okay, I've been keeping this blog for over two years now, and gotten bits and pieces of comments in that time, but little in the way of sustained dialog or conversation. I know people read these thoughts intermittently - I get emails here and there, or even passing comments from the people who are local. And I appreciate each and every one.
When I first started this blog, I had two ideas at the forefront. The first was that I wanted a new way to "jot" down my thoughts, my struggles, my joys, and my growing and ever-evolving thoughts on God - in essence, I saw (and still see) the way I was living as an on-going commentary on my theology of God - who He is, what He has said, and what He is calling the world, and specifically the people He continues to call to be part of the Church to be doing. Life is theology.
Secondly, I wanted to create some space for people to consider my thoughts, and offer their own (yes, I realize that there are many such forums, and who am I to expect that this particular stop on the blogosphere would be any more enticing than any of the others available).
All of that's to say, that if you're reading this, please feel free to interact. Leave a message. I blog as I feel personally (and perhaps divinely) inspired. I don't do it every day; nor even every week. The fact that I am blogging today has little to nothing to do with the fact that I blogged yesterday. There is no system to my blogging. I'm not trying so much to convince people that I'm "right", as much as just tell people what I have come to believe, and am struggling to believe. Faith is like that, I think. I'm not entirely interested if someone is "liberal" or "conservative". In point of fact, I consider those categories, those labels to be misleading. I'm seeking to be Biblical in the context where God has placed me. I want to explore the strange new world of the Bible in the context of the strange new world in which we live.
Are you out there? Are you offended? Are you bored? Are you put off? Are you willing to think? Or are you so full of blind faith, or perhaps oppositely atheistic, that you have a box so small there's no room to by which to grab hold and crawl out into the light? That's not an insult, but it is a call to wake up, to see that God is bigger than we often allow Him to be. He's dangerous. He's threatening. And most of all, He loves us.
Join this conversation. I'm holding the door for you. Come on in...
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Perfect Peace and My Melacholy Feelings
You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in You.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD, the LORD
is the Rock eternal.
- Isaiah 26:3-4
This is one of those days where I just feel down, and have little to no reason to feel so. Maybe it's merely seasonal depression. Maybe it's that deep in my heart I feel like I don't love You enough, Lord. I sit here at the seminary, day after day, learning, reading, and I wonder why am I here?, and what am I doing this for?, and who am I really doing this for? Is this my personal existential crisis? I don't know, and am not sure. Deep down, I do believe that God loves me, and saved me. God saved me almost twenty-two years ago when He could've let me die. Sure His purposes for my salvation are ongoing. Why, I cannot truly say, except that there is great mystery woven into my story - mine and everyone elses. The salvation and love God has for us in Jesus Christ must effect more than just bringing about a positive attitude. I would just like to wake up, never ever again to feel the weight of the wil-o-the-wisp melancholy upon my being. Instead, I embrace for myself the joy of God's presence, that fellowship with our Triune God of grace. So I sit here, in the seminary library, writing these concluding thoughts, getting ready to translate parts of Matthew into English, bibliograph some books on Karl Barth and his Christology, read about Job and suffering and evil, and I really want to just meet with You, Lord God, a little longer.
Amen.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Wake Up???
Someone forwarded this to me - my reply follows...
CHEAP LABOR? Isn't that what the whole immigration issue is about? Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage Consumers don't want expensive produce Government will tell you Americans don't want the jobs But the bottom line is cheap labor. The phrase "cheap labor" is a myth, a farce, a lie...an oxymoron. There is no such thing as "cheap labor."
Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children. He takes a job for $5.00 or $6.00/hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an "earned income credit" of up to $3,200 free.
He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent He qualifies for food stamps He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care .
His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.
He requires bilingual teachers and books .He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.
If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI.Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare.
All of this is at the taxpayer's expense.
He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance.
Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material.
He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.
Working Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $6.00/hour left after paying their bills and his.
The American taxpayer's also pay for increased crime, graffiti and trash clean up.
Cheap labor? YEAH RIGHT! Wake up people! Kind of scary, isn't it when you think about it?
My Response:
Actually, illegal aliens don't really qualify for many of those "incentives". For one thing, to "apply" for any number of those benefits, they would end up having to show proof of citizenship, thus tipping their proverbial hand that they're here illegally.
However, the most compelling issue for me is the one that comes from Jesus. Actually, there are many issues, but let's talk about just two. For one, I'm forced to ask where's my first loyalty. To country? I like the U.S. alot. But no. It's to God. So we're really dealing with an issue of what is the greatest commandment: love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, etc. From there, the issue moves onto the second greatest commandment: love your neighbor as yourself. Now, here's where the guy who orginally asked caused this issue got into a mess. He asked Jesus who's his neighbor - the Bible says he wanted to justify himself. Jesus used a parable that I think is succinctly at the heart of this anti-hispanic message: Jesus uses several characters; the first, a Jew, who's traveling between Jericho and Jerusalem. The second (group), a bunch of robbers and thieves. The third (group), a priest, a levite, and a scribe. And the fourth character, a Samaritan.
For those who don't know, the Samaritans were a despised people, and the Jews considered them at best half-breeds, and at worst, heretics and squatters. It's for this reason that Jesus uses the character of the [Good] Samaritan as the one who rescues the Jewish traveler after he gets beaten up and left for dead by the robbers - not the priest; not the levite; not the scribe - all very religious and upright people.
The bottom line for those of us who even remotely consider themselves Christians, we should care about our neighbors, whether they're from "south of the border" or not, and whether they speak english, spanish, or spanglish.
Oh, and maybe a refresher history lesson would help, too. It wasn't until the mid-19th century, that is the mid-1800's that California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas were under the authority of the United States. All of that belonged to Spain, and subsequently Mexico. And then it was only taken away by a most immoral, if not illegal war whose only purpose was to provide for new slave states at the congressional urging of Southern Democrats.
If that's the attitude you want to align yourself with, by all means, go ahead. It's a free country.
CHEAP LABOR? Isn't that what the whole immigration issue is about? Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage Consumers don't want expensive produce Government will tell you Americans don't want the jobs But the bottom line is cheap labor. The phrase "cheap labor" is a myth, a farce, a lie...an oxymoron. There is no such thing as "cheap labor."
Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children. He takes a job for $5.00 or $6.00/hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an "earned income credit" of up to $3,200 free.
He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent He qualifies for food stamps He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care .
His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.
He requires bilingual teachers and books .He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.
If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI.Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare.
All of this is at the taxpayer's expense.
He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance.
Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material.
He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.
Working Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $6.00/hour left after paying their bills and his.
The American taxpayer's also pay for increased crime, graffiti and trash clean up.
Cheap labor? YEAH RIGHT! Wake up people! Kind of scary, isn't it when you think about it?
My Response:
Actually, illegal aliens don't really qualify for many of those "incentives". For one thing, to "apply" for any number of those benefits, they would end up having to show proof of citizenship, thus tipping their proverbial hand that they're here illegally.
However, the most compelling issue for me is the one that comes from Jesus. Actually, there are many issues, but let's talk about just two. For one, I'm forced to ask where's my first loyalty. To country? I like the U.S. alot. But no. It's to God. So we're really dealing with an issue of what is the greatest commandment: love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, etc. From there, the issue moves onto the second greatest commandment: love your neighbor as yourself. Now, here's where the guy who orginally asked caused this issue got into a mess. He asked Jesus who's his neighbor - the Bible says he wanted to justify himself. Jesus used a parable that I think is succinctly at the heart of this anti-hispanic message: Jesus uses several characters; the first, a Jew, who's traveling between Jericho and Jerusalem. The second (group), a bunch of robbers and thieves. The third (group), a priest, a levite, and a scribe. And the fourth character, a Samaritan.
For those who don't know, the Samaritans were a despised people, and the Jews considered them at best half-breeds, and at worst, heretics and squatters. It's for this reason that Jesus uses the character of the [Good] Samaritan as the one who rescues the Jewish traveler after he gets beaten up and left for dead by the robbers - not the priest; not the levite; not the scribe - all very religious and upright people.
The bottom line for those of us who even remotely consider themselves Christians, we should care about our neighbors, whether they're from "south of the border" or not, and whether they speak english, spanish, or spanglish.
Oh, and maybe a refresher history lesson would help, too. It wasn't until the mid-19th century, that is the mid-1800's that California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas were under the authority of the United States. All of that belonged to Spain, and subsequently Mexico. And then it was only taken away by a most immoral, if not illegal war whose only purpose was to provide for new slave states at the congressional urging of Southern Democrats.
If that's the attitude you want to align yourself with, by all means, go ahead. It's a free country.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
God is more ...
God our King is
more affectionate than any friend,
more just than any ruler,
more loving than any father,
more a part of us than our own limbs,
more necessary to us than our own heart.
- St. Nicolas Cabasilas
more affectionate than any friend,
more just than any ruler,
more loving than any father,
more a part of us than our own limbs,
more necessary to us than our own heart.
- St. Nicolas Cabasilas
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Who's the Fool?
There's a great story in the gospel of Luke where Jesus tells this story of a farmer who strikes it rich with a bumper crop that, in his own mind, sets him up for the High Life for the rest of his life. That is, until God shows up to set him straight.
Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus], "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
(Luke 12:13-21, NIV)
What I find interesting here is how Jesus' original audience would have reacted to the description of this rich farmer. His actions, really his attitude, probably pass right over the typical American reader of Luke's gospel, but for the typical Jew listening to this parable, the man's attitude and actions would have probably provoked mixed feelings. For one thing, there might have been some envy among the day laborers who were used to bringing in little to nothing by way of income, and might deem this farmer as having received a real blessing. For another thing, however, there might be real shock that in no way did this rich farmer's comments/thoughts include God in the scope of his hopes and plans - something that may be well outside of our cultural ground zero, but not Jesus' original audience. (*I credit a conversation with Dr. Diane Chen for some extra insights as to the possible reactions of the original Jewish audience.) But all in all, this man's attitude and position, while envious, would be categorically wrong.
Why, you might ask? Because the man's plans, and the attitude behind those actions, are completely absent of God. That is, if a man had a bumper crop of whatever, he would almost be responsible to look around at his fellow Jews in need and help out in some way. Instead, we Americans [Christians?] might be somewhat shocked at God's anger at this man, after all, isn't he merely enjoying what we might think of as a proto-"American Dream"? Doesn't he deserve to sit back and enjoy the fruit of his labor? What's wrong here?
Luke offers us two keys from earlier in his gospel that I think help us in understanding this parable. The first comes to us from Luke 9, where Peter has just professed that Jesus is "the Christ of God," and Jesus launches into warning His disciples of His coming suffering and death. This is part of Jesus' "invitation" to discipleship, that whomever would follow Him must take up their cross daily, and follow Him. Then he posits the paradox of what we might call true Christian discipleship, that whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life will for Jesus will save it. The punch line for us is, "What good is it for a [person] to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" (9:25, NIV.)
The second key is in regard to our relationship with God. Earlier in Luke 10, Jesus is asked by an expert of the Law what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus, in good midrashic fashion, turns the question back to the expert, "how do you read the law?" The man sums it up by citing love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then he makes the mistake of trying to justify himself, he asks Jesus who is neighbor, and Jesus goes onto to tell the story of the Good Samaritan in order to illustrate the point that anyone and everyone is our neighbor.
And here's the breakdown for our "rich fool" of Luke 12. He was guilty of putting his temporal comforts first before and at the expense of eternity (and therefore, God), therefore, he neither loved God nor loved his neighbor. Instead of following God and surrenduring his life to God, he gained "the whole world," and thus forfeited his very self. Instead of loving God and loving neighbor(s), he made for himself a boatload, and rather than seeking to glorify God and care for the needs of his neighbor, he sought to live for his own purposes, his own comforts.
This is where Jesus' parable needs to hit us square between the eyes. Most of us Christians in the West, particularly in the U.S., are quite wealthy compared to the rest of the world. That joined to the fact that while a number of Christians are trying to live more simple, Christ-centered lives that allow them to share the many blessings that Christ has given them, too many Christians in our country live life much like the rich fool. We are blessed to be a blessing, yet too many of us have attitudes that betray the true condition of our hearts - we are number one. I must confess that this is one of my ongoing struggles. I admit it; more often than not (too often for my own comfort), I think about that really nice large, flat screen, LCD HD plasma TV that would be oh so much fun to watch movies on. Or I think about all the different restaurants I would love to dine out at this coming weekend. Or any number of far less interesting examples that still fit the bill of revealing in me a heart that does not love God or my neighbor.
These parables and words of Jesus should come back to us, as later in Acts, where Luke illustrates the living out of this parable in the lives of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). They see in the generous act of Barnabas' giving of his property to the Church a lot of positive attention that they themselves would like to have. In other words, they're only thinking of themselves when they sell their property, keeping part of the profit for themselves, and then proceeding to give the rest to the apostles', telling them that what they have turned over is the entire sum. They want all the fuss that was made over Barnabas, but none of the possible sacrifice. They still want to be able to enjoy the comforts of life, too. And just like God came that very night to the rich fool and demanded of him his life, so Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, leaving the entirety of their wealth to someone else to enjoy.
So who is the fool?
While this is not meant at all to be an exercise in finger pointing, it's a question we must wrestle with, and where need be, allow it to confront those areas of our lives, those areas in our hearts, where we do not love God and neighbor as much as we love our own lives, our own comforts, and fall into the trap of avoiding suffering (and possibly death), while at the same time seeking to enjoy the whole world. In the mean time, may God have mercy on us, and patiently give us the grace and power to both recognize and repent of our foolish ways. May we live lives that point to Him who has blessed us, that our neighbors may see our good works, and praise our Father who is in heaven.
Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus], "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
(Luke 12:13-21, NIV)
What I find interesting here is how Jesus' original audience would have reacted to the description of this rich farmer. His actions, really his attitude, probably pass right over the typical American reader of Luke's gospel, but for the typical Jew listening to this parable, the man's attitude and actions would have probably provoked mixed feelings. For one thing, there might have been some envy among the day laborers who were used to bringing in little to nothing by way of income, and might deem this farmer as having received a real blessing. For another thing, however, there might be real shock that in no way did this rich farmer's comments/thoughts include God in the scope of his hopes and plans - something that may be well outside of our cultural ground zero, but not Jesus' original audience. (*I credit a conversation with Dr. Diane Chen for some extra insights as to the possible reactions of the original Jewish audience.) But all in all, this man's attitude and position, while envious, would be categorically wrong.
Why, you might ask? Because the man's plans, and the attitude behind those actions, are completely absent of God. That is, if a man had a bumper crop of whatever, he would almost be responsible to look around at his fellow Jews in need and help out in some way. Instead, we Americans [Christians?] might be somewhat shocked at God's anger at this man, after all, isn't he merely enjoying what we might think of as a proto-"American Dream"? Doesn't he deserve to sit back and enjoy the fruit of his labor? What's wrong here?
Luke offers us two keys from earlier in his gospel that I think help us in understanding this parable. The first comes to us from Luke 9, where Peter has just professed that Jesus is "the Christ of God," and Jesus launches into warning His disciples of His coming suffering and death. This is part of Jesus' "invitation" to discipleship, that whomever would follow Him must take up their cross daily, and follow Him. Then he posits the paradox of what we might call true Christian discipleship, that whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life will for Jesus will save it. The punch line for us is, "What good is it for a [person] to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" (9:25, NIV.)
The second key is in regard to our relationship with God. Earlier in Luke 10, Jesus is asked by an expert of the Law what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus, in good midrashic fashion, turns the question back to the expert, "how do you read the law?" The man sums it up by citing love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then he makes the mistake of trying to justify himself, he asks Jesus who is neighbor, and Jesus goes onto to tell the story of the Good Samaritan in order to illustrate the point that anyone and everyone is our neighbor.
And here's the breakdown for our "rich fool" of Luke 12. He was guilty of putting his temporal comforts first before and at the expense of eternity (and therefore, God), therefore, he neither loved God nor loved his neighbor. Instead of following God and surrenduring his life to God, he gained "the whole world," and thus forfeited his very self. Instead of loving God and loving neighbor(s), he made for himself a boatload, and rather than seeking to glorify God and care for the needs of his neighbor, he sought to live for his own purposes, his own comforts.
This is where Jesus' parable needs to hit us square between the eyes. Most of us Christians in the West, particularly in the U.S., are quite wealthy compared to the rest of the world. That joined to the fact that while a number of Christians are trying to live more simple, Christ-centered lives that allow them to share the many blessings that Christ has given them, too many Christians in our country live life much like the rich fool. We are blessed to be a blessing, yet too many of us have attitudes that betray the true condition of our hearts - we are number one. I must confess that this is one of my ongoing struggles. I admit it; more often than not (too often for my own comfort), I think about that really nice large, flat screen, LCD HD plasma TV that would be oh so much fun to watch movies on. Or I think about all the different restaurants I would love to dine out at this coming weekend. Or any number of far less interesting examples that still fit the bill of revealing in me a heart that does not love God or my neighbor.
These parables and words of Jesus should come back to us, as later in Acts, where Luke illustrates the living out of this parable in the lives of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). They see in the generous act of Barnabas' giving of his property to the Church a lot of positive attention that they themselves would like to have. In other words, they're only thinking of themselves when they sell their property, keeping part of the profit for themselves, and then proceeding to give the rest to the apostles', telling them that what they have turned over is the entire sum. They want all the fuss that was made over Barnabas, but none of the possible sacrifice. They still want to be able to enjoy the comforts of life, too. And just like God came that very night to the rich fool and demanded of him his life, so Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, leaving the entirety of their wealth to someone else to enjoy.
So who is the fool?
While this is not meant at all to be an exercise in finger pointing, it's a question we must wrestle with, and where need be, allow it to confront those areas of our lives, those areas in our hearts, where we do not love God and neighbor as much as we love our own lives, our own comforts, and fall into the trap of avoiding suffering (and possibly death), while at the same time seeking to enjoy the whole world. In the mean time, may God have mercy on us, and patiently give us the grace and power to both recognize and repent of our foolish ways. May we live lives that point to Him who has blessed us, that our neighbors may see our good works, and praise our Father who is in heaven.
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