church diary, pt. 3

Thought #1: God provides what I need. I believe this. But what am I doing with what he gave me? (Romans 14:10-12)

Thought #2: (Mark 14:32-52) Satan attacks with temptation. I need to be horrified by sin, renouce it and mourn because of it. I need to love abundantly and seriously, regardless of the cost.

Thought#3: (Romans 8:1-2, Colossians 2:14) I’m not condemned, and it’s because of Jesus. He wants to set me free from guilt over my past and from worry about my future. But am I trusting my future to him?

theology of enough

cross-posted from EmergingQuaker

As we move though the center of The Irresistible Revolution, Claiborne repeats a recurring argument of his book: that to be a Christian means to live in contact with the poor. He critiques the current church as “a distribution center, a place where the poor come to get stuff and the rich come to dump stuff.” This is not the best model, he argues, because until rich and poor come into real contact, neither can be transformed. When Jesus says the poor will always be with us, this is not resignation about poverty. Instead, Claiborne, says, Jesus is pointing to the church’s identity as a body of people who live close to the poor and suffering.

Shane goes on to talk about a subject dear to Quaker hearts: simplicity, and he has some interesting things to say. He sees many of the problems with contemporary Christianity rooted in bad theology, not bad people, and sees a life’s work in replacing bad theology with good. And he talks about what he calls “theology of enough:” Embracing neither poverty nor wealth but instead embracing and sharing the abundance of God’s earth.

“So I would suggest we need a third way, neither the prosperity gospel nor the poverty gospel, but the gospel of abundance rooted in a theology of enough. As Proverbs says, ‘Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise I may have too much and disown you and say “Who is the Lord?”‘ (Prov. 30:8,9).

Economically and socially, the vision of shalom is captured in what Bishop John Taylor calls “The Theology of Enough.” The greed of the rich is tempered by the need of the poor. Justice, harmony, equilibrium prevail. “It meant a dancing kind of inter-relationship, seeking something more free than equality, more generous than equity, the evershifting equipoise of a life-system.” Excessive extravagance, vaunting ambition, ravaging greed–all are foreign to the complete contented brotherhood of shalom. Under the reign of God’s shalom the poor are no longer oppressed, because covetousness no longer rules.

-From Freedom of Simplicity by Richard J. Foster

*****

This is interesting to me because I have had a strange coming-to-terms with my parents wealth & the subsequent privilege allotted to me as a result. Over the years my response has ranged from oblivion, to loathing, to an icky pride coupled with guilt, avoidance, acceptance. The acceptance is complicated though: I pray they have discernment and will encourage them when they make efforts to share. I am thankful for what they have provided for me growing up and the gifts they give me daily. I try to pay it forward. But is that enough? It doesn’t strike me as particularly revolutionary.

Perhaps Claiborne’s book would have some good suggestions. TBC… -EP

Anxiousness and Peace

Hey, I wanted to share some photos from a neat project I got to do for my bible study group last week. Randy, our pastor, was speaking on Philippians 4 and anxiousness, and asked if I’d paint during his lesson to illustrate the topic.

(click for larger)

I wanted to paint something that would evolve as people watched and listened, so I started with a frustrated-looking person with their head bent low and only the word ‘anxious’. Then out of that grew a calm, uplifted face and the scripture, exhorting people to pray, giving their worries to Him so that He could exchange it for His peace.

The most striking thing about the whole process was that I felt no stage fright, no worries about if I could finish a 6-foot painting in half an hour or whether people would find it helpful or distracting. Those brief thoughts crossed my mind a couple times during the week I planned it out, but never gripped me like iron-fisted anxiety usually does. The only explanation would be the very tenant I was painting – that if I pass my anxieties on to Him, He exchanges it for peace.

Although I’d hate to think that I was the only one who ‘got much’ out of the painting, I can only wonder if my painting actually conveys the fierceness of that truth I feel and that Randy shared.

grace killer #1: “biblical ways” of doing church?

excerpt from parchment & pen

by C Michael Patton

I make it a habit to take breaks from my local assembly and visit other churches that are not of my ilk. Sometimes it is just a one time visit. Other times it is for an extended stay. (Some people are shifting in their seat right now, others have quit reading.) Sometimes it is a church with a “high” liturgy. Others it is at a church that would say “litur-what?” I do this for self-preservation. I do this for spiritual edification. I do this for ecclesiastical exercise. Most of all, I do this so that I can have grace.

I believe that one of the greatest grace killers that we can have in our lives is an overly critical spirit about other churches.

I was having lunch with a pastor not too long ago who only wanted to talk about another church in the area. His opinions about the way they do church were not favorable. Though he had never been to this church, he had heard enough. His church was a “Bible-centered Church for believers.” Their church was a “Seeker driven church for unbelievers.” In his opinion, they were too fast and loose with their accommodations to the world. They were trying to build bridges to the lost, but now they had taken on the identity of the bridges, not the Kingdom to where the bridge was supposed to lead. Though the Gospel was preached, it was only milk that they offered. In his opinion, they should have a “Meat unavailable” sign out front.

I was reading another local pastor who was going off about another pastor in the area. This time it was just the opposite. This guy led a “seeker” church (which essentially means that more than fifty-percent of the intentionality of the main church service is based on getting the lost saved). He came down hard on the other pastor because he was referencing Greek and Hebrew during his message. “The church is not a seminary,” he said. He emphasized that this will do nothing but produce high and mighty arrogant Christians, and will run the rest off.

The main point that both of these pastors expressed was that their church was the one right way to do church (or at least much more right than the other). Veer just a bit from their sanctified methodology and hands are no longer held in the missio dei.

I used to be this way. Let me rephrase: I am this way, but I am in recovery.

“Hi, my name is Michael and I am a Church critic.”

“Hi Michael.”

My approach to evaluating churches is becoming quite simple. I am starting to be able to appreciate just about any church where the Bible is being taught and the Gospel proclaimed. There can be all kinds of things I would do different. There can be all kinds of weaknesses in other areas. But when I find a church where the word of God is consistently proclaimed, more often than not, I find the power of God. When I visit a church where the Bible is respected as the final authority, I find those who are on the same mission as I. When I find a church where people are led to the Gospel, I find myself among brothers and sisters.

*****

This is too funny. Hit me in the jugular for sure! “Hi, my name is EP and I’m a Church critic.” LOL, sigh. -EP

Church diary, pt 2

- God won’t break his promises – ever.

- 1 Corinthians 13
Discipleship is love, not duty
And without love, nothing matters
Jesus’ death was a loving, extravagant thing because he held nothing back

- Ephesians 5:11-17
Live in the present (but not in a sinful way), beware nostalgia
Remember the lessons of the past and plan for the future
When God’s light shines on my life, what looks good?

- Philippians 4:6-7
Don’t worry
Stop worrying
Seriously, don’t worry
(why is this so hard)

Nells

Church diary

Ever since I was in high school, I collected the paper outlines in the Sunday morning church bulletins. They’d be covered with doodles and notes, then folded up and pressed between bible pages. After a while, my bible’s binding came loose because it was so full of outlines. I felt guilty about throwing them away, so I put them in a folder and continued amassing them. At some point about six months ago it occurred to me that I should use them, so I started unfolding them, one by one, trying to decipher my handwriting and recall the lessons. I began making cliff-notes versions of those lessons in a notebook, with their relevant scripture and the exhortations I’d made to my future self. Quickly I had collected a daunting mass of paper into a personal church diary. As I did this, I began to remember the meaningful truths that got buried in the mess. I’ve been able to browse and remember sermons from bite-size summaries. Because this process has been so helpful for me, I’m typing it up and sending it out to the internet as I continue this habit. Although my abbreviations can’t convey a full sermon, I hope that by posting mine here that anyone else who has ever folded up the paper and stuck it in their pocket or bible instead of throwing it away might think of starting a church diary too.

Here’s my title page, and the first two notes that I typed up tonight. I’ll post more as I type them in the following days and weeks.

Prayers
- seek God
- seek wisdom
- love all, genuinely
- live in wonder
- no more selfishness
- no more complacency

- Colossians 3:12-17
My identity needs to be that of a child of God
and therefore I must take care of myself in a godly way
through solitude, silence, confession
then study, fellowship, celebration and prayer

- 1 Corinthians 7:17
I have a unique role that only I can fulfill
so I need to know that role, and then fulfill it

Nells

tears in hawaii

In our sister blog, Raja talks about a recent experience in Hawaii. -EP

It struck me how terrifying it would be to fall off the side of this cliff. Just looking down is terrifying. I stopped and imagined the kind of desperation that could make dying like this a better option than life. What kind of pain and brokenness could motivate a person to jump off this cliff? I tried to imagine the chaos in a person’s mind as they choose to jump from this location and become engulfed by the grandeur and power of nature itself.

It takes two to forgive

cross-post from the columbia spectator

by Sarah Ngu

I don’t celebrate Yom Kippur, which occurred this past weekend, but lately, I have been thinking about what forgiveness means. It’s an issue that is stowed away in most people’s closets—there’s always a slight grievance or grudge that one isn’t fully rid of, whether it’s against a parent or an ex. Yet, it’s also a word that’s thrown around a lot, confusingly conflated with a lot of similar words such as “condoning,” “tolerance,” or “letting go.” I want to unpack the complicated dynamics behind true “forgiveness” to clear away possible misconceptions about it. Forgiveness is a two-way process that is central not just to our relationships, but also to our own self-development.

Generally, people forgive in two ways. Say a close friend lets out a huge secret that you had asked her to keep private. You either discount the wrong act (“It wasn’t that big of a secret, so whatever”) or you discount the intentionality of the wrongdoer (“She probably was drunk—she wasn’t trying to be a bitch”).

But if the secret really was a big deal and your friend was consciously trying to harm you, then you discount the relationship entirely (“I don’t give a damn about her anyhow”), freeing you from any hate and hurt. It always hurts more when a friend rather than a stranger hurts you, so you’ll just turn her into a stranger.

But say you don’t want to lose the friendship—you value it more than what she did to you. If you want reconciliation and a restoration of a relationship, then you must get to that laborious task of forgiveness.

When you offer forgiveness, you not only imply that she did something wrong (or there would be no need for forgiveness in the first place), but you also imply that you want the friendship to continue. The catch here is that forgiveness is a two-way process—it takes two to forgive. The offender must apologize and the other must accept it.

However, isn’t it the noble and high route to forgive even though your friend won’t apologize? Yes, but to offer forgiveness and to be forgiven are two different things. You can continually offer forgiveness to her out of love, as you should, but she will never be “forgiven” until she accepts your forgiveness.

For her to accept your forgiveness, then, she must acknowledge that she did indeed do something wrong and that she will never do it again. She must, in so many words, say, “I regret what I did, and I’ll never do it again. I put that secret-disclosing part of me away forever.”

She is essentially offering up a new self, putting aside her old self that hurt you. For you to follow through on your offer of forgiveness means that you have to accept this new self of hers. You must, from now on, treat her as if she never let out your secret because that was her old self—her new self would never do that. You disassociate her present self from her past wrongdoing, and the relationship begins anew.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that this model of forgiveness that I’ve set up draws heavily from how Jesus Christ forgives humankind, so it isn’t too original. Nevertheless, whether talking about God-human relationships or human-human relationships, the essence of forgiveness remains the same—to forgive is to forget. This really is a staggering task, and I don’t believe it’s entirely possible—well, humanly speaking—in certain situations. To choose to forgive is to take a risk and open yourself up to hurt, as that friend of yours might hurt you again. But you either choose to forgive or you live your life closed off, invulnerable, Ayn Rand-ian strong, and yet without love. As one of my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis, wrote in “The Four Loves,” “If you want to make sure of keeping [your heart] intact, you must give your heart to no one. … Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket … it will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

“christian”

After a conversation with a friend, I have been thinking about the word “Christian” and how the meaning is a varied, almost subjective label in this world. (Especially because of some of the awful acts we collectively perpetrate as Christians.)

The word Christian appears several times in the New Testament. Most notably in Acts 11:26, The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. However, by context, Christian was a derogatory name assigned to the followers of Christ. 1 Peter 4:16, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

I am amazed how radical that is: to not protest an epithet, shy away or disclaim a name used to persecute but to reclaim it by praising God for it. I am also struck by how the act of not being ashamed or defensive or proud but thankful for the name Christian is still a relevant & difficult struggle 2000 years later.

perception

I’ve been thinking about this a lot: whether, “the fall” is marked more by a different physical reality or a different perception. The act of wanting one’s own discernment is to say God’s is not enough. Prayer seems to me to be an act of remembrance that God’s will is everything. This understanding attained through prayer alters one’s perception and, subsequently, the reality within which one operates.

It is not so true that “prayer changes things” as that prayer changes me and I change things. God has so constituted things that prayer on the basis of Redemption alters the way in which a man looks at things. Prayer is not a question of altering things externally, but of working wonders in a man’s disposition.

-Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

Lord, teach us to pray. Luke 11:1

Amen. -EP