What's a Follower of Jesus to do?

On Monday mornings at 10:30, a service of holy communion is held at Point University in the beautiful sanctuary of West Point Presbyterian Church.  What follows below is the homily that was given in that service as a reflection on the horrific events in Paris over the weekend. 

What's a Follower of Jesus to Do?

Friday evening I took my family out to dinner at the Downtown Grill in metropolitan Tyrone, GA. It's really a very nice place to eat. On the way there – less than 2 miles from our house – my NBC newsfeed was reporting an incident in Paris, where up to 16 people might have been killed.

By the time we finished eating and were headed home, the number was above 60, and before Friday evening was over: 127. Lester Holt and the NBC news crew were in full crisis mode – replacing Dateline on the normal Friday night schedule with a special report.

All weekend long – every major news outlet has been inundating us with the horrific news of evil run amuck, a religion hijacked for political gain, and otherwise innocent people dying because, at least in the words of many of the “experts,” a Shia Muslim is ruling in predominantly Sunni Muslim Syria. 

One American presidential candidate summed it up by simply saying, “Either they die or we die.” That’s rather sobering. And even though way out here in the middle of nowhere along the banks of the peaceful Chattahoochee River the sounds of terrorists’ bombs are unlikely to be heard – we know in our heart of our hearts that ours is a deeply troubled world.

What’s a follower of Jesus to do?

I think it is interesting that the lectionary text from the Epistles for yesterday was from Hebrews 10. Hebrews is that rather densely worded, Hebrew scripture embedded, and often left unread epistle that truly does speak to that question: what’s a follower of Jesus to do? Especially in times of great struggle.

In verse one, the author reminds us of the temporal and unsatisfying nature of approaching life apart from Christ. Here is what the text says – and this is about the Law which came from God but which is viewed as temporal: “Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach.^”

If that is true of the Law, think how even more inadequate would be any human-created solution to sin. And this really is - like all issues of justice - an issue of sin.

Further down in the chapter, he says:

^"11 And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. ¹² But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” ¹³ and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” ¹⁴ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified."

In contrast to repeated sacrifices that could never deal adequately with sin, Christ offered a single sacrifice – and through that sacrifice, has made complete for all time those who are being made holy. 

I really don’t know what the answer is to the trouble our world faces, but I do know that because of what Christ has done – each of us need not spend our days cowering in fear. He has made us complete for all time!

We come up to this table – like we have done many, many times – but perhaps today as we come we should thank God for what Christ has done for us – especially in giving us the kind of assurance that the geo-policcal realities of a troubled world cannot and will not define us.

(Scripture quotations from English Standard Version.)

“And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod” Nehemiah 13:24

Back in the 1990s I remember reading William Willimon’s Peculiar Speech: Preaching to the Baptized along with his The Intrusive Word: Preaching to the Unbaptized. What I most remember from reading those two collections of Willimon sermons is that language is important. Greatly gifted in the use of sarcasm, Willimon says, “Forgive Christians for wanting to name the world as something other than K-Mart.” (Peculiar Speech, page 78)

More recently, Willimon’s colleague at Duke, Stanley Hauerwas, has published his newest book The Work of Theology. There is a whole chapter on “How to Write a Theological Sentence.” Hauerwas uses one of his own theological sentences to frame the discussion. “The first task of the church is not to make the world more just; the first task of the church is to make the world the world.” (page 138) He then says “The sentence does not imply that Christians have no interest in justice, but it does mean that Christians have no idea what justice may entail unless we first know what it means to be ‘the world.’ In fact, the world cannot know it is the world unless there is an alternative to the world.” (page 138)

In Tim Keller’s excellent book, Center Church, the sections on contextualization and learning how to be distinctively Christian without being viewed as “anti-cultural” are outstanding and thought provoking. One of my favorite principles he notes is “Actively engage the city/culture, while avoiding cultural captivity in all its forms (cultural fundamentalism and withdrawal; cultural relativism and syncretism).” (page 247)

Neither withdrawal nor syncretism are good options for those who follow Jesus and whose hope it is to make a difference in the world in which we live. Yet both exist. Each of us have likely been guilty of withdrawal or syncretism at least a time or two in our lives. Awareness that there are some guilty of syncretism causes those who prefer withdrawal to an even deeper sense of withdrawal; and the fact that there are those comfortable in withdrawing from culture tempts to a level of cultural relativism that makes it difficult to distinguish between the gospel and culture.

To use Nehemiah’s language noted above, those who would withdraw hardly know there is a language of Ashdod – an issue fraught with its own unique challenges; and those who would practice syncretism have somehow come to think that the language of Ashdod is so much better than the language of their own faith.

If Hauerwas is correct – the world can’t know it is the world until it knows there is an alternative to the world – can the church risk hiding its vocabulary from the world (withdrawal) or giving up its vocabulary for the vocabulary of the world (syncretism)? I can’t imagine a context in which either of those options makes a lot of sense. Yet we are surrounded by those who are so rigidly biblical that no one will listen to them on the one hand; and those who are so culturally relevant on the other hand they have nothing to say. In both cases, the gospel goes unheard. 

As ironic as it may be, Nehemiah’s concern about the language of Ashdod is expressed in the context of his concern about marriage. Nehemiah and Ezra (9, 10) have been seriously concerned about Jews marrying non-Jews. Apparently their concerns have gone unnoticed by at least some of the people, and now Israel’s children are speaking the language of Ashdod and not Israel.

Would it be too much of a stretch to suggest that in the era of Nehemiah and Ezra, Israel’s refusal to accept God’s definition of marriage created a world where “half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod?” And if that is true, then is it fair to suggest that the issue on both sides of this equation is one of language? On the one hand, a redefinition of marriage; on the other, leaving the language that identifies them as God’s people behind.

For me, the issue with same-sex marriage is not so much that out of nowhere same-sex individuals are having sexual relations with one another. That’s not a new phenomenon. I would doubt that there are more same-sex couples today than there were before the Supreme Court ruling of June 2015. The issue for me is that if we change the definition of marriage, will we soon be speaking the language of Ashdod. When we change languages, do we change allegiance?

In Peculiar Speech, Willimon – while not talking about same-sex marriage in any way – says “When a preacher disposes of baptismal speech in favor of psychological speech (Robert Schuller’s ‘Be Happy Attitudes’ or ‘Self-Esteem’), or secular politicized speech (mainline Protestantism’s ‘Peace with Justice’), the preacher has not thereby transcended the community-bound nature of language. The preacher has merely moved, in speech, from one community to another.” (page 79)

On a broader plane, I wonder what sort of impact our tendency to adopt the world’s vocabulary – whether “psychological speech” or “secular politicized speech” – will have on our identity as the community of God’s people. I am not fond of the rigid “secular v. sacred” distinctions that some (withdrawal) wish to make; but neither am I fond of the idea that there isn’t a unique Christian vocabulary (syncretism) that should be at the heart of how we describe our faith, our worship of God, and our relationship to the world around us. For example, I’ve been to more than a few weddings – Christian ones, they said – where if you threw out a prayer or two and didn’t tell the Jesus at the wedding in Cana of Galilee story, you would not know it was any different than a courthouse wedding performed by a justice of the peace. 

Genesis 1 says that God spoke the world into existence, and from that moment forward it seems language has been important. Our ability to use language is a uniquely human gift. Our commitment to use it well may very well speak to our willingness to love God with all of our mind. 

If my prayer language sounds more like a poorly written Facebook post than it does a conversation with the God who made the world and everything in it (Acts 17), maybe I need to stop and think for a moment. If my favorite way of describing deeply spiritual values is to use the language of the world over God’s language, maybe I need to stop and think for a moment. If I’m willing to redefine important spiritual words in the name of a perceived spiritual relevance, then maybe I need to stop for a while, not just a moment!

Most importantly, can we make “the world the world” if we give up on God’s vocabulary?

If Stumps Could Talk

Today – 4 November – was our Fall Impact Day at Point University. We sub-titled it “Block of Blessings.” In partnership with the Chattahoochee Valley Fuller Center for Housing, over 400 students, faculty, and staff from Point University made a huge impact on an old mill village neighborhood in Lanett, Alabama. Kim Roberts from the Fuller Center and the Point student life staff did an amazing job in organizing our group to work on about 25 homes on the street we choose for a Block of Blessings experience.

Students could be found painting, scraping old paint, mowing lawns, trimming shrubbery, removing over-growth in long-forgotten backyards, and just about any other outdoor task you can imagine. Several Greater Valley Area business provided tools and skilled oversight and Spring Road Christian Church jumped in as well. 

We have been doing days like this at Point since the spring of 2007 when we first went to City of Refuge in Atlanta. Our student body has grown in ways that make finding an opportunity that can keep us busy is challenging – but the impact of Impact Day is felt on both sides of the equation. The neighborhood we worked in looks so much better than it did at 8:30 this morning that it is difficult to describe. But the hearts of lots of Point faculty, staff, and students no doubt look equally as different. It is simply hard to engage our world for Christ and not be changed by our engagement. 

In one of the yards we worked in there was a huge stump from an oak tree that had been cut down at some point. I was intrigued by the stump and counted about an inch of rings and did an estimate that the tree was probably 150 years old. A student asked if I would give her five extra point on a test if she counted the rings. I agreed. She did. The tree was 194 years old. As I told that group of students, it was a pretty good sized tree when the Civil War was being fought!

Perhaps that tree was planted for shade in the promising front yard of some farm house nearly two centuries ago. Under that tree you could have heard shots from what people in West Point claim is the last battle of the Civil War. You could have watched the textile industry grow and provide jobs for a whole region, only to leave town and leave mill villages like the one we were working in far behind and all but forgotten. 

But today – had that tree still been alive – you could have stood under its shade and seen 400+ university students working to make a little portion of God’s creation look better. Look cleaner. Look more like someone cared. 

That tree stump has a story to tell. And so do I. It is easy sometimes to always assume the worst about young adults. Certainly Point’s collection of young adults aren’t perfect – but then neither am I. Yet what I saw this morning is that when we creatively put opportunity in front of them, they are eager to make an impact on the world around them. 

My story to tell also includes a huge reminder to me personally about life. I did the devotional at the beginning of our day and reminded students that what I think is Paul’s favorite word for preaching literally means something like “to call alongside of.” It suggests that bearing witness to the gospel isn’t so much pointing fingers, but joining arms to travel this journey of faith together.

In that context, I told our students that while we would make a huge impact on this neighborhood today, the real impact would be in our own hearts – if we would be brave enough to crack the door of our hearts just a little.

I heard more than a few conversations today about that cracked door. Lots of folks realized that our tendency to complain about so much while living in the midst of abundance was not a good practice. Working on houses that needed so much done to them makes it hard to complain about most of the stuff in my life that annoys me. 

My story has to include Kim Roberts and her volunteers. It has to include the folks from Kimble Food Services who helped us out. It has to include the Point shuttle drivers who added to their normal drives to transport students. It has to include faculty and staff members who think joining arms with students in a little hard work is a good academic experience. It has to include Chris Beirne and his staff in all their planning. Coaches who made sure their teams were there and worked alongside of them were inspiring to me. 

I could go on. But you surely get the point – pun intended.

Thank God for Point students. They make me proud to work at this great kingdom outpost where we desire above all else to point our culture to Christ.

That old stump has its best story yet!