Today in class we discussed the church after Constantine in preparation for our next class on the Reformation. In lieu of the discussion we watched a short video about the life of St. Patrick and his mission to the Irish. We started the class by reading the Lorica, the prayer of St. Patrick also known as the Breastplate of St. Patrick.
St. Patrick was the son of wealthy landowners who was taken as a slave by the invading Irish. After receiving his freedom God called him in a dream to come back to Ireland with the Gospel (cf. Paul and the Macedonians). After 12 years of study and preparation, Patrick went to Ireland (cf. Paul and his time in the wilderness as referred to in Galatians). Patrick would camp with tribe after tribe of Irishmen, witnessing to the power of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By the time of Patrick's death, all of Ireland was Christian.
It seems significant to me that Patrick spent 12 years preparing after receiving such a clear call from God to go to Ireland. It seems that the expectation nowadays is that obedience to a call should look like immediate action, whereas for St. Patrick, it took preparation, 12 years of it. Also, Patrick's method, of going tribe by tribe and implanting the Gospel and the church into the Irish culture was healthy and effective. It was the Irish Christians who saved Western civilization through their scholarship during the Dark Ages. Education was important. Finally, Patrick was known for confronting the evil powers of the Irish tribal religions. Power encounters were not uncommon.
In light of all of the conversion that occurred during the years following Constantine, the conversion of Ireland under St. Patrick stands out as a shining example of mission gone well.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Reflections on... The Pre-Constantinian Era (FTS_MC500)
Today we finished our discussion on the the era after the first century and before Constantine. Some of the changes during this era included the re-institutionalizing of religion after Jesus had deconstructed it during the first century. Whereas Jesus deconstructed the power structures and religious perspectives of Judaism, after the first century the church began to re-implement similar values of power in hierarchy and professionalism of a special clergy-class. Whereas Jesus said, "where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them," the pre-Constantinian church said, "where they are gathered around a rightly consecrated bishop rightly administering the the Eucharist, there is the church, the presence of Christ. Where there is no bishop, there is no church." The reasons for this may have been practical as well as theological: the church grew from roughly 10,000 in AD 100 to around 6,000,000 in AD 300. It took quite a bit more effort to care for a maintain the church at the end of the third century than it did at the end of the first.
One observation that Dr. Bolger made was that even though such growth over the second two centuries of the church seems massively exponentional, spaced out over the course of 200 years, it is more of a consistently steady growth over a long period of time. This brings home the reality that in the first few centuries, just as in the last few centuries, the backbone of church evangelism and growth has been through slow, steady conversion of friends and family members. Though there have been missionaries to new locations and mass revival type meetings, the long-lasting growth of the church has occurred as friends and family members are drawn into the church through exposure to life transformation and honest witness.
Finally, another interesting historical fact was a reference to a statement by one of the early church fathers, Tertullian, around AD 200. He made some comments to the effect that when people come to worship they should bring their own contributions, such as hymns. Over the course of the next few centuries, the church gathering went from being more active/participatory to more passive/receptive. It reminds me of something I've said before, that if you can still have the meeting with no one in attendance, then you're really not having a meeting, you're putting on a show. Shows have their place, but not in a family gathering.
One observation that Dr. Bolger made was that even though such growth over the second two centuries of the church seems massively exponentional, spaced out over the course of 200 years, it is more of a consistently steady growth over a long period of time. This brings home the reality that in the first few centuries, just as in the last few centuries, the backbone of church evangelism and growth has been through slow, steady conversion of friends and family members. Though there have been missionaries to new locations and mass revival type meetings, the long-lasting growth of the church has occurred as friends and family members are drawn into the church through exposure to life transformation and honest witness.
Finally, another interesting historical fact was a reference to a statement by one of the early church fathers, Tertullian, around AD 200. He made some comments to the effect that when people come to worship they should bring their own contributions, such as hymns. Over the course of the next few centuries, the church gathering went from being more active/participatory to more passive/receptive. It reminds me of something I've said before, that if you can still have the meeting with no one in attendance, then you're really not having a meeting, you're putting on a show. Shows have their place, but not in a family gathering.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Reflections on... The Church before Constantine (FTS_MC500)
Today we covered the church before Constantine. I should have known this, but only today did I realize that the structure of our lectures follows the "church worksheet" that we have for the class. Over the course of the class we will discuss the church in light of its mission at several different stages and in many of its forms. For each stage or tradition we will discuss it with respect to that particular church tradition's understanding of the nature of the church, its liturgy and sacraments, community and service, mission and witness, and organization and leadership. Today we discussed the church prior to Constantine and the "officializing" of Christianity in the empire. (I didn't say what I have commonly heard said concerning Constantine, that he "Christianized" the empire. Though that could be said, and I stand to be corrected, from what we discussed in class, it seems more that Constantine appropriated the already massive and well-organized institution of the fourth century church. Yep, I don't think we can blame the setbacks of Christendom on Constantine alone. If the picture of the Jewish religious leaders in the Gospels are of any help here, it seems that the tendency towards over-institutionalizing and professionalizing religion runs deep.)
We discussed how understanding of the sacraments changed over the next few centuries before Constantine. As the sacraments gained theological weight, so did the regulations and requirements surrounding them. The combination of high salvific effectiveness attributed to baptism, the high infant mortality rate, and the growing belief in original sin led to increasing practice of infant baptism. This of course, necessitated something like confirmation, to ensure the conversion of the baptised. So, how do you have a high theology of the sacraments while avoiding the high control that resulted? The priesthood of all believers. The sacraments belong to the church, not to a certain group within the church. That is why I think it is good to practice the "you catch 'em, you clean 'em" approach to baptism. (Though that's such a weird way to put it.) My former pastor once told me that he though we para-church campus ministers should be baptizing our new believers. I think he's right, given that we do so in view of the church - the church on campus or the church in the community, it does not matter which. The lines between Church universal, local church, and para-church are not so sharp as we imagine them. The important thing is that we remain aware that we all represent the Church, regardless whether that shows up on our business card or in our email address or not.
Similarly, with the Lord's Supper, teachers began to attribute more and more signifance to the physical bread and wine in response to the Docetists who downplayed the physical and material nature of Christian faith. Because of the growing significance of the Lord's Supper, and the growth of groups within the church whose practices were less than orthodox, bishops had to exercise more and more control. Though I'm sure that the motivation wasn't merely for power and control, over the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries, the divide between the clergy and laity grew so that the clergy became spiritual "providers" instead of one gifted believer among many. Just in case it's not clear, I think that was not the most helpful development...
We watched another video in class, this time from PBS Frontline, "From Jesus to Christ." In the video we were shown a piece of paper that one would receive for sacrificing to the emperor. This "receipt" was necessary for avoiding persecution for not worshiping the emperor at the appointed times. Though they didn't mention it in the video, I suspect that punishmet for not having the ticket ranged from fines to imprisonment to beatings to death. It's not hard to imagine that some of the 3rd century Christians found in this a direct fulfillment of the "mark of the beast" in John's Revelation.
We discussed how understanding of the sacraments changed over the next few centuries before Constantine. As the sacraments gained theological weight, so did the regulations and requirements surrounding them. The combination of high salvific effectiveness attributed to baptism, the high infant mortality rate, and the growing belief in original sin led to increasing practice of infant baptism. This of course, necessitated something like confirmation, to ensure the conversion of the baptised. So, how do you have a high theology of the sacraments while avoiding the high control that resulted? The priesthood of all believers. The sacraments belong to the church, not to a certain group within the church. That is why I think it is good to practice the "you catch 'em, you clean 'em" approach to baptism. (Though that's such a weird way to put it.) My former pastor once told me that he though we para-church campus ministers should be baptizing our new believers. I think he's right, given that we do so in view of the church - the church on campus or the church in the community, it does not matter which. The lines between Church universal, local church, and para-church are not so sharp as we imagine them. The important thing is that we remain aware that we all represent the Church, regardless whether that shows up on our business card or in our email address or not.
Similarly, with the Lord's Supper, teachers began to attribute more and more signifance to the physical bread and wine in response to the Docetists who downplayed the physical and material nature of Christian faith. Because of the growing significance of the Lord's Supper, and the growth of groups within the church whose practices were less than orthodox, bishops had to exercise more and more control. Though I'm sure that the motivation wasn't merely for power and control, over the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries, the divide between the clergy and laity grew so that the clergy became spiritual "providers" instead of one gifted believer among many. Just in case it's not clear, I think that was not the most helpful development...
We watched another video in class, this time from PBS Frontline, "From Jesus to Christ." In the video we were shown a piece of paper that one would receive for sacrificing to the emperor. This "receipt" was necessary for avoiding persecution for not worshiping the emperor at the appointed times. Though they didn't mention it in the video, I suspect that punishmet for not having the ticket ranged from fines to imprisonment to beatings to death. It's not hard to imagine that some of the 3rd century Christians found in this a direct fulfillment of the "mark of the beast" in John's Revelation.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Reflections on... First Century Churches (FTS_MC500)
Today we wrapped up our discussion on First Century Discussion, beginning with a small group discussion time centered on Acts 2:42-47. It's always interesting to discuss passages that we in Campus Crusade for Christ focus on so heavily. Not that we own any of these passages, far from it, but discussions outside of a CCC context always bear out how we selectively read passages, for good and ill. We call this one the Transformational Community passage, because it is the first example of a transformational community where people are being won to Christ, built up in their faith, and sent out to reach others. We emphasize well the reality of "biblical teaching, prayer, and real koininia (fellowship)" present in the "Acts 2" church. At the center of our hope for the college campus is the vision of seeing students embody this kind of community where they and the surrounding community will be awe of the ways in which God is at work, seeing others added to the community of believers with great regularity, until "everyone knows someone that truly follows Jesus," as we say. Of course, our reading of Acts 2 is selective, as are others'. The problem is that in our standard schema of a "transformational community" for the campus we leave out some of the most prominent characterizations of this Acts 2 community: celebrating the Eucharist (if that is indeed what "breaking bread" refers to; if not then at least true table fellowship should be practiced on campus), "signs and wonders" (which here was done by the apostles but seems to have spread throughout the church in the New Testament [Phillip in Acts 8:4-8, many in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 27-31), observance of regular prayer times, radical hospitality and generosity for the common good, finding favor with outsiders, and daily interaction with each other and those outside such that there could be daily entrance into the new community of "the saved." I see some of these things changing on a grassroots level, but I hope that we as leaders and campus workers will promote it and not resist it in the eyars to come.
We also discussed Christian Worship in the First Century, Christian Mission in the First Century, and Leadership in the First Century church. It was interesting to note that the "order of worship" in mostly Jewish churches was inherited from the synagogue: opening prayer and praise, creedal confession and benedictions, reading from the Scriptures, and a homily. According to Dr. Bolger, many of these first Jewish churches, the house in which the synagogue met became the house in which the church met. The order of worship in those churches which had little to no Jewish influence were much more fluid and varied, cf. the letters to the Corinthians and the Thessalonians. As we were discussing, I was reminded of stories Dr. Jay Travis told about Muslims who begin to believe in Isa (Jesus) and meet to read the Quran and the Injil (New Testament), pray for each other, and apply the teachings of Jesus to their lives. The form of their meetings remain the same, but the content and the resulting community changes.
One last bit of interest: it was observed that there is little evidence that collecting money was a regular (certainly not weekly) part of the meeting together of the first churches. As Ravi Zacharias has wryly asked in this regard, what does it say about us that we hold tightly to a weekly offering but with reluctance institute a monthly Lord's Supper of stale crackers and a thimble of grape juice? It betrays our financial and dogmatic fears at worst, and our troublesome professionalizing of the clergy at best. Rather, it would seem, we should celebrate communion weekly in smaller setting where people are know and food can be enjoyed, and congregational giving should be generous and according to needs.
We also discussed Christian Worship in the First Century, Christian Mission in the First Century, and Leadership in the First Century church. It was interesting to note that the "order of worship" in mostly Jewish churches was inherited from the synagogue: opening prayer and praise, creedal confession and benedictions, reading from the Scriptures, and a homily. According to Dr. Bolger, many of these first Jewish churches, the house in which the synagogue met became the house in which the church met. The order of worship in those churches which had little to no Jewish influence were much more fluid and varied, cf. the letters to the Corinthians and the Thessalonians. As we were discussing, I was reminded of stories Dr. Jay Travis told about Muslims who begin to believe in Isa (Jesus) and meet to read the Quran and the Injil (New Testament), pray for each other, and apply the teachings of Jesus to their lives. The form of their meetings remain the same, but the content and the resulting community changes.
One last bit of interest: it was observed that there is little evidence that collecting money was a regular (certainly not weekly) part of the meeting together of the first churches. As Ravi Zacharias has wryly asked in this regard, what does it say about us that we hold tightly to a weekly offering but with reluctance institute a monthly Lord's Supper of stale crackers and a thimble of grape juice? It betrays our financial and dogmatic fears at worst, and our troublesome professionalizing of the clergy at best. Rather, it would seem, we should celebrate communion weekly in smaller setting where people are know and food can be enjoyed, and congregational giving should be generous and according to needs.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Reflections on... Jesus, the Kingdom, and the Church (FTS_MC500)
The following reflections will be regarding the lectures from MC500: Church in Mission, in which I am currently enrolled at Fuller Theological Seminary and for which I am publicly reflecting in at least 50 words in fulfillment of my class participation assignment.
Today, much of what we covered was as an orientation to the class: context for its development, overview of its content and aims, details about the assignments, etc. Before this first day, I have considered the reading list to be worth the price of admission (though, of course, I could have found the list and read the books apart from the class). I'll add onto these benefits received the assignments that are required for the class, lots of interactive writing: these daily entries in response to class discussion, notes from the readings in view of the final paper, participation in a local church of a different culture/tradition/ethnic background with an accompanying 2000 word paper, and the final paper, 3000 words considering my church tradition and what it might learn from other traditions in terms of "nature, liturgy, community, mission, and organization". One of the main reasons I've been excited about going "back to school", believe it or not, is the task of writing papers. We'll see how long that holds up... ;)
The second half of our class time was given to the first unit of discussion: Jesus, the Kingdom, and the Church. Dr. Bolger led us through a discussion around certain parts of an ABC News special series with Peter Jennings called The Search for Jesus, which is essentially a documentary through much of the recent research surrounding the Quest(s) for the Historical Jesus. We discussed how the idea of the Kingdom of God was not original to Jesus, but instead it was a conversation and an expectation that Jesus entered into, albeit uniquely, but not originally. The Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven as Matthew emphasizes it in his gospel), was the hope of a Jewish people who were still in exile from the fullness of what YHWH had promised to them, not limited merely to the promised land, but also to full human flourishing within the nation under YHWH, which necessarily meant that Roman occupation was not all that God had intended for them. The occupation, in fact, reminded that they were still in exile and under YHWH's discipline. Jesus came to announce the end of exile, and to usher in the Kingdom of God, not over and against the Roman occupation, but under and within the Roman occupation, to subvert the reigning paradigm and transform the people of God into one that would be a "blessing to the nations" as was intended. So, in light of this, the question comes to mind, if Jesus' ushered in the 'end of exile' for the nation of Israel, to enable them to fulfill their calling to be a light to the Gentiles and a blessing to the nations, then what do we make of 'exile' language in the New Testament after the Gospels? If Israel was in exile from God's presence among them in the temple, which brought about full national flourishing, then how in fact was exile ended if the temple was destroyed just 40 years after Jesus' ascension?
So then, it seem the 'end of exile' rather refers to YHWH's return to his people in Jesus, followed by the opening up of and expansion of the kingdom to include the entire earth, with YHWH's presence not in the Temple in Jerusalem but in the temple of the church. This begs the question, why then do the NT authors refer to the church as still in exile, as aliens and strangers? Is there some sense in which humanity is still in exile from the Garden of Eden to which we will return in the New Heavens/New Earth? Or is the hope more specific, that New Humanity (the church) awaiting full return from exile in the descent of the New Heavens/New Earth? Hmmm... Maybe I'll find out in the next class.
One last thing from class that was interesting was to think about was that, with respect Jesus' actions - his offering forgiveness outside the temple, his healing on the Sabbath, his sharing table fellowship with sinners and Gentiles, his valuing of women, his teaching in the sermon on the mount - Jesus was a destabilizing force in the religious, political, economic, and social structure of the time. How might our teaching, working, serving, relating be a kingdom-centered destabilizing force in our current contexts?
Today, much of what we covered was as an orientation to the class: context for its development, overview of its content and aims, details about the assignments, etc. Before this first day, I have considered the reading list to be worth the price of admission (though, of course, I could have found the list and read the books apart from the class). I'll add onto these benefits received the assignments that are required for the class, lots of interactive writing: these daily entries in response to class discussion, notes from the readings in view of the final paper, participation in a local church of a different culture/tradition/ethnic background with an accompanying 2000 word paper, and the final paper, 3000 words considering my church tradition and what it might learn from other traditions in terms of "nature, liturgy, community, mission, and organization". One of the main reasons I've been excited about going "back to school", believe it or not, is the task of writing papers. We'll see how long that holds up... ;)
The second half of our class time was given to the first unit of discussion: Jesus, the Kingdom, and the Church. Dr. Bolger led us through a discussion around certain parts of an ABC News special series with Peter Jennings called The Search for Jesus, which is essentially a documentary through much of the recent research surrounding the Quest(s) for the Historical Jesus. We discussed how the idea of the Kingdom of God was not original to Jesus, but instead it was a conversation and an expectation that Jesus entered into, albeit uniquely, but not originally. The Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven as Matthew emphasizes it in his gospel), was the hope of a Jewish people who were still in exile from the fullness of what YHWH had promised to them, not limited merely to the promised land, but also to full human flourishing within the nation under YHWH, which necessarily meant that Roman occupation was not all that God had intended for them. The occupation, in fact, reminded that they were still in exile and under YHWH's discipline. Jesus came to announce the end of exile, and to usher in the Kingdom of God, not over and against the Roman occupation, but under and within the Roman occupation, to subvert the reigning paradigm and transform the people of God into one that would be a "blessing to the nations" as was intended. So, in light of this, the question comes to mind, if Jesus' ushered in the 'end of exile' for the nation of Israel, to enable them to fulfill their calling to be a light to the Gentiles and a blessing to the nations, then what do we make of 'exile' language in the New Testament after the Gospels? If Israel was in exile from God's presence among them in the temple, which brought about full national flourishing, then how in fact was exile ended if the temple was destroyed just 40 years after Jesus' ascension?
So then, it seem the 'end of exile' rather refers to YHWH's return to his people in Jesus, followed by the opening up of and expansion of the kingdom to include the entire earth, with YHWH's presence not in the Temple in Jerusalem but in the temple of the church. This begs the question, why then do the NT authors refer to the church as still in exile, as aliens and strangers? Is there some sense in which humanity is still in exile from the Garden of Eden to which we will return in the New Heavens/New Earth? Or is the hope more specific, that New Humanity (the church) awaiting full return from exile in the descent of the New Heavens/New Earth? Hmmm... Maybe I'll find out in the next class.
One last thing from class that was interesting was to think about was that, with respect Jesus' actions - his offering forgiveness outside the temple, his healing on the Sabbath, his sharing table fellowship with sinners and Gentiles, his valuing of women, his teaching in the sermon on the mount - Jesus was a destabilizing force in the religious, political, economic, and social structure of the time. How might our teaching, working, serving, relating be a kingdom-centered destabilizing force in our current contexts?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Salvation 'in' and 'from'
The revelation of a higher code of morals is no Gospel. By works of law no flesh shall be justified in the sight of God. We are not Christians because we have attained to a standard of morals which can truly be called Christian, but because Christ has given us His Spirit. Our hope now, and for the future, lies not in the attainment of a standard which shall make us fit for His grace; but in the assurance that acceptance of His grace will raise us. We often say that "His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins", with the addition: "not in their sin but from their sins." In so saying, whilst we express one truth, we suppress another; for if Christ does not save us in our sins we shall never be saved from our sins. He comes to us in our sins to save us from them. It is of the essence of the Gospel that Christ comes to men in their sins. He came to save sinners.- Roland Allen, p. 69, The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church, 1927.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Spurgeon on evangelism
One man in Paul's dream, who said, " Come over and help us!" was enough to constrain him; and here are millions not in a dream, but in open vision, who all at once say, "Come and help us." Did we say, just now, we could not ? Surely we must recall our words and say, "We must." Good Master, we must! If we cannot, we must. We feel our weakness, but there is an impulse within us that says we must do it, and we cannot stop, we dare not — we were accursed if we did. The blasts of hell and the wrath of heaven would fall upon us if we renounced the task.
The world's only hope— shall we put that out? The lone star that gilds the darkness, — shall we quench that? The Saviours of men, and shall we fold our arms and let them die? No! By the love we bear [in] thy name; by the bonds that unite us to thee; by everything that is holy before God and humane in the sight of our fellow mortals; by everything that is tender and gentle in the throbbing of our hearts and the yearning of our bowels, we say we must, though we feel we cannot.- Charles Spurgeon, from a sermon on Jesus' feeding of the 5,000
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Christian spirituality
In the context of speaking about 21st century spiritual trends in the Church that have dislocated spirituality from that of the ancient church, Webber notes how the experiential spirituality of pietism and revivalism have turned into narcissism. He says,
And "spiritual theology," says Eugene Peterson, "is the attention we give to lived theology - prayed and lived, for if it is not prayed, sooner or later it will not be lived from the inside out and in continuity with the Lord of life."
According to Webber, the problem with much contemporary spirituality, Christian or otherwise, is that it is focused on and preoccupied with the self. In Christianity this is manifest in spiritualities of legalism, intellectualism, and experientialism. True spirituality is not only centered on God revealed in Christ, but proceeds from God's story of creation, incarnation-Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection, and re-creation through the Spirit.
These differing perspectives will manifest themselves in how we interact over issues from worship styles and environmentalism, to ethical discrepancies, doctrinal disagreements, and relational conflict of all kinds. In short, what is at stake is the Gospel, which is the "power of God for salvation to all who believe, the Jew first and to the Greek."
Evangelism's focus on God's story taking experiential root in our lives is in itself not narcissistic. It only becomes narcissistic when one becomes fascinated with his or her own journey and gives priority to self-reflection. Our contemplative wonder and awe is not to focus on the spiritual journey of the self but on the journey of God who creates and became incarnate in his own creation to re-create. And our participation in the spiritual life is not a continuous search for a transcendent experience but the transfiguration of this life through a life lived in the continual pattern of baptism - dying to sin and rising to the life of the Spirit."The Christian way of knowing [the truth about God]," Webber says, "is reflection on Scripture [God's revelation about himself] within community [that lives God's revelation]."
-Robert Webber, The Divine Embrace
And "spiritual theology," says Eugene Peterson, "is the attention we give to lived theology - prayed and lived, for if it is not prayed, sooner or later it will not be lived from the inside out and in continuity with the Lord of life."
According to Webber, the problem with much contemporary spirituality, Christian or otherwise, is that it is focused on and preoccupied with the self. In Christianity this is manifest in spiritualities of legalism, intellectualism, and experientialism. True spirituality is not only centered on God revealed in Christ, but proceeds from God's story of creation, incarnation-Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection, and re-creation through the Spirit.
These differing perspectives will manifest themselves in how we interact over issues from worship styles and environmentalism, to ethical discrepancies, doctrinal disagreements, and relational conflict of all kinds. In short, what is at stake is the Gospel, which is the "power of God for salvation to all who believe, the Jew first and to the Greek."
Monday, August 04, 2008
Prayer for the Church
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
HT: Scot McKnight @ JesusCreed.org
HT: Scot McKnight @ JesusCreed.org
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
I'm glad I'm not one of these... :)
| Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus - Cite This Source - Share This | |
| Main Entry: | missionary |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | aide |
| Synonyms: | Holy Joe, apostle, bible-beater, clergyman, converter, evangelist, glory roader, herald, messenger, minister, missioner, padre, pastor, preacher, preacher man, promoter, propagandist, proselytizer, revivalist, sin hound, teacher |
| Source: | Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1) Copyright © 2008 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved. |
Friday, April 04, 2008
Jesus, the Apostle
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"In his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul says that Jesus gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers to the church for the equipping of his people for "works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Implicit in the analogy is that Christ, as the head of the body (the source from which all the rest grows), is the fullness of the roles of apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, and teacher. So, it goes to reason that we would be able to see these roles active in the ministry of Jesus during his first 33 years of redemptive activity.
Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
- The Gospel According to Mark, Chapter 1
Someone recently commented to me that those with apostolic calling and gifting are normally pretty busy, under constant demands from others to be and do for them. It's evident that Jesus' life was no different. "Everyone is looking for you!" seems to be a consistent refrain in Jesus' life. Though I might have seen it as a scratch that causes the record to keep playing the same part of the song over and over, Jesus embraced his chorus much better than I.
That being said, it's instructive to see how Jesus, as the chief apostle, handled the constant draw on his time. First, after a full day of casting out demons and healing the sick, Jesus got up early in the morning to find a solitary place to pray. I've often had those plans in the back of my mind, to get up early, before everyone else, just me and God, a cup of coffee, a journal and my Bible. But, rarely does it happen like I imagine, not usually because I get interrupted, but because I never make it up in time! It is encouraging to think of our Lord, as a man, breaking through the weariness and grogginess of the morning to find a solitary place to pray before the day gets crazy. As many have noted, Martin Luther said that he had so much to do during the day that he must spend at least three hours a day in prayer beforehand!
Of course, when "found out" by his disciples (Peter taking the lead, of course, which reminds of the "let us build tabernacles" situation later on...), did Jesus tell them to go away because he was praying? Did he drop everything and go back to all the people according to their requests? Nope. He bolted! He said, "Let's get out of here!" So, secondly, Jesus stuck to his apostolic (and prophetic) mission. If he was only acting as a shepherd, evangelist, or teacher, it would have made sense just to stay there and care for the flock, teach them about the kingdom, and bring more people into his care. But, Jesus just left them there and went to another village! He knew that there would be a time for more shepherding, evangelizing, and teaching, but it was not the time for him. He had a mission to accomplish, that being proclaiming the kingdom in word and deed and accomplishing the initial stage of it through his crucified life and death. His vision was not first for individual villages but for the entire nation of Israel, thereby accomplishing his mission for the entire world.
Another thing that I recently was told about people that are apostolic, is that in their busyness, they frequently appreciate and respond to those who "don't take 'no' for an answer." You can see that when Jesus goes to the next village, and a leprous man comes to him and begs him, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." So, Jesus, indignant on account of the man's believing that Jesus might not be willing to heal him of his leprosy, said, in my paraphrase, "Of course I am willing! Be healed!" Then, in another apostolic move in keeping with his clandestine mission to proclaim an alternative messianic kingdom than what people were expecting, he told the former leper to keep quiet about his healing so that he, Jesus, could keep traveling from village to village without too much trouble and commotion. Of course, that didn't happen, and, as it says, after that "Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere." It seems that even Jesus still had trouble aligning people to his plan of how he wanted his mission to develop!
It seems, just from a cursory reading of this section of Mark, that Jesus fulfilled the role of shepherd, evangelist, and teacher as he went from town to town caring for people through healing and the like, gathering them together, and teaching them about the kingdom, but it was his apostolic (and possibly his prophetic) mission that kept him going from village to village rather than staying in one place. Like Robert Coleman demonstrates in his book The Master Plan of Evangelism, the entire time he was raising up the twelve disciples, primarily, to extend and establish through all the five roles the Gospel of the kingdom. Those disciples, and theirs that followed, were the ones that continued to expand, extend, and establish in a way that even Jesus could not have done on his own as one man. How good it was for him to go away and send the Helper!
Ecclesiastes for the Day
What do workers gain from their toil?
I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil - this is the gift of God.
I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil - this is the gift of God.
I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
Whatever is has already been,- Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Unless a seed falls to the earth and dies
Like seed I am buried in the ground
dead and unknown,
covered over in Friday,
soaked through with Sunday,
that in my dying,
our dying,
there might be living,
his living.
I go to the field called "Mission"
bought with the blood of a lamb,
I go with my deed labeled "Cross"
with good-news seed in hand,
I go to plant a garden
I go to grow a city
I go to harvest new reality
I go to to till new land.
Salvation, spring up from the ground,
in dogwood blossoms
and pomegranates
and cedars to shade,
populating,
a new garden in waiting.
dead and unknown,
covered over in Friday,
soaked through with Sunday,
that in my dying,
our dying,
there might be living,
his living.
I go to the field called "Mission"
bought with the blood of a lamb,
I go with my deed labeled "Cross"
with good-news seed in hand,
I go to plant a garden
I go to grow a city
I go to harvest new reality
I go to to till new land.
Salvation, spring up from the ground,
in dogwood blossoms
and pomegranates
and cedars to shade,
populating,
a new garden in waiting.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Becoming "Unbusy"
At the beginning of the month I was reading a book by Eugene Peterson (author of The Message paraphrase of the Bible) called The Contemplative Pastor. In it Peterson talks about the need to clarify the role of a pastor with three adjectives: unbusy, subversive, and apocalyptic. Peterson takes much of the rest of the book to unpack those adjectives, so I won’t attempt that for you, but I will describe which one has been on my mind the most, the “unbusy” pastor. In the past couple of years I have become aware of my tendency to get busy doing stuff, especially ministry stuff, so that deep relationship with God and others moves to the periphery of my heart, mind, and schedule. In defining the “unbusy” pastor, Peterson made some observations that I really identified with. He said that often we are busy, not because we are selfless and noble, but because we are vain and lazy. We subconsciously think that we need to have a hand in everything around us, and we do not expend the mental and spiritual energy to focus on the things that God has called us to, saying “no” to the others. 
As an analogy, Peterson referred to the harpooner in the novel Moby Dick, quoting from Herman Melville’s commentary on harpooning: “To insure the greatest efficiency in the dart, the harpooners of this world must start to their feet out of idleness, and not out of toil.” Throughout the chaos of chasing the whale across the seas, the harpooner remained still, not caught up in all the activities of the ship, knowing that his time would come to practice his craft, and in order to be accurate he must be still. In reading this I immediately thought of both Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God” and Isaiah 30:15, “In repentance and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust is your strength.” As I reflect on this past month of so much ministry activity, I wonder at how the Lord was teaching me to focus and minister from a place of still and quiet trust even amidst the chaos of so many things to do. At the beginning of the month I thought He was telling me to slow down, and now I am seeing that it is more a matter of the habits of my heart and intentionality in my schedule than it is about how filled my week is with activities. Now that things have slowed down, my prayer is that I will be busy practicing stillness before the Lord and focused “harpooning” throughout the days as I live out my calling here in Oklahoma.
As an analogy, Peterson referred to the harpooner in the novel Moby Dick, quoting from Herman Melville’s commentary on harpooning: “To insure the greatest efficiency in the dart, the harpooners of this world must start to their feet out of idleness, and not out of toil.” Throughout the chaos of chasing the whale across the seas, the harpooner remained still, not caught up in all the activities of the ship, knowing that his time would come to practice his craft, and in order to be accurate he must be still. In reading this I immediately thought of both Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God” and Isaiah 30:15, “In repentance and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust is your strength.” As I reflect on this past month of so much ministry activity, I wonder at how the Lord was teaching me to focus and minister from a place of still and quiet trust even amidst the chaos of so many things to do. At the beginning of the month I thought He was telling me to slow down, and now I am seeing that it is more a matter of the habits of my heart and intentionality in my schedule than it is about how filled my week is with activities. Now that things have slowed down, my prayer is that I will be busy practicing stillness before the Lord and focused “harpooning” throughout the days as I live out my calling here in Oklahoma.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Patience
Two quotes on patience that a friend of mine shared with me:
“God never hurries. There are no deadlines against
which He must work. Only to know this is to quiet our
spirits and relax our nerves.” A.W. Tozer
“The strength of patience hangs on our capacity to
believe that God is up to something good for us in all
our delays and detours.” John Piper
This is seriously needed, especially in my line of work when job descriptions are over-weighted with the lead-based expectations of "eternal urgency" and "kingdom consequences".
What is required of us but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God in stillness and acknowledgment that He is God and we are not?
“God never hurries. There are no deadlines against
which He must work. Only to know this is to quiet our
spirits and relax our nerves.” A.W. Tozer
“The strength of patience hangs on our capacity to
believe that God is up to something good for us in all
our delays and detours.” John Piper
This is seriously needed, especially in my line of work when job descriptions are over-weighted with the lead-based expectations of "eternal urgency" and "kingdom consequences".
What is required of us but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God in stillness and acknowledgment that He is God and we are not?
Friday, January 11, 2008
Confessions #14: T-shirts
01.12.08
After a long break for Christmas and New Years, I return, with nothing much significant to say, as you'll see.
In the New Testament letter to the Hebrews, the author talks about how Jesus, by "the power of an indestructible life", was ordained into perpetual priesthood. I've always thought that would make a good Christian t-shirt. On the front it would say "indestructible" in those bold blocky letters that are each vertically misplaced giving that "under construction" or "hey-the-ground-is-shaking" feel. Then on the back it would say "Melchizedek style" in a cool script with the Hebrews verse reference on the back. I think it could sell. Does anyone know Mardel's buyer? Pretty ridiculous, I know. Maybe it's obvious I had the idea while working for a church youth group, or maybe I just made it up... It reminds you of a superhero, does it not?
Of course more serious things could be said, things about seeking life outside of the one who is life, things about his life in us being indestructible, breaking through the cracked and dying flesh-skin of the old man, things about how we ought to follow Paul in seeking the fellowship of Christ's suffering and the power of his resurrection..., but for now it's t-shirt ideas. Have I told you about the one that combines Benjamin Franklin and Aretha Franklin?
After a long break for Christmas and New Years, I return, with nothing much significant to say, as you'll see.
"With what end in view do you again and again walk along difficult and laborious paths?
There is no rest where you seek for it. Seek for what you seek, but it is not where you are looking for it.
You seek the happy life in the region of death; it is not there.
How can there be a happy life where there is not even life?
He who for us is life itself descended here and endured our death and slew it by the abundance of his life." - Augustine
In the New Testament letter to the Hebrews, the author talks about how Jesus, by "the power of an indestructible life", was ordained into perpetual priesthood. I've always thought that would make a good Christian t-shirt. On the front it would say "indestructible" in those bold blocky letters that are each vertically misplaced giving that "under construction" or "hey-the-ground-is-shaking" feel. Then on the back it would say "Melchizedek style" in a cool script with the Hebrews verse reference on the back. I think it could sell. Does anyone know Mardel's buyer? Pretty ridiculous, I know. Maybe it's obvious I had the idea while working for a church youth group, or maybe I just made it up... It reminds you of a superhero, does it not?
Of course more serious things could be said, things about seeking life outside of the one who is life, things about his life in us being indestructible, breaking through the cracked and dying flesh-skin of the old man, things about how we ought to follow Paul in seeking the fellowship of Christ's suffering and the power of his resurrection..., but for now it's t-shirt ideas. Have I told you about the one that combines Benjamin Franklin and Aretha Franklin?
Monday, December 24, 2007
Advent Prayer
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.-from The Book of Common Prayer
Friday, December 21, 2007
Confessions #13: Sand and Love
"If physical objects give you pleasure, praise God for them and return love to their Maker lest, in the things that please you, you displease him. If souls please you, they are being loved in God; for they also are mutable and acquire stability by being established in him...so seize what souls you can to take with you to him, and say to them: 'Him we love; he made these things and is not far distant.' For he did not create and then depart; the things derived from him have their being in him."- St. Augustine
We are worshipers. That is our business. We see, we find, we gather, we declare. We are on the hunt, metal detectors and butterfly nets in hand, gathering up bits of hidden treasure and created glory, to put them together, labeled, organized, on display for the world to see, and to marvel.
Once you sign up for one credit card, it seems like you get offers from every other credit card. It's like the girl in college that not many guys are interested in until she gets a boyfriend. And all those offers come with a mock credit card as if to say, "Look! Here's what our credit card looks like! Put it in your wallet; carry it around with you. You'd rather have our credit card in your wallet, right?" Just for convenience sake, they put in those reply envelopes with the big black letters "BUSINESS REPLY MAIL" boxed in with thick black lines. It's all very official.
I wonder, what if instead of a fake credit card they sent me a caterpillar? One of those caterpillars that is just ready to cocoon; all it needs is a nearby overhanging twig, or lampshade. I have a lamp beside my bed; it's connected to my bedside table, a package deal. The caterpillar could hang out, make laps around the lampshade while I read my book before going to sleep. I'd bring in some leaves for him to munch on as a bedtime snack, before he and I cover up for the night. Of course, his night is a bit longer and more...effective, I would say. If only our nights were so effective...
So after the given amount of time for all the transforming and wiggling that goes on for the caterpillar to become a butterfly, I suppose I'd play around with him a bit, show him to my friends, and take some pictures, us and the butterfly. Then I'd take those pictures and stuff them back in the envelope marked BUSINESS REPLY MAIL, return to sender. Why? 'Cause that's the business I suppose. Maybe he puts the pictures up in his office somewhere, next to the ones of budding trees, advancing glaciers, new families, restored relationships. He keeps sending out more letters with more reply envelopes, every day, every minute...every second?
This whole business of being human worshipers is like one big expedition of "found" art. We see, we find, we gather, we declare. We take from the "raw material" of the created order, as Pastor Keller would say, and put it together for beauty, advancement, and human flourishing. We are mothers shopping for the family dinner; we are archaeologists digging for lost cities; we are businessmen building networks of relational pragmatism; we are children with cups in hand building empires out of sand.
In Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. He gave life to everything that has been made, and his life brought light to everyone. For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and things on earth, visible and invisible, whether the sand that makes a castle or the love that makes a marriage; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together, whether it is sand, or love. And He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have supremacy...glory.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Confessions #12: Magneto
One of Augustine's stumbling blocks to Christianity and the Bible in particular initially was his aversion to the stories of the Old Testament where he often found those reputed to be "righteous" to do some seemingly very "unrighteous" things. He, like the Manichees with whom he spent many years in fellowship, was disgusted by the polygamy of the patriarchs, the character of those like Moses and David who committed murder, and the Old Testament sacrifices.
But along the way of his education, Augustine came upon Cicero's Hortensius, in which he was drawn irresistibly to the search for wisdom and truth in the study of philosophy. Augustine comments, "The book changed my feelings. It altered my prayers, Lord, to be towards you yourself. It gave me different values and priorities. Suddenly every vain hope became empty to me, and I longed for the immortality of wisdom with an incredible ardor in my heart. I began to rise up and return to you."
Augustine also recalled about Hortensius that he was "impressed not by the book's refining effect on my style and literary expression but by the content." In the footnote, Chadwick remarks that "among Augustine's sharp criticisms of contemporary culture of his time is the proposition that it valued for far higher than content." How true that seems to be today! How many more albums have been sold by the packaged pop bands than by those that sing about meaningful issues? Or how many times has the latest blockbuster been more of a glorified fireworks show with some witty lines and a vague moral platitude than a film of substance and reflective analysis of life and culture? It is not much different in the Church where if the music doesn't sound a certain way or the design isn't quite cool enough, we pass it by regardless of the content of the message. We live in a very similar age.
So it was Augustine's reading of philosophy, particularly Hortensius, that lead him back to the Scriptures. Cicero had exhorted him "not to study one particular sect but to love and seek and pursue and hold fast and strongly embrace wisdom itself, wherever found." One thing that held Augustine back in his enthusiasm for Cicero's call to philosophy was this--"that the name of Christ was not contained in the book." Because of his mother's influence, the memory of Christ was implanted in him deeply, and "any book which lacked this name, however well written or polished or true, could not entirely grip [him]."
In Augustine's return the the Scriptures he found "something neither open to the proud nor laid bare to mere children; a text lowly to the beginner but, on further reading, of mountainous difficulty and enveloped in mysteries." He was not ready at that time to begin the ascent into the mysteries of the Scriptures. Augustine was still thought too highly of his own taste and preferred the large tomes of philosophy current at that time. He was not yet able to start from the beginning, as it were, as a child. But the seed had been planted in him; the seed of hunger for wisdom, for truth, over against the love of vanity and physical pleasures. Not only did Augustine direct his search upward through the thoughts and words of the philosophers, but also through his reflection on the created order. Still, in all these things, Augustine still was hungry, hungry for truth, for nourishment. As he said, "I derived no nourishment from them, but was left more exhausted than before." So it was this memory of Christ and the hunger that his absence affected that would eventually lead Augustine back to the Scriptures and to the God whom Scriptures reveal.
The last line of one of John Donne's holy sonnets (which are holy not because they're sonnets, though many a high school teacher might disagree, but because their content is about that which is holy) goes like this: "And thou like Adamant draw mine iron heart." Adamant is a magnetic loadstone, so you can imagine what would the nature of its relationship with iron be like. So it is with our hearts, hard and heavy as iron before the Lord. We do not, indeed we cannot, rise to meet him in the air, as the rapture imagery so goes. His Word hangs in the air like a thick cloud, unreachable, but even if we did reach it, we have not the capability of capturing it's shape or form. So we need him, to come on those clouds, like Magneto, to draw us up into is his atmosphere, His Word, His life. Come Lord Jesus, come quickly.
But along the way of his education, Augustine came upon Cicero's Hortensius, in which he was drawn irresistibly to the search for wisdom and truth in the study of philosophy. Augustine comments, "The book changed my feelings. It altered my prayers, Lord, to be towards you yourself. It gave me different values and priorities. Suddenly every vain hope became empty to me, and I longed for the immortality of wisdom with an incredible ardor in my heart. I began to rise up and return to you."
Augustine also recalled about Hortensius that he was "impressed not by the book's refining effect on my style and literary expression but by the content." In the footnote, Chadwick remarks that "among Augustine's sharp criticisms of contemporary culture of his time is the proposition that it valued for far higher than content." How true that seems to be today! How many more albums have been sold by the packaged pop bands than by those that sing about meaningful issues? Or how many times has the latest blockbuster been more of a glorified fireworks show with some witty lines and a vague moral platitude than a film of substance and reflective analysis of life and culture? It is not much different in the Church where if the music doesn't sound a certain way or the design isn't quite cool enough, we pass it by regardless of the content of the message. We live in a very similar age.
So it was Augustine's reading of philosophy, particularly Hortensius, that lead him back to the Scriptures. Cicero had exhorted him "not to study one particular sect but to love and seek and pursue and hold fast and strongly embrace wisdom itself, wherever found." One thing that held Augustine back in his enthusiasm for Cicero's call to philosophy was this--"that the name of Christ was not contained in the book." Because of his mother's influence, the memory of Christ was implanted in him deeply, and "any book which lacked this name, however well written or polished or true, could not entirely grip [him]."
In Augustine's return the the Scriptures he found "something neither open to the proud nor laid bare to mere children; a text lowly to the beginner but, on further reading, of mountainous difficulty and enveloped in mysteries." He was not ready at that time to begin the ascent into the mysteries of the Scriptures. Augustine was still thought too highly of his own taste and preferred the large tomes of philosophy current at that time. He was not yet able to start from the beginning, as it were, as a child. But the seed had been planted in him; the seed of hunger for wisdom, for truth, over against the love of vanity and physical pleasures. Not only did Augustine direct his search upward through the thoughts and words of the philosophers, but also through his reflection on the created order. Still, in all these things, Augustine still was hungry, hungry for truth, for nourishment. As he said, "I derived no nourishment from them, but was left more exhausted than before." So it was this memory of Christ and the hunger that his absence affected that would eventually lead Augustine back to the Scriptures and to the God whom Scriptures reveal.
The last line of one of John Donne's holy sonnets (which are holy not because they're sonnets, though many a high school teacher might disagree, but because their content is about that which is holy) goes like this: "And thou like Adamant draw mine iron heart." Adamant is a magnetic loadstone, so you can imagine what would the nature of its relationship with iron be like. So it is with our hearts, hard and heavy as iron before the Lord. We do not, indeed we cannot, rise to meet him in the air, as the rapture imagery so goes. His Word hangs in the air like a thick cloud, unreachable, but even if we did reach it, we have not the capability of capturing it's shape or form. So we need him, to come on those clouds, like Magneto, to draw us up into is his atmosphere, His Word, His life. Come Lord Jesus, come quickly.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Communities of the Kingdom
N. T. Wright on the Gospel and Empire (read: "the man") in today's world:
It's a strong vision for the creation of and building up of close-knit, deeply-impacting, far-reaching Christian communities, churches.
Somehow, the gospel of Jesus has to be announced as the good news over against all the self-serving power-broking of our day. This won’t be easy. But the start for us, as it was for Paul, is without a doubt the creation of communities, cells of people under Caesar’s nose but loyal to Jesus as Lord and committed to living by faith, hope and love. The call to worship and prayer, to invoking the powerful name of Jesus and to applying his victory to the sometimes dehumanizing structures and power games of our day, remains at the top of the list of Christian priorities, of gospel priorities.
Irish Theological Quarterly
72 (2007) 131–146
Paul as Preacher: The Gospel Then and Now, p.145
N. T. Wright
© 2007 Irish Theological Quarterly
It's a strong vision for the creation of and building up of close-knit, deeply-impacting, far-reaching Christian communities, churches.
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