB translates the verse “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain.”
Obviously there would have been no Isaac without Sarah! If the rest of the Abraham narrative is taken to heart, it seems to me that the real miracle of Isaac’s birth was performed on Sarah, not Abraham. After all, he was able to have children with other women. But Sarah seems to have been lost in the story in terms of memory. Abraham’s name is mentioned 41 times in the Hebrew Bible outside of the Genesis narrative; Sarah’s once!
I would love to be able to ask Isaiah what caused him to mention Sarah this one time. Not to suggest that the Bible has some sort of unfortunate sexist agenda, nor that I have failed to understand the patriarchal nature of the culture in which the Hebrew Bible was written. Counting the number of times a word/name appears does not necessarily speak to the value of Abraham over Sarah.
But, with Mother’s Day approaching this weekend, I am drawn to that Isaiah phrase, “look to Sarah who bore you.” Or, in the more literal language of the NASB, “who gave birth to you in pain.” For those of us blessed with godly and loving mothers, it is pretty good advice to be reminded of the importance of our mothers. Having been blessed with both a godly father and mother – were my father still living, he would be concerned about me if I didn’t “remember my mother who gave birth to me in pain.”
That makes me think about stories I’ve heard about my birth. My mother is barely five feet tall and probably weighed 100 pounds when my life began. When I was born, I weighed ten pounds and 13 ounces. Apparently, Caesarean births weren’t all that available in the little county hospital in which I was born, and I came into this world with a broken right arm. I don’t remember a thing about that day just over 60 years ago, but I’m guessing my mother does. Had she not been the godly mother she was, I think I would still owe her some respect!
Having watched my own wife be a godly mother to my two daughters, I’ve often thought about the incredibly difficult task of being a mother. I’ve thought about the spiritual formation that goes on, so very often, on the lap of godly mothers. I’ve thought a lot about the protection and care, the efforts to keep Dad under control, and the whole list of “stuff” that comes with motherhood.
“Look to Sarah who bore you” is right there in Isaiah. Whatever Isaiah’s intent for Israel to think when they read those words, they will forever remind me not to forget that were it not for my own mother, I wouldn’t be here and wouldn’t be the person I am! And were it not for my wife, the mother of my two daughters, they wouldn’t be here and wouldn’t be the fine young women they are.
The word for today: don’t forget your mother! Or the mother of your children!
In a bold reminder to remember where they have come from, which is how the chapter begins, Isaiah includes the only reference to Sarah outside the Genesis narrative. In the NRSV verse two begins like this, “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you.” The NASB translates the verse “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain.”
Obviously there would have been no Isaac without Sarah! If the rest of the Abraham narrative is taken to heart, it seems to me that the real miracle of Isaac’s birth was performed on Sarah, not Abraham. After all, he was able to have children with other women. But Sarah seems to have been lost in the story in terms of memory. Abraham’s name is mentioned 41 times in the Hebrew Bible outside of the Genesis narrative; Sarah’s once!
I would love to be able to ask Isaiah what caused him to mention Sarah this one time. Not to suggest that the Bible has some sort of unfortunate sexist agenda, nor that I have failed to understand the patriarchal nature of the culture in which the Hebrew Bible was written. Counting the number of times a word/name appears does not necessarily speak to the value of Abraham over Sarah.
But, with Mother’s Day approaching this weekend, I am drawn to that Isaiah phrase, “look to Sarah who bore you.” Or, in the more literal language of the NASB, “who gave birth to you in pain.” For those of us blessed with godly and loving mothers, it is pretty good advice to be reminded of the importance of our mothers. Having been blessed with both a godly father and mother – were my father still living, he would be concerned about me if I didn’t “remember my mother who gave birth to me in pain.”
That makes me think about stories I’ve heard about my birth. My mother is barely five feet tall and probably weighed 100 pounds when my life began. When I was born, I weighed ten pounds and 13 ounces. Apparently, Caesarean births weren’t all that available in the little county hospital in which I was born, and I came into this world with a broken right arm. I don’t remember a thing about that day just over 60 years ago, but I’m guessing my mother does. Had she not been the godly mother she was, I think I would still owe her some respect!
Having watched my own wife be a godly mother to my two daughters, I’ve often thought about the incredibly difficult task of being a mother. I’ve thought about the spiritual formation that goes on, so very often, on the lap of godly mothers. I’ve thought a lot about the protection and care, the efforts to keep Dad under control, and the whole list of “stuff” that comes with motherhood.
“Look to Sarah who bore you” is right there in Isaiah. Whatever Isaiah’s intent for Israel to think when they read those words, they will forever remind me not to forget that were it not for my own mother, I wouldn’t be here and wouldn’t be the person I am! And were it not for my wife, the mother of my two daughters, they wouldn’t be here and wouldn’t be the fine young women they are.
The word for today: don’t forget your mother! Or the mother of your children!
03 May 2011
Us and Them
In his wonderful book, Simply Christian, N.T. Wright suggests that one of the “echoes of a voice” that perhaps speaks to the existence of God is the echo we hear and call justice. It just doesn’t seem to feel as though things are “right” and that sense of “not right” is the echo of the voice of justice. In one of the more convicting parts of that chapter, Wright notes how easy it is to adopt and kind of “us and them” approach to justice. For me, that can easily come out as seeing “us” as more just and “them” as less just, if just at all. Wright brings the lens of our observation in to extraordinarily clear focus when he notes that the line between justice and injustice runs right through our own hearts.
Ouch! Not sure I wanted to be reminded of that, especially at a point in time when the cries “justice has been done” inundate the news. That’s not to suggest that bin Laden and the average American are equally unjust – just wanting to be careful not to fail to look in the proverbial mirror, even if dimly.
The first time I realized how sensitive of an issue this could be was in the first course I taught as a college professor. It was an ethics class and the topic that week was war, violence, and the Christian point of view about such subjects. In was the fall of 1976 and merely saying the word Viet Nam poked at nerves that were still prickly and very sensitive. Of course one of the students asked about those who dodged the draft and went to Canada. I felt a little sensitive to the question for a number of reasons; among them was the fact that as a college student studying for ministry I had an exemption from the draft, despite having a draft lottery number in the teens. All I said in answer that question was that knowing what we knew at that point in time, I thought we should be very careful in not being too critical of those who practiced a kind of civil disobedience our Constitution allows.
I thought that was a pretty reasonable response to the question, especially in view of the fact that the class was made up of college seniors at a school focused on preparing men and women for ministry. Most of the males in that class had the same selective service exemption I did. How naïve. There was one student in the class who had served in Viet Nam, and he took serious exception to my statement. While I still thought (and still think) my statement was reasonable, I easily understood his objection. What I didn’t understand (and still don’t) is how many of the males in the class were offended. Apparently the obviously failed “us and them” of the crisis in Southeast Asia was now transferred to those who chose to go to Canada instead of enrolling in a college preparing men for ministry.
So, here I go again with some more naivety. While I understand the sense of “justice has been done” with the death of the one who may be the Hitler of our age, I’m not too sure that it is quite that simple. Some very bright and committed Christians would argue, using Scripture to support their conclusions, that capital punishment is a just response to awful crimes and that there is such a thing as a just war. Other equally bright and committed Christians would argue just as passionately that neither capital punishment nor any war is consistent with the kind of life Jesus calls us to live. I can hardly blog an answer to that debate!
However, it wouldn’t hurt a single one of us to think a little about the back story that produced bin Laden and those of his ilk of humanity. That doesn’t mean that back story gives excuse for bad behavior, but it can at least help us understand it better.
Not trying to pretend to be an historian, it nevertheless seems to me that the resettlement of Israel with Jewish people from Europe and Central Asia was, at least to some degree, an effort to provide a little ointment for otherwise seared consciences of bad Western European leaders. There is no debate that the treatment of Jews at the hand and leadership of Adolf Hitler will forever be a blight on human nature. But do we really think that the abysmal treatment of Palestinians at the hands of western leaders and Jewish settlers is the way to solve that injustice? Two wrongs never add up to one right.
As a southern boy who grew up on a farm and in a culture where “land” was in the category of nearly sacred, I can’t imagine what my reaction – and even more so of those with whom I grew up and who still live on that sacred land – would be should there be some international settlement effort to re-populate the lands my family has owned for centuries with the native Americans who once thought they were theirs. That might make relatively peaceful Huxford a terrorist.
Western political support for a mostly secular Jewish state at the expense of Palestinians in general and Palestinian Christians in particular has not helped with the “us and them” issues of geopolitical conflicts. In fact, it has exasperated the problem to the point that it is relatively easy for the bin Ladens of the world to manipulate frustration into abject hatred of the west. Does that make it acceptable that bin Laden was the mastermind behind the murder or 3000+ people who did nothing personally to him or Palestinians? Of course not. No sane person would suggest that it does.
But it might mean that the desire of some to celebrate the death of an evil man should be tempered by the realization that it hasn’t solved the problem that made it possible for bin Laden to become the depraved individual he was. The false hope that the politicians of the world offer us with bin Laden’s death at best fit in the category of wishful thinking, unless those promises of hope are accompanied by a commitment to solve the chronic problems of the Middle East. That means, in real terms, dealing with the problem of Jewish settlements in land Palestinians once lived upon, among other rather serious challenges.
Who among us isn’t happy that bin Laden can no longer mastermind mass murder? But I hope an equal number of us are unhappy that the geo-political issues of the last half of the twentieth century and in this first decade of the twenty-first century pretty much assured bin Laden of never seeing what Jesus is really like. Those same policies have made it extraordinarily difficult to be a Christian in the land in which our faith was first preached – without regard to gender, geography, or groups. God is no respecter of persons! But our politics have made it appear that He is.
N.T. Wright is exactly on target – the line is not an “us and them” line – it runs right through our own hearts.
Ouch! Not sure I wanted to be reminded of that, especially at a point in time when the cries “justice has been done” inundate the news. That’s not to suggest that bin Laden and the average American are equally unjust – just wanting to be careful not to fail to look in the proverbial mirror, even if dimly.
The first time I realized how sensitive of an issue this could be was in the first course I taught as a college professor. It was an ethics class and the topic that week was war, violence, and the Christian point of view about such subjects. In was the fall of 1976 and merely saying the word Viet Nam poked at nerves that were still prickly and very sensitive. Of course one of the students asked about those who dodged the draft and went to Canada. I felt a little sensitive to the question for a number of reasons; among them was the fact that as a college student studying for ministry I had an exemption from the draft, despite having a draft lottery number in the teens. All I said in answer that question was that knowing what we knew at that point in time, I thought we should be very careful in not being too critical of those who practiced a kind of civil disobedience our Constitution allows.
I thought that was a pretty reasonable response to the question, especially in view of the fact that the class was made up of college seniors at a school focused on preparing men and women for ministry. Most of the males in that class had the same selective service exemption I did. How naïve. There was one student in the class who had served in Viet Nam, and he took serious exception to my statement. While I still thought (and still think) my statement was reasonable, I easily understood his objection. What I didn’t understand (and still don’t) is how many of the males in the class were offended. Apparently the obviously failed “us and them” of the crisis in Southeast Asia was now transferred to those who chose to go to Canada instead of enrolling in a college preparing men for ministry.
So, here I go again with some more naivety. While I understand the sense of “justice has been done” with the death of the one who may be the Hitler of our age, I’m not too sure that it is quite that simple. Some very bright and committed Christians would argue, using Scripture to support their conclusions, that capital punishment is a just response to awful crimes and that there is such a thing as a just war. Other equally bright and committed Christians would argue just as passionately that neither capital punishment nor any war is consistent with the kind of life Jesus calls us to live. I can hardly blog an answer to that debate!
However, it wouldn’t hurt a single one of us to think a little about the back story that produced bin Laden and those of his ilk of humanity. That doesn’t mean that back story gives excuse for bad behavior, but it can at least help us understand it better.
Not trying to pretend to be an historian, it nevertheless seems to me that the resettlement of Israel with Jewish people from Europe and Central Asia was, at least to some degree, an effort to provide a little ointment for otherwise seared consciences of bad Western European leaders. There is no debate that the treatment of Jews at the hand and leadership of Adolf Hitler will forever be a blight on human nature. But do we really think that the abysmal treatment of Palestinians at the hands of western leaders and Jewish settlers is the way to solve that injustice? Two wrongs never add up to one right.
As a southern boy who grew up on a farm and in a culture where “land” was in the category of nearly sacred, I can’t imagine what my reaction – and even more so of those with whom I grew up and who still live on that sacred land – would be should there be some international settlement effort to re-populate the lands my family has owned for centuries with the native Americans who once thought they were theirs. That might make relatively peaceful Huxford a terrorist.
Western political support for a mostly secular Jewish state at the expense of Palestinians in general and Palestinian Christians in particular has not helped with the “us and them” issues of geopolitical conflicts. In fact, it has exasperated the problem to the point that it is relatively easy for the bin Ladens of the world to manipulate frustration into abject hatred of the west. Does that make it acceptable that bin Laden was the mastermind behind the murder or 3000+ people who did nothing personally to him or Palestinians? Of course not. No sane person would suggest that it does.
But it might mean that the desire of some to celebrate the death of an evil man should be tempered by the realization that it hasn’t solved the problem that made it possible for bin Laden to become the depraved individual he was. The false hope that the politicians of the world offer us with bin Laden’s death at best fit in the category of wishful thinking, unless those promises of hope are accompanied by a commitment to solve the chronic problems of the Middle East. That means, in real terms, dealing with the problem of Jewish settlements in land Palestinians once lived upon, among other rather serious challenges.
Who among us isn’t happy that bin Laden can no longer mastermind mass murder? But I hope an equal number of us are unhappy that the geo-political issues of the last half of the twentieth century and in this first decade of the twenty-first century pretty much assured bin Laden of never seeing what Jesus is really like. Those same policies have made it extraordinarily difficult to be a Christian in the land in which our faith was first preached – without regard to gender, geography, or groups. God is no respecter of persons! But our politics have made it appear that He is.
N.T. Wright is exactly on target – the line is not an “us and them” line – it runs right through our own hearts.
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