Shawna R. B. Atteberry

This week’s sermon was written around having a lot of discussion, which we did. Please feel free to add your own insights as to how you see Jesus represented in our world that does not line with this week’s Scripture readings.

Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17

Jesus: Doesn’t Play by the World’s Rules
Isaiah 42:1-9; Matthew 3:13-17

I want to start by reading our passage from Isaiah from The Message:

“Take a good look at my servant.
I’m backing him to the hilt.
He’s the one I chose,
and I couldn’t be more pleased with him.
I’ve bathed him with my Spirit, my life.
He’ll set everything right among the nations.
He won’t call attention to what he does
with loud speeches or gaudy parades.
He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt
and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant,
but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right.
He won’t tire out and quit. He won’t be stopped
until he’s finished his work—to set things right on earth.
Far-flung ocean islands
wait expectantly for his teaching.”
God’s Message,
the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies,
laid out the earth and all that grows from it,
Who breathes life into earth’s people,
makes them alive with his own life:
“I am God. I have called you to live right and well.
I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:
opening blind eyes,
releasing prisoners from dungeons,
emptying the dark prisons.
I am God. That’s my name.
I don’t franchise my glory,
don’t endorse the no-god idols.
Take note: The earlier predictions of judgment have been fulfilled.
I’m announcing the new salvation work.
Before it bursts on the scene,
I’m telling you all about it.”

(The Message)

In the Christian tradition, we affirm that these verses find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. Can that be? Is this the same God who as some Christians affirm tells us to go invade other countries because of their heathen populations? Is this the same Christ that if you follow and obey him, he’ll bless you with everything you every wanted including a Rolls Royce? We hear a lot about Jesus through different religions, different Christian denominations, and through our culture and media. What are some of the things you’ve heard about Jesus?

Let’s look at Isaiah again. What does this passage say the servant of God will be like and what will he do? How will he act?

How does this line up with what we’ve grown up hearing about Jesus in church? In politics? In popular culture? In the media?

Originally these verses were written for the Jewish exiles. They were to be the servant of God who would be a light to the nations, and show the nations God’s love and power. As I said earlier, Christians very early on identified this passage and the Servant of God with Jesus; in fact, Matthew quotes part of this passage in his baptismal account. The Church is the body of Christ, and we are to be Christ in our world. How does what you see in churches line up with this passage in Isaiah? How about what you hear from either the Religious Right, the Religious Left or American Christendom in general?

Now let’s turn our attention to the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

John’s baptism was one of confessing sin and repenting. Also to be baptized by someone meant that you put yourself under that leader’s authority. John was rightly confused when, the One John had been saying would come and baptize with fire and Spirit, came to him to be baptized. So why did Jesus do it? What does it mean that this was the proper way to “fulfill all righteousness”? This is what one of my seminary professors, Roger Hahn, had to say about it:

“In Jewish thought righteousness was conduct that pleased God or was in accordance with God’s will. Jesus’ humility in obeying God and identifying with his people is an important lesson to us. Personal status is never a reason to disobey God nor to distance ourselves from the people God loves.”

Again we see the servant of God submitting to God’s will in humility by submitting to John’s baptism. By doing this he is identifying himself with the people he came to save from their sins–us. He didn’t let his status as God’s Son stand in the way of obeying God, even if it looked like he was submitting to John’s authority. John, Jesus, and God all knew better. God affirms this was God’s will when the voice from heaven says, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased,” and echo of Isaiah 42:1, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.”

What does this humility and submission tell us about Jesus? Again how does it differ from other things we have heard about Jesus from churches, American Christendom, political views, and what our own culture has to say about Jesus?

And if the Church is the Body of Christ in this world, doing the things that Jesus did, then what does that say about us? What things do you see the Church doing that does not reflect the picture of Jesus we have in our Scriptures this week? What do you see that the Church is doing right? When have you seen the Church acting like Christ? What can we do better?

Summing up what we’ve talked about what do you think is the biggest way you see Jesus being misrepresented in our world? What is the church’s biggest misrepresentation? In our lives, how are we misrepresenting Jesus? And how are we being faithful ambassadors to Jesus? Think of one way you would like to more accurately reflect Christ in your world this week. Pray about and if you feel comfortable tell a friend about it. Then wait and see what happens. I’m sure we’d all love to know what God does in response to your humility and submission.

Happy New Year everyone! We had a nice, quiet Christmas at home. Tracy’s liver infection is smaller, and there are no blockages in his liver. His doctors did an endoscopy and MRI on his stomach and upper instestines, and both tests came back normal. So we still do not know what is causing his stomach pain. He will probably be heading back for more testing later this week or next week.

South Loop Grace Fellowship starts this Sunday, and I have started working on my sermon. I have also set up a Myspace page in addition to the Facebook profile. Flyers are being put out and invitations going out as well.

I have added a couple of new categories to the side menu. The first is called Personal Sites and has my personal Myspace and Facebook pages as well as SLFG’s site. I also added in Emerging Church module where you can find links to Emerging Women, Julie Clawson, John Smulo, and other wonderful writers in the emergent movement. In fact, Julie has a great list of books from 2007 that is worth going over and looking at. A very good friend of mine, Bon, has a great post up on the angels’ command to the shepherds: “Do Not Be Afraid.”

It’s a good feeling to be making a little headway on the church plant. I have set up a Facebook page, created a website on Blogger (don’t worry Computer Geek Hubby–you can create a website for the church when you’re well), and set up an email account: southloopgracefellowship@gmail.com. I’ve even got sermons sketched out through Transfiguration Sunday, so I could include what we’re doing in the flyers and the very first post at the South Loop Grace site. Aaah, the feeling of accomplishment. It’s a wonderful thing.

I think it’s time to kick back, eat some gingerbread cookies, and do my crossword puzzle.

I am slowly getting back around to blogs and reading online in general. Here are some of the posts and articles that have caught my eye.

There’s a lot going on this time of the year, and if your mind is cluttered with things to do before Tuesday, then Leo Babauta has an article for you. 15 Can’t-Miss Ways to Declutter Your Mind has several different ways to get things off your mind, so you can have some peace of mind:

Identify the essential. This one is practically a mantra here at Zen Habits. (Can you imagine it? All of us here at Zen Habits, sitting on a mat in lotus position, chanting slowly: “Identify the essential … identify … the essen … tial …”) But that’s because it’s crucial to everything I write about: if you want to simplify or declutter, the first step is identifying what is most important. In this case, identify what is most important in your life, and what’s most important for you to focus on right now. Make a short list for each of these things.

Eliminate. Now that you’ve identified the essential, you can identify what’s not essential. What things in your life are not truly necessary or important to you? What are you thinking about right now that’s not on your short list? By eliminating as many of these things as possible, you can get a bunch of junk off your mind.

Let go. Worrying about something? Angry about somebody? Frustrated? Harboring a grudge? While these are all natural emotions and thoughts, none of them are really necessary. See if you can let go of them. More difficult than it sounds, I know, but it’s worth the effort.

It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas: Oh no not another war on Christmas! (Don’t people realize that Christmas is NOT the only holiday in December?) One of the battles on the supposed “war on Christmas” is a movie this year. Kathleen Falsani reviews The Golden Compass and comes to this conclusion: Golden Compass Doesn’t Point to War on Christmas.

I haven’t read Pullman’s books, which by all accounts include explicit anti-religious, and anti-Catholic in particular, themes. I have, however, seen the film and if those themes were present, they flew right over my head, not unlike the heroic witches who prophesied the birth of Lyra, a child who would someday decide the fate of the world.

The movie is a jumble of heretofore-unknown characters and existential ideas that don’t quite hold together and that are entirely lost amid the fury of big-budget special effects. The message of “The Golden Compass,” if there is one in its celluloid incarnation, was lost on me. And I would venture a guess that any child who would see the film — and with its PG-13 rating for violence, no young child should — would miss the point, whatever it is, as well.

I agree with Falsani’s assessment of what Christians should be doing:

The Bible tells us that in order to love a broken world back to wholeness, an omnipotent God decides to come to Earth, not as a king or a great warrior, but in the form of a helpless infant born in a stable to an unwed teenage mother from an oppressed religious and ethnic group. There are signs and wonders announcing the Christ child’s birth — miraculous movement in the heavens, angels appearing to shepherds in fields, three mystical magi traveling from the East with exotic gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, and prophesies foretold and fulfilled. Good triumphs over evil and love over hate, all through the birth of one baby boy in a backwater town in the Middle East more than 2,000 years ago.

I defy Hollywood to come up with a more powerful, enduring tale than that one.

Christians would be better served telling and retelling the real Christmas story, without wasting time on brickbats and boycotts. Make big-budget films about it, write powerful books, make beautiful music and create enduring artwork that reflects the spirit of that story, the greatest ever told.

Jesus didn’t get defensive about ideas and stories that paled in comparison to the one he was telling. His followers shouldn’t be, either.

So, next year, when December rolls around and nervous Nellies begin shrieking about the latest Operation Secular Menace threatening to upend Christmas and its true meaning, please stick your fingers in your ears and repeat after me: Fa la la la la la la la la.

Yes! Finally someone has written about this! Ben Witherington questions where Joseph and Mary stayed on that night when Jesus was born in No Room in the What?

When it came time for Mary to deliver the baby, the Greek of Luke’s text says, “she wrapped him in cloth and laid him in a corn crib, as there was no room in the guest room.” Yes, you heard me right. Luke does not say there was no room in the inn. Luke has a different Greek word for inn (pandeion), which he trots out in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The word he uses here (kataluma) is the very word he uses to describe the room in which Jesus shared the Last Supper with his disciples — the guest room of a house.

Archeology shows that houses in Bethlehem and its vicinity often had caves as the back of the house where they kept their prized ox or beast of burden, lest it be stolen. The guest room was in the front of the house, the animal shelter in the back, and Joseph and Mary had come too late to get the guest room, so the relatives did the best they could by putting them in the back of the house.

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Bethlehem was a one-stoplight town, and we don’t have a shred of archaeological evidence that there ever was a wayfarer’s inn in that little village in Jesus’ day. All this silliness about ‘no room at the Holiday Inn’ for the holy family or the world giving Jesus the cold shoulder is not at all what Luke is talking about. It’s a story about no inn in the room! It’s a story about a family making do when more relatives than expected suddenly show up on the doorstep. It’s a story most of us can relate to in one way or another.

Not to mention Mary would have had a little more privacy in the back of the house than in the guest room. People always think it’s so horrible that Mary and Joseph had to be in the “barn” (and let’s face it, that’s the way most of us pictured it). But they were in the home of family or friends. Thank you Ben. I’ve been saying this for years, and Christians treat me like a heretic. Now I can say I’m not the only one who thinks this what really happened and can point them to Ben’s article.

During our meeting yesterday, those of us starting new ministries in the neighborhoods of Chicago decided to name the umbrella group we will all fall under Grace Fellowship Church of the Nazarene. The church starting in my home on January 6 is now the South Loop Grace Fellowship. We will be starting at 11:00 a.m. at 40 E. 9th St. #1305. For more information click here. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me.

I know my blogging has been very sporadic lately. Tracy still has the liver infection, and the last two months have been filled with side effects from the drugs he is taking. He’s in D. C. right now for tests. They think one of the problems might be a blockage in the liver, which can happen with infections. They ran one test, but it was inconclusive, so they will run another one on Monday. The good news is the CT Scan showed that the infection is smaller. Yeah!

Both my sleeping and working schedules are way off. Neither of us have really had a schedule for the last couple of months because of the flexibility one must have when a spouse has a liver infection. Right now I am trying to getting back into a regular sleeping schedule of going to bed between and 11:00 and 11:30 p.m., and actually getting sleep within an hour instead of laying in bed until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. My goal right now is to get up at 8:00 a.m. and eventually move it to 7:00-7:30 a.m. This week has had mixed results. I think part of the reason is that Tracy left Wednesday, so I had to adjust to sleeping alone. Since part of the week I slept well and got up when I needed to, I’m hoping this next week will start to even out. I want my work hours to be 10:00 a.m.–11:30 a.m. and 1:00–6:00 p.m. I have found if I don’t have regular office hours, I tend to work off and on day and night and feel guilty about doing personal things like shopping, cooking, sewing, etc. I need to know when I’m working, so I know when I can do other things.

I’ve talked to our District Superintendent, and the District is creating an umbrella organization for all the different neighborhood fellowships to be a part of. That way we will have our non-profit status and can open bank accounts, and the District doesn’t have to do all this paperwork and legal stuff for each little group. I think it is a good plan. I am renaming the South Loop Nazarene Church to a fellowship, since we are going to meet in my home and be a home church, and because that is the way it seems the other groups are going. All of us starting new Nazarene ministries in the city are getting together tomorrow to worship and make some plans as to structure, names, and keeping in communication with each other. I didn’t know that half the people I’ve been emailing about the South Loop ministry had started a group in Hyde Park, so it will be nice to know of what other people are doing and to support each other. After that meeting I will settle on a final name and start putting up flyers in the neighborhood. Yes, Laine, the flyers are going to happen (and I need to email you–how was your vacation?). Laine works in the West Loop and has graciously offered to hang flyers there.

Yes, I am behind on emails as well as reading other blogs and commenting. Right now my two priorities are Tracy and getting ready for services to start in our home. I’m also not writing much right now, which is obvious from my lack of blogging. Hopefully, after the first of the year, I will get back to making the rounds and getting back into what everyone is doing. I miss all of you, but right now I don’t have the time and energy to keep up with everything.

It is amazing how tired you become during the long term illness of a spouse. I had no idea it was possible to worry about someone this much. The last couple of months have been exhausting and frustrating for both of us (him more than me needless to say), mainly due to the side effects. Hopefully, this visit to NIH will be the turn around the bend, and he’ll start feeling better and making some marked improvements.

There has been a change in the South Loop Nazarene Church location. The Condo Board did not want the aerobics room to be scheduled every Sunday for who knows how long, so they denied my request to use it. I should have waited until the board voted before I posted. I’m sorry. Instead of meeting in the aerobics room, we will be meeting in my home, which is #1305. If I do not find a worship leader, then instead of a service, we will begin with a Bible study.

South Loop Nazarene Church is a place where you can know God, be a part of a community, and serve the neighborhood. We are a new church that seeks to follow the teachings of Jesus and deepen our faith through worship, tradition, and service. Everyone is welcome whether you consider yourself a Christian or not. We strive to be a safe place where you can ask questions in a loving community.

We will be starting services on January 6, 2008 from 11:00 a.m.–noon at the Burnham Park Plaza Condominiums. We will be worshiping in my home, #1305, . BPP Condos is located at 40 E. 9th St. (9th and Wabash), and the entrance to our building is on 9th. Tell the doorman to call #1305. There are parking lots across the street on Wabash and behind the building across the street on State. If there’s a Bears game, parking will be sparse and expensive. We are two blocks north of the Roosevelt L Station (red, green, and orange lines), and bus routes 29 and 62 run up and down State. Get off at 9th St. and walk a block east.

We are also looking for a worship leader. If you’re interested please contact me.

Let me know what you think. I really, really need a worship leader. If you play guitar and sing, I am interested, please contact me! And please pray for me–especially about the worship leader! Thank you. I appreciate all of your support and prayer.

Shawna