Many Parts . . . One Body

Thursday evening, 21 April, was our final community-wide chapel service for the 2015-16 Academic Year at Point University. It was an incredible service.

Our spiritual formation theme for the year has been "Many Parts . . . One Body." Paul's words to that effect in 1 Corinthians 12:12 have been a part of many, many things on our campus this year.

As a part of the service, we wanted to create a visual image of "many parts . . . one body" and one of our students, Caroline Stinson, went to the Lego store and came back with this Point P - made up of 600+ lego blocks. It was on display at the entrance to the part of the West Point First United Methodist Church we use for these services.

Chapel began with a great performance from a gospel choir made up of Point students, staff, and faculty. That group was led by Garrett Motes, one of our great students who have worked to plan chapel this year. That was followed by a really neat video review of the year, created by one of the Theology in Life Project Groups from this semester's Theological Foundations for the Christian Life class. Justin Moss was team leader for this group.  Then we were blessed by a guest worship band led by Point alumnus Greg Wells. Four former Point students/graduates were in the band! Talk about "many parts . . . one body!"

Then four students from some of our public speaking classes read the text - Mark 10:35-45 - as a kind of choral reading of the text. They were coached by Sarah Huxford, who teaches some of our public speaking classes. The sermon was a team effort - literally - by four students who are taking a Preaching Seminar this semester focused on the Gospel of Mark. The focus of their sermon was that this story from Mark tells us that Jesus radically redefines discipleship - meaning that being fruitful and fulfilled in our lives will always be more important than being successful and happy as the world defines those terms. They even dared to suggest that sometimes the church gets those terms confused!

By the time the sermon was ending, they were calling us to look at a radically different way of following Jesus - a way that would mean we must listen to God's call on our lives, not the world's; be willing to befriend uncomfortable people instead of only those with whom we are comfortable; we must love deeply rather than judge silently; and we must live in Jesus' victory instead of pursuing our own idea of self-dignity.  Their sermon was deeply biblical in content, extraordinarily relevant to their audience, and preached well and with passion. It was a home run! Point continues to educate and prepare some great young preachers!
 

At the end of the service, students were reminded that as they entered, they passed by the "Point P" made of many, many Lego blocks. Then they were encouraged to take one of those Lego blocks home with them for the summer - as a kind of reminder that they were one of the "many parts" that make up the community known as Point University, a part of the One Body of Christ.

Looking at these pictures - I'm reminded, as I look at the one to the right, of just how many people took a Lego block home last night. There were over 600 pieces in the Point P. But looking at the one at the top of this page, I am reminded of just how beautiful it is when "the many parts" are together as "one body." Or, as we said at the end of chapel last night - "many Legos . . . One P."

Just before chapel began, Caroline - the student who made sure the Point P showed up - gave me a little Lego man she bought for me at the Lego store. As we were cleaning up after chapel, I decided to take two Lego blocks - one of each of Point's colors - and use them somewhere in my office. If you've been in my office you know there

is "stuff" everywhere. All that "stuff" reflects 40 years of hanging out with ACC/Point students and other kingdom endeavors. I put my little Lego man right in front of Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics - certainly one of the most important theological works of the 20th Century.

While the "stuff" in my office may appear to be the result of some sort of "random selection/placement" gone amuck, most of it is where it is for a reason. This little Lego man will remind me of just how important Jesus wants us to take His prayer that the church would be One, as He and the Father are One and just how seriously Paul expected the fractious Corinthian believers to take his admonition about "many parts . . . one body." And - if you think about it - the idea of "one body . . . many parts" is certainly one of the most important theological ideas of the first century! Placement has meaning in my office.

And to think, I get paid to hang out with Point students!

What??????

In a stunning development, my name was not among the 100 most influential people in the world as just announced by Time magazine.  How in the world will I keep putting one foot in front of the other and continuing with life? To borrow, and likely abuse a bit, words from Isaiah (6:5) “Woe is me, for I am an unlisted man.”

Hillary, Donald, Ted, and Bernie are all on the list. I’m not. The infamous (or famous depending upon economic theories) Koch brothers are on the list. I’m not. President Obama is there, and even Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina is on the list. I’m not. They included at least one religious leader, Pope Francis. But not me. Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Leonardo DiCaprio are on the list. But I’m not. Caitlyn Jenner is on the list. But I still didn’t see my name.

Even more stunning, I know a lot of people I think are very influential. But not only are they not on the list, I don’t remember even seeing them posting the “vote for me as one of Time’s 100 most influential people” posts on Twitter. Can I really be so out of the world of real influence that not only is my name not mentioned on the list, but I don’t even know someone whose name is there? 

I have personally met people like William Willimon and the late Fred Craddock. Both were recognized by Baylor University a few years ago as being in the top twelve most influential preachers in the English speaking world. But I didn’t see their names. I have a few autographed copies of N.T. Wright books. Again, his name isn’t there. My very good friend and colleague Greg Moffatt has written more books (very good books) than anyone I know, and even his name isn’t there. I know Greg likes soccer more than baseball, but in the socialist leaning world in which we live, that should make him more likely, not less likely, to be on the list. But there’s no Greg Moffatt listed there.

What’s a person to do? One option of course is to sink deeply into the depression of recognizing that the world thinks I’m a no body. For however long Time has been doing this list, I’ve never even had an “honorable mention.” “Woe is me, for I am an unlisted man.”

But a different option is to notice that Jesus’ name isn’t on the list either. I get it that Jesus isn’t “alive” in the sense that those 100 people are “alive,” but if you want to talk about influence, maybe He ought to be considered. After all, from the worldview of non-believers, He has been dead for 2000 years, and yet people who are influenced by Him are among the first to show up when tragedy strikes, have built more hospitals, orphanages, hospices, and other kinds of relief centers than can be counted. I know there are times when the “Jesus people” didn’t get it right, but the simple truth is that every single day since that “first day of the week” in A.D. 30 when He was raised to never die again – His people have been doing tons of incredibly important stuff.   When I look carefully at my own life, I am quick to own up to the fact that it is “Jesus in me,” not “me,” that has been able to influence some people around me. And there are millions upon millions of people alive right now who would say precisely the same.

So . . . perhaps being “unlisted” isn’t quite the career disaster it might first appear to be. Think about it. In Christ, I’m on the list of people God calls His children. (1 John 3:2) I won’t trade that list for the Time 100. In Christ, I’m confident that my name is written in “the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:27) I’m not about to trade that listing for Time’s either. I’m even on a list of “God’s fellow workers.” (1 Corinthians 3:5-9) Lots of people on Time’s list can’t say that. 

Congratulations to the 100. Our culture thinks you are very influential. In some ways that may mean you are more “famous” than “influential” – but your name is on the list and mine isn’t. Congratulations!  But I’m not going to feel like a failure. My name is on the really important – eternally speaking – list that the God who created to world and all that is in it (Acts 17) is making.

To borrow one more time from Isaiah, and not abuse his words, ""Here I am! Send me." (Isaiah 6:8)

Anticipating that Day

In his thoughtful and encouraging book, Simply Christian, N.T. Wright begins to summarize his reflections on what it means to be Christian by saying “Every Christian is called to work, at every level of life, for a world in which reconciliation and restoration are put into practice, and so to anticipate that day when God will indeed put everything to rights.” (226)

In these days of Easter in the church calendar, it seems to me like that is a great reminder to us.

One need only to think about Paul’s instructions to the Corinthian church when he said, “So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20, NRSV)

Paul’s word for “ambassadors” is only used twice in the New Testament – here and in Ephesians 6:20 where he says “for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.” (NRSV)  The word’s basic meaning is something like “to send someone as a representative of someone.” But it seems to me that implicit in the idea of “ambassador” is the need to communicate clearly and perhaps even the need to work towards reconciliation. 

If modern believers have the responsibility to be ambassadors, then it only seems reasonable that we too should be able to communicate “on behalf of someone” clearly and that we work towards reconciliation. That “someone” of course is God and the reconciliation we have to offer is peace with God through Jesus Christ.

A fair question for us to consider, however, is how can the ministry of reconciliation be descriptive of who we are, if we do so in a way that creates such negative impressions of the gospel. After all, Paul instructed the believers in Ephesus to “speak the truth in love.” (Ephesians 4:15) Sometimes we Christians seem determined to speak the truth (as we see it), but not so determined to do so in a spirit of love.

Is it possible to work at every level of life for reconciliation and restoration if we do so with such a negative spirit that no one wants to listen? If the Facebook posts many Christians add to the world of social media are indicative of our regular conversations – it’s a wonder anyone listens to us! If you dare ask a question about such posts, it isn’t unusual to hear “Well, Jesus was offensive to sinners and we should be also.”

But the people most offended by Jesus were the very religious. Sinners typically found him very appealing. In our age, it seems that we are often too concerned about not offending the very religious and comfortable with the idea that sinners don’t find the church, the body of Christ on earth, very appealing. Gabe Lyons and David Kinnamon, in their new book, Good Faith, “When outward engagement is our sole aim, we become moralistic crusaders or proponents of a purely social gospel that has no power to save people from sin. On the other hand, if we focus solely on what happens inside the church, we become pious separatists who are so heavenly minded we are no earthly good for God’s plan to renew the world.” 

Perhaps we need to work harder at the “ambassador thing.”

Let Justice Roll

It was a cool April evening and I was at the fellowship hall of my little country church, where along with my Dad, we were “adding on” to the building. My mother came flying up State Road 35 (the road on which our home and our church was located) in her dark green Buick Electra 225. (My Dad always thought she drove too fast, but that’s for another day.)

She quickly got out of the car and told the group of men and boys working on the fellowship hall that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. For those of us who grew up in the 196os, this was another one of those punctuation marks in the historical narrative that impacted our understanding of life, the world, our own country, and tons of other things. Things like the assassinations of John F. Kennedy in 1963, Malcolm X in 1965, of MLK in 1968, and in June of 1968, Robert F. Kennedy. 

As hard as it is for me to believe, it was 48 years ago this evening that I first heard the words that King had been murdered. Of course there were mixed feelings about King in those days. For many southern whites, he was destroying what was viewed as a way of life. For many African-Americans – though then I would have said Negroes – he wasn’t nearly radical enough and many were more inclined to see SNCC and the Black Panthers as better options. 

Those were troubled times. If you have read a biography of King, you know there are issues in his life that he no doubt would have preferred to never become public. Not to offer any excuses for his excesses in several areas, the simple truth is that none of us would prefer to have every detail of our lives made public. It is in that sense that I think we should be careful not to dismiss his work because somehow he sinned – and especially if his sin was different than our sin, then of course we view it as worse than our sin! But remember Paul’s attitude about preaching Christ and sometimes less than stellar behavior? “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” (Philippians 1:18) 

That seems like a very hard standard to which I need to measure up. But, if Paul could manage to say that from a prison cell while some of the preachers – the “pretense” ones – are seeing to do him harm, then I think I need to rejoice when Christ is proclaimed.

One of King’s most powerful legacies is, in my opinion, Letter from Birmingham Jail. In so many ways it reflects King’s belief – one that is missing from much of today’s rhetoric on the important issues of justice – that the gospel, imbedded in the life of the church, transforms culture. Listen to a few of his comments:

There was a time when the Church was very powerful. It was during that period when the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the Church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But they went on with the conviction that they were a “colony of heaven” and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be ‘astronomically intimidated.’ They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests.

He also gives great clarity to how we should understand the meaning of “just law.”  Here’s what he had to say:

A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.

Here’s an assessment about King’s preaching from N.T. Wright, as noted in Simply Christian: “it was the Christian vision of Martin Luther King Jr. that drove him to peaceful, but highly effective, protest. . . King’s passion for justice for African Americans cost him his life. . . [his] tireless campaigning grew directly and explicitly out of [his] loyalty to Jesus.” (page 14)

Like was true in the late 1960s, it seems to me that we are living in a very troubled time. We obviously haven’t solved all the issues of race and prejudice, and have, in many ways, compounded them by class distinctions that are based on dollars not skin tone. Income disparity is growing wider between the “haves” and “have nots” on what seems like a daily basis. The list of potential issues of justice confronting the church is endless. 

So it seemed to me, that on this 48^th anniversary of the brutal murder of a preacher who understood that real justice is rooted in God’s character, that I should simply say – we could use his voice again to help us dream of a day when “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24) God knows our culture needs to hear that. 

Sadly, I’m yet to hear a single candidate for president or any other self-proclaimed leader and/or shaper of culture say what King had the courage to say.