How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."
Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices,
together they sing for joy;
for in plain sight they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
Break forth together into singing,
you ruins of Jerusalem;
for the Lord has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.
Isaiah 52:6-10 - NRSV
May God bless his people, his community.
Ron
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Outside in
Have you ever been called into community?
When I was fourteen years old, I was called into community, although I would not have put it that way. I was the typical, nerdy adolescent: bright, not socially adept, and not particularly athletic. I made good grades (at the time, an underachiever), was a member of Student Council, was a Life Scout, went out for the baseball team (but never got to play in a game), and lived a life removed from faith altogether. In my case, this did not make me different than the rest of my family, because none of us went to church. Hardly ever. Weddings and funerals – that was it. When it came to church, I was definitely an outsider.
Then a small but significant thing happened in my life. A friend that I had known since kindergarten asked me to go to a church event with him one evening. It was nice to be invited, so I went with Rodney. Neither one of us could drive, so his folks picked us up in their Buick LeSabre and drove us to church. It was an interesting community. I was attracted to the young people in this church, but really, the entire group seemed open and welcoming. And so I began to go to church with Rod regularly.
Every time the church doors were open, Dean and Lucille O’Dell would drive out of their way (about a mile) to come by my house and pick me up to go to church with them. Over the next several months, I was invited into relationships with members of that community: friendships, teacher/student relationships, mentor/mentored relationships, relationships with spiritual fathers, and relationships with spiritual mothers. I had never experienced anything like this before. The community was affirming and connecting. This community gave me guidance, but it did not seek control. This community sought to help me find myself, and gave me some clues about what that self might look like, but it did not seek to make me conform to some standard and preconceived mold.
I wanted to be a part of this community.
Fortunately for me, the Eastside Church of Christ in Duncan, Oklahoma extended regular invitations to outsiders to become insiders. But really, they had brought me into the community, and shared with the me many of the benefits of the community long before I agreed to become a member of it. They welcomed me into their fellowship, and did whatever it took to allow me to participate in it. They picked me up and drove me to church until I was old enough to drive myself. They helped my brother and sister make the same regular trips. They understood community.
Have you ever been called into community?
When you were born, you were called into the community of family.
When you became a Christian, you were called into the community of faith.
When you came to minister at Westview, you were called into a community of hospitality and healing.
We have all been called into community.
Now it is in our hands to help shape those communities. How will they look? Will our communities appear to be open and inviting, or closed and impenetrable? Will our communities seek to serve as the grace of God, or as his judgment? Will we gently mold each other, or use the tools of manipulation? All of these decisions, and hundreds of others, shape the character of our community. That community may be our church, our ministry, or our family.
What do our communities look like? Do people see open arms or cold shoulders? Do people hear inviting words or impossible demands? Is it more likely that the people smell the aroma of Christ or the stink of unresolved disagreements? Can people taste the fruits of the Spirit amongst us, or can they not even get to the table? Do people feel the embrace of fellowship, or the cold distance between us? It is good to see ourselves as we are, but complaining about it never fixed anything. Only persistent, loving action can do that.
Have you ever been called into community?
On behalf of Jesus Christ, I am recalling you into your communities today. See them afresh. Help them be renewed. Restore to them the vibrancy intended by their Lord and Master.
Many will be blessed if we do these things. Who knows how many lives may be touched by influencing just one person. One outsider.
Grace and peace,
Ron
When I was fourteen years old, I was called into community, although I would not have put it that way. I was the typical, nerdy adolescent: bright, not socially adept, and not particularly athletic. I made good grades (at the time, an underachiever), was a member of Student Council, was a Life Scout, went out for the baseball team (but never got to play in a game), and lived a life removed from faith altogether. In my case, this did not make me different than the rest of my family, because none of us went to church. Hardly ever. Weddings and funerals – that was it. When it came to church, I was definitely an outsider.
Then a small but significant thing happened in my life. A friend that I had known since kindergarten asked me to go to a church event with him one evening. It was nice to be invited, so I went with Rodney. Neither one of us could drive, so his folks picked us up in their Buick LeSabre and drove us to church. It was an interesting community. I was attracted to the young people in this church, but really, the entire group seemed open and welcoming. And so I began to go to church with Rod regularly.
Every time the church doors were open, Dean and Lucille O’Dell would drive out of their way (about a mile) to come by my house and pick me up to go to church with them. Over the next several months, I was invited into relationships with members of that community: friendships, teacher/student relationships, mentor/mentored relationships, relationships with spiritual fathers, and relationships with spiritual mothers. I had never experienced anything like this before. The community was affirming and connecting. This community gave me guidance, but it did not seek control. This community sought to help me find myself, and gave me some clues about what that self might look like, but it did not seek to make me conform to some standard and preconceived mold.
I wanted to be a part of this community.
Fortunately for me, the Eastside Church of Christ in Duncan, Oklahoma extended regular invitations to outsiders to become insiders. But really, they had brought me into the community, and shared with the me many of the benefits of the community long before I agreed to become a member of it. They welcomed me into their fellowship, and did whatever it took to allow me to participate in it. They picked me up and drove me to church until I was old enough to drive myself. They helped my brother and sister make the same regular trips. They understood community.
Have you ever been called into community?
When you were born, you were called into the community of family.
When you became a Christian, you were called into the community of faith.
When you came to minister at Westview, you were called into a community of hospitality and healing.
We have all been called into community.
Now it is in our hands to help shape those communities. How will they look? Will our communities appear to be open and inviting, or closed and impenetrable? Will our communities seek to serve as the grace of God, or as his judgment? Will we gently mold each other, or use the tools of manipulation? All of these decisions, and hundreds of others, shape the character of our community. That community may be our church, our ministry, or our family.
What do our communities look like? Do people see open arms or cold shoulders? Do people hear inviting words or impossible demands? Is it more likely that the people smell the aroma of Christ or the stink of unresolved disagreements? Can people taste the fruits of the Spirit amongst us, or can they not even get to the table? Do people feel the embrace of fellowship, or the cold distance between us? It is good to see ourselves as we are, but complaining about it never fixed anything. Only persistent, loving action can do that.
Have you ever been called into community?
On behalf of Jesus Christ, I am recalling you into your communities today. See them afresh. Help them be renewed. Restore to them the vibrancy intended by their Lord and Master.
Many will be blessed if we do these things. Who knows how many lives may be touched by influencing just one person. One outsider.
Grace and peace,
Ron
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Kate teaches us a lesson
On Tuesday night, much of Ann and Ron’s family was gathered at Ben and Tara’s home. Ben was attending to things in one end of the house, and Ron was following ten month old Kate as she walked (on her own wheels) from Tara in the kitchen toward the den, where Ann and Bailey were together on the sofa. Bailey was relaxing with her head in her mom’s lap, as Ann stroked her hair. When Kate saw this, it was if you could see her make the connections in her mind. Now Kate and Bailey are close, because Bailey has been her baby-sitter. Still, Kate started fussing and poking at Bailey as if to say, “This is my granna; what are you doing here?” Ann thought it was funny, so kept stroking Bailey’s head and saying, “My baby.” Which is a truth, but not a welcome fact to a baby who thinks that she is the entire family’s baby. Kate kept indicating her displeasure in Kate language (it sounds something like very forceful Chinese) and patting Ann and Bailey until finally, she became distracted with Bailey’s big, beautiful eyes and started to play with her eyelashes. We all laughed and moved on to the rest of our evening.
Later on, the scene was replayed with Ann and Bailey in a recliner. This time when Kate saw them together, she insisted that Ann bring her up into the recliner, too. When Ann would scratch Bailey’s back and say, “My Baby,” Kate would watch intently. Then Kate would wrap her little arm around Ann’s neck, bury her face in Ann’s shoulder, and nuzzle. The actors repeated this scene several times, and as with any comedy, it was funnier every time they did it. Talk was not enough. Kate was going to demonstrate who was whose baby. We taught Kate something. And Kate taught us that you can change your community with love, instead of noise or nonsense.
This is all about community, isn’t it? People, all connected in some way (in this case by familial relationships) gathered in one place, sharing time, relationship, and resources. Those relationships have definition and boundaries. The newest member of the community, Kate, has yet to understand those relationships and boundaries. She is a baby, after all. She is innocent. That doesn’t mean that everything she does is good, but she is too young to understand and be accountable for her actions. At ten months, how could she understand? So the community tolerates, even finds amusing, behavior which would not be acceptable from an older person. There were no negative consequences for Kate because she displayed some possessive feelings and actions. Instead her little community used one of its teaching tools (humor), maintained existing relationships, and worked to demonstrate that it has enough love for all of its members, whether they are present in the room or not.
You might think that this is intuitively obvious, but follow me on. As a little one grows older and grows in their ability to understand right and wrong, what does the community do with behavior that is out of bounds? Do we begin to withdraw our protective hand so that the natural consequences of the action negatively reinforce the lesson without our intervention? This might be possible and appropriate. Yet there still will remain certain actions that are more difficult to connect to consequence. Sometimes this is because we natively seek to protect children from consequences (of course we will grab the child right before they step off the edge of the deck). Sometimes this is because the effects of an action are more gradual and subtle.
What seems to be important to me is that, within community, we place limits on the kinds of consequences related to maintaining the community itself. In normal situations, consequences would focus on a limitation of resources, not of relationship. We wouldn’t say it like this, but it would be something like, “I need take away this toy for a while so that you understand you can’t do this, but I still love you.” Resources are removed; relationships are not terminated. Even if the behavior is so corrosive to community that a person has to be removed from the community for a while (a young person being violent to someone in the family, for example), it is important for the child to understand that the intent is to change the behavior and not terminate the relationship.
How does this relate to the children in our care? Think through that. Perhaps their community never taught them how to live in community. Perhaps they have experienced trauma that has warped their view of community. How do we help them understand right relationships? How do we help them to understand and respect appropriate boundaries? How do we help them understand what it means to be a part of a community unless we make them full-fledged members of a loving, flexible, and resilient community?
Hear the words of Jesus:
People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God [isn’t this the community of which we wish to be a part?] belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Mark 10:13-16 – NRSV
What do we do with this truth? Hear the words of Paul:
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:8-9 – NRSV
Grace and peace,
Ron
Later on, the scene was replayed with Ann and Bailey in a recliner. This time when Kate saw them together, she insisted that Ann bring her up into the recliner, too. When Ann would scratch Bailey’s back and say, “My Baby,” Kate would watch intently. Then Kate would wrap her little arm around Ann’s neck, bury her face in Ann’s shoulder, and nuzzle. The actors repeated this scene several times, and as with any comedy, it was funnier every time they did it. Talk was not enough. Kate was going to demonstrate who was whose baby. We taught Kate something. And Kate taught us that you can change your community with love, instead of noise or nonsense.
This is all about community, isn’t it? People, all connected in some way (in this case by familial relationships) gathered in one place, sharing time, relationship, and resources. Those relationships have definition and boundaries. The newest member of the community, Kate, has yet to understand those relationships and boundaries. She is a baby, after all. She is innocent. That doesn’t mean that everything she does is good, but she is too young to understand and be accountable for her actions. At ten months, how could she understand? So the community tolerates, even finds amusing, behavior which would not be acceptable from an older person. There were no negative consequences for Kate because she displayed some possessive feelings and actions. Instead her little community used one of its teaching tools (humor), maintained existing relationships, and worked to demonstrate that it has enough love for all of its members, whether they are present in the room or not.
You might think that this is intuitively obvious, but follow me on. As a little one grows older and grows in their ability to understand right and wrong, what does the community do with behavior that is out of bounds? Do we begin to withdraw our protective hand so that the natural consequences of the action negatively reinforce the lesson without our intervention? This might be possible and appropriate. Yet there still will remain certain actions that are more difficult to connect to consequence. Sometimes this is because we natively seek to protect children from consequences (of course we will grab the child right before they step off the edge of the deck). Sometimes this is because the effects of an action are more gradual and subtle.
What seems to be important to me is that, within community, we place limits on the kinds of consequences related to maintaining the community itself. In normal situations, consequences would focus on a limitation of resources, not of relationship. We wouldn’t say it like this, but it would be something like, “I need take away this toy for a while so that you understand you can’t do this, but I still love you.” Resources are removed; relationships are not terminated. Even if the behavior is so corrosive to community that a person has to be removed from the community for a while (a young person being violent to someone in the family, for example), it is important for the child to understand that the intent is to change the behavior and not terminate the relationship.
How does this relate to the children in our care? Think through that. Perhaps their community never taught them how to live in community. Perhaps they have experienced trauma that has warped their view of community. How do we help them understand right relationships? How do we help them to understand and respect appropriate boundaries? How do we help them understand what it means to be a part of a community unless we make them full-fledged members of a loving, flexible, and resilient community?
Hear the words of Jesus:
People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God [isn’t this the community of which we wish to be a part?] belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Mark 10:13-16 – NRSV
What do we do with this truth? Hear the words of Paul:
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:8-9 – NRSV
Grace and peace,
Ron
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Community is the trump card
In the classic short story, A Man without a Country, Edward Everett Hale writes about a young military officer, Philip Nolan, whom he places in America during the early 1800’s. This young man became a friend, and then associate of the infamous Aaron Burr. Over time, Nolan so revered Burr that he grew to value his relationship with this one man over all of his other relationships. Nolan assumed the easy cynicism toward the state that was, to him, the sign of the knowing insider. Consequently, Nolan became involved in activities that led to his eventual arrest for treason, and trial alongside Burr.
When confronted by the judge, Nolan’s cynicism reaches its highest point. Nolan curses the United States, and then swears an oath: “I wish I may never hear of the United States again.” The judge, instead of sentencing Nolan to death, gives him a sentence of exile. Nolan is never to see nor to hear of his country again. The judge gives Nolan into the keeping of the US Navy, and charges it with keeping Nolan onboard naval warships for the remainder of his life. The Navy carries out its orders with its usual thoroughness and efficiency; Nolan never sets his foot on land in the United States again. When a ship heads back toward a home port, Nolan is transferred to another ship going the opposite direction. Naval officers even censor the newspapers and magazines Nolan reads to remove any mention of his homeland.
After decades of this life at sea, a changed Nolan finally approaches his death. A young officer recounts his conversation with Nolan as he escorts him to another ship:
"For your country, boy," and the words rattled in his throat, "and for that flag," and he pointed to the ship, "never dream a dream but of serving her as she bids you, though the service carry you through a thousand hells. No matter what happens to you, no matter who flatters you or abuses you, never look at another flag, never let a night pass but you pray God to bless that flag. Remember, boy, that behind all these men..., behind officers and government, and people even, there is the Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to her as you belong to your own mother. Stand by her, boy, as you would stand by your mother...!" I was frightened to death by his calm, hard passion; but I blundered out that I would, by all that was holy, and that I had never thought of doing anything else. He hardly seemed to hear me; but he did, almost in a whisper, say, "Oh, if anybody had said so to me when I was your age!"
Hale’s message about his nation, his community, is powerful. Perhaps it might be even more powerful if we remember that Hale published this story in the Atlantic Monthly in 1863. Hale wrote the story as a call for those in South to reconsider what he considered a desertion of the Union during the Civil War (otherwise known as the War of Northern Aggression).
I am not choosing sides here. I hope that everyone would agree with me that slavery is wrong, and that the oppression of human beings to maintain structures of power and wealth is totally unacceptable. It is certainly also true that the North proved itself to be no more capable of a steward of power and wealth when the war was over, as they systematically punished and oppressed their surviving brothers and sisters in the South. Can we not learn something from this horrible breach in community? Doesn’t our current world confront issues just as important as slavery? And isn’t our citizenship in the church tested by, yet superior to, our citizenship in our country?
Doesn’t this whole discussion speak to the Christian about the nature of community and the choices we make to go or to stay, to exclude or include, within the community? Doesn’t wisdom require that the status quo is changed when it does not produce truth, beauty, or the good? Doesn’t it require that community is maintained, even when that community makes decisions which don’t necessarily align with our personal choices or loyalties? Doesn’t love and faithfulness toward the community require us to work out the tensions in these statements with one another? The writer of Proverbs calls us to wisdom here:
My child, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commandments;
for length of days and years of life
and abundant welfare they will give you.
Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good repute
in the sight of God and of people.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
It will be a healing for your flesh
and a refreshment for your body.
Proverbs 3:1-8 - NRSV
Community has teaching to maintain proper boundaries. For spiritual Israel, those boundaries are described by Torah. There are going to be times when keeping Torah is inconvenient. There are times when Torah will requires exclusion, but usually it requires the harder task of inclusion. Torah is meant more to exclude our foolish behavior toward one another than to exclude one another. This ought to remind us that, no matter the time in which we live, there are always those people and events who will test our loyalties to our community. This has happened, and will happen within the church. This has happened, and will happen within the Westview community.
Especially in our youth, others test our loyalties to our community. There is an element in the church and within ministry that is “wise in its own eyes.” It displays a certain cynicism toward the community and status quo that is meant to portray knowledge, wisdom, and experience. Instead this behavior communicates disillusionment, disloyalty, and dishonor. If unchecked, these symptoms will precede spiritual death. This temptation to cynicism will seek out the young men at Westview and it will search out the young adults at Westview. On the other hand, those of us who are older are more tempted to sacrifice relationships to maintain the status quo. Both are unwise and evil. May we truly be wise in a godly way, and trust in the Lord with all of our heart. He will surely refresh our body within the body of Christ when we are loyal and faithful both to the community and members of the community as God is faithful and loyal to both.
Grace and peace among us,
Ron
When confronted by the judge, Nolan’s cynicism reaches its highest point. Nolan curses the United States, and then swears an oath: “I wish I may never hear of the United States again.” The judge, instead of sentencing Nolan to death, gives him a sentence of exile. Nolan is never to see nor to hear of his country again. The judge gives Nolan into the keeping of the US Navy, and charges it with keeping Nolan onboard naval warships for the remainder of his life. The Navy carries out its orders with its usual thoroughness and efficiency; Nolan never sets his foot on land in the United States again. When a ship heads back toward a home port, Nolan is transferred to another ship going the opposite direction. Naval officers even censor the newspapers and magazines Nolan reads to remove any mention of his homeland.
After decades of this life at sea, a changed Nolan finally approaches his death. A young officer recounts his conversation with Nolan as he escorts him to another ship:
"For your country, boy," and the words rattled in his throat, "and for that flag," and he pointed to the ship, "never dream a dream but of serving her as she bids you, though the service carry you through a thousand hells. No matter what happens to you, no matter who flatters you or abuses you, never look at another flag, never let a night pass but you pray God to bless that flag. Remember, boy, that behind all these men..., behind officers and government, and people even, there is the Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to her as you belong to your own mother. Stand by her, boy, as you would stand by your mother...!" I was frightened to death by his calm, hard passion; but I blundered out that I would, by all that was holy, and that I had never thought of doing anything else. He hardly seemed to hear me; but he did, almost in a whisper, say, "Oh, if anybody had said so to me when I was your age!"
Hale’s message about his nation, his community, is powerful. Perhaps it might be even more powerful if we remember that Hale published this story in the Atlantic Monthly in 1863. Hale wrote the story as a call for those in South to reconsider what he considered a desertion of the Union during the Civil War (otherwise known as the War of Northern Aggression).
I am not choosing sides here. I hope that everyone would agree with me that slavery is wrong, and that the oppression of human beings to maintain structures of power and wealth is totally unacceptable. It is certainly also true that the North proved itself to be no more capable of a steward of power and wealth when the war was over, as they systematically punished and oppressed their surviving brothers and sisters in the South. Can we not learn something from this horrible breach in community? Doesn’t our current world confront issues just as important as slavery? And isn’t our citizenship in the church tested by, yet superior to, our citizenship in our country?
Doesn’t this whole discussion speak to the Christian about the nature of community and the choices we make to go or to stay, to exclude or include, within the community? Doesn’t wisdom require that the status quo is changed when it does not produce truth, beauty, or the good? Doesn’t it require that community is maintained, even when that community makes decisions which don’t necessarily align with our personal choices or loyalties? Doesn’t love and faithfulness toward the community require us to work out the tensions in these statements with one another? The writer of Proverbs calls us to wisdom here:
My child, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commandments;
for length of days and years of life
and abundant welfare they will give you.
Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good repute
in the sight of God and of people.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
It will be a healing for your flesh
and a refreshment for your body.
Proverbs 3:1-8 - NRSV
Community has teaching to maintain proper boundaries. For spiritual Israel, those boundaries are described by Torah. There are going to be times when keeping Torah is inconvenient. There are times when Torah will requires exclusion, but usually it requires the harder task of inclusion. Torah is meant more to exclude our foolish behavior toward one another than to exclude one another. This ought to remind us that, no matter the time in which we live, there are always those people and events who will test our loyalties to our community. This has happened, and will happen within the church. This has happened, and will happen within the Westview community.
Especially in our youth, others test our loyalties to our community. There is an element in the church and within ministry that is “wise in its own eyes.” It displays a certain cynicism toward the community and status quo that is meant to portray knowledge, wisdom, and experience. Instead this behavior communicates disillusionment, disloyalty, and dishonor. If unchecked, these symptoms will precede spiritual death. This temptation to cynicism will seek out the young men at Westview and it will search out the young adults at Westview. On the other hand, those of us who are older are more tempted to sacrifice relationships to maintain the status quo. Both are unwise and evil. May we truly be wise in a godly way, and trust in the Lord with all of our heart. He will surely refresh our body within the body of Christ when we are loyal and faithful both to the community and members of the community as God is faithful and loyal to both.
Grace and peace among us,
Ron
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Once you weren't, now you are
God brings us into this world through a family, a community. Sometimes that community knows how to be a community. Unfortunately, as we are well aware, sometimes the family does not know how to be a healthy family. Our place in this world (as the church, and as Westview) is to be a community of love, faith, and acceptance for young men who either don’t have such a community, or who need to learn how to live within community. This means that we need to be a healthy community for several reasons: to model community for our boys and our children, to be the people of God so as to receive his blessings, and to care for each other as individuals and families.
The book of Hosea describes one of the saddest moments in Israel’s history. Israel is at a low point, and Hosea’s wife Gomer bears two children to whom God gives symbolic names (Hosea 1). God calls the daughter “No Mercy” and the son “Not My People”. When Israel ceased to function as a godly community, God removed the blessing of his mercy. No community, no mercy. Mercy was not intended to be parceled out individually to persons but communally to a people.
Individualism has run rampant in much of this world over the last two centuries. Americans see themselves as the rugged individualists that have reshaped this planet. But the very condition of our planet gives us some indications that perhaps this is not working so well. Are we the paternalistic protector or the power-wielding commodities broker? Perhaps we ought to consider our place in a global community. Concerning ourselves with the needs of others, showing restraint in the use of resources and power, giving thought to our future. True peace and blessing come within community.
Referring back to Hosea, Peter describes clearly our own calling to be a people, a holy nation, a community:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people,
but now you are God's people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
- 1 Peter 2:9-10 NRSV
When we restore true community, godly community, God restores his mercy. How does Peter call us to live within such a community? Consider the verses that follow:
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.
For the Lord's sake accept the authority of every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme, or of governors, as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
- 1 Peter 2: 11-17 NRSV
Let us choose to love everyone (whether in our community or not) and to honor the family of believers. When we do this, we will properly fear God.
Grace and peace,
Ron
The book of Hosea describes one of the saddest moments in Israel’s history. Israel is at a low point, and Hosea’s wife Gomer bears two children to whom God gives symbolic names (Hosea 1). God calls the daughter “No Mercy” and the son “Not My People”. When Israel ceased to function as a godly community, God removed the blessing of his mercy. No community, no mercy. Mercy was not intended to be parceled out individually to persons but communally to a people.
Individualism has run rampant in much of this world over the last two centuries. Americans see themselves as the rugged individualists that have reshaped this planet. But the very condition of our planet gives us some indications that perhaps this is not working so well. Are we the paternalistic protector or the power-wielding commodities broker? Perhaps we ought to consider our place in a global community. Concerning ourselves with the needs of others, showing restraint in the use of resources and power, giving thought to our future. True peace and blessing come within community.
Referring back to Hosea, Peter describes clearly our own calling to be a people, a holy nation, a community:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people,
but now you are God's people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
- 1 Peter 2:9-10 NRSV
When we restore true community, godly community, God restores his mercy. How does Peter call us to live within such a community? Consider the verses that follow:
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.
For the Lord's sake accept the authority of every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme, or of governors, as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
- 1 Peter 2: 11-17 NRSV
Let us choose to love everyone (whether in our community or not) and to honor the family of believers. When we do this, we will properly fear God.
Grace and peace,
Ron
Monday, September 29, 2008
The unusual case of the croaking septuagenarian
The song service at worship this Sunday in Searcy was enjoyable. During one of the songs, the worship leader asked the congregation to join in the song one group at at a time. The sopranos would begin, then the altos would join on the next verse, then the tenor, and then the bass. It seemed to be a reasonable request, and idea works well with this hymn. The sopranos were singing the first verse, and it was lovely – nearly. Two hundred female voices in beautiful unison, and one old man across the aisle who decided that they couldn’t sing the song without him. Why did he not honor the instructions of the worship leader? This may not seem like a big deal, but I think that it is a symptom of a larger problem. Why did he not go along with the congregation?
Was he hard of hearing? This was proved to be untrue a few minutes later.
Did he think that it was inappropriate for women to sing without a male voice leading? If this was so, he was usurping the authority of the elders, because the elders had approved the worship leader and the order of worship.
Did he believe that it was wrong for anything less than the entire congregation to sing? Again, he not only single-handedly overruled the elders, but abused the intelligence and authority of the worship leader as well.
Did he think that he had the right to sing for the sake of his own joy regardless of the group’s enjoyment of worship? This question finally gets us closer to the core issue: the asserted rights of the individual versus the desired unity of the community. Much of modern philosophy and American thought has emphasized the existential, the importance of the individual over the community. But such an emphasis is not consistent with biblical thought. Remember the word of Paul that we looked at on Saturday?
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. (Romans 12:3-8 – NRSV)
Somehow being a part of a community carries certain obligations - what are those obligations? What do we do when the desires of the individual conflict with the norms of the community? How do we decide which commitments are more important? What does it mean to be a part of a community? We will be talking about this more through the week, but let me give you a beginning question to think about.
Can you disobey the social norms (or rules) of the community and still be a member?
Think about it.
Blessings,
Ron
Was he hard of hearing? This was proved to be untrue a few minutes later.
Did he think that it was inappropriate for women to sing without a male voice leading? If this was so, he was usurping the authority of the elders, because the elders had approved the worship leader and the order of worship.
Did he believe that it was wrong for anything less than the entire congregation to sing? Again, he not only single-handedly overruled the elders, but abused the intelligence and authority of the worship leader as well.
Did he think that he had the right to sing for the sake of his own joy regardless of the group’s enjoyment of worship? This question finally gets us closer to the core issue: the asserted rights of the individual versus the desired unity of the community. Much of modern philosophy and American thought has emphasized the existential, the importance of the individual over the community. But such an emphasis is not consistent with biblical thought. Remember the word of Paul that we looked at on Saturday?
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. (Romans 12:3-8 – NRSV)
Somehow being a part of a community carries certain obligations - what are those obligations? What do we do when the desires of the individual conflict with the norms of the community? How do we decide which commitments are more important? What does it mean to be a part of a community? We will be talking about this more through the week, but let me give you a beginning question to think about.
Can you disobey the social norms (or rules) of the community and still be a member?
Think about it.
Blessings,
Ron
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